Iron-fuel combustors to power mining operations

能源成本上升是魁北克和加拿大采矿业面临的一个严重问题。对于Cote Nord地区的铁工业来说，另一个问题是铁球团在生产后以及储存和运输过程中的聚集或烧结。Qube-4D目前正在寻找新的解决方案，以解决铁球团在运输过程中的烧结问题，并为这种远程采矿作业提供电力需求，以抵消目前柴油燃料的使用。金属是还原材料，金属生产过程中输入的主要能量是将开采的金属氧化物中的氧去除为纯金属所需的能量，因此纯金属可以被氧化或燃烧以释放能量。麦吉尔大学的替代燃料实验室正在积极研究利用金属与空气的直接燃烧和金属与水的反应来产生热量和氢气，作为低碳能源商品。金属燃料可以减少我们对化石燃料资源的依赖，并使太阳能、风能或核能等清洁初级能源的储存和交易成为可能。采矿业，以及更广泛的朝鲜，需要必须远程运输的能源，比如无处不在的用于发电的柴油燃料。目前的Engage拨款将与Qube-4D工程师合作，研究在燃烧系统中部分氧化铁球团的概念，以干燥和保护它们免受烧结，以及使用铁作为可回收燃料，为矿山运营提供备用或连续动力。金属燃料可以高密度储存清洁能源，也可以快速燃烧，以提供高功率水平，目前只能通过化石燃料燃烧来提供。

Increasing energy costs are a serious problem for the mining industries in Quebec and Canada. For the iron industry in the Cote Nord region, another problem is the congregation or sintering of the iron pellets after production and during storage and transport. Qube-4D is currently looking for novel solutions to both the problem of sintering of iron pellets in transport and for providing power needs to such remote mining operations to offset the current use of diesel fuel. Metals are reduced materials, with the primary energy input into the metal-production process being that required to remove the oxygen from the mined metal oxides into the pure metal, that can therefore be oxidized, or burned, to release energy. The Alternative Fuels Laboratory at McGill is actively investigating the use of direct metal combustion with air and the reaction of metals with water, to produce heat and hydrogen, as low-carbon energy commodities. Metal fuels could reduce our dependence on fossil-fuel resources and enable the storage and trade of clean primary energy from solar, wind, or nuclear resources. The mining industry, as well as the North more broadly, requires energy that must be shipped in remotely, such as the diesel fuel that is ubiquitously burned for power generation. The present Engage grant will investigate, in collaboration with Qube-4D engineers, the concept of partially oxidizing the iron pellets in a combustion system to dry and protect them from sintering, as well as the use of iron as a recyclable fuel for providing back up, or continuous, power for mine operation. Metal fuels allow the storage of clean energy at high density and can also be burned at fast rates to provide the high power levels that, today, can only be provided by fossil fuel combustion.