MINING ENGINES
modern, or fuel-efficient power solution, at the
same time as they install an autonomous system.”
Where to start?
The transition beyond Tier 4 Final/EU Stage V will
see many companies previously thought of as
engine makers/developers update their dieselfocused
image. It will also see them provide
‘energy solutions’ as opposed to just engines.
Such a change has been in the making at
Cummins for many years, according to Nendick.
“We’ve spent 100 years being the diesel engine
experts; our next hundred years is about being the
power experts, putting energy to work,” he said.
This transition started back in 2001 when the
Cummins Engine Company became Cummins Inc.
The company has since acquired expertise in a
range of diesel-powered alternatives that it can
leverage depending on the direction the market
for mobile mining equipment power solutions
takes.
This includes investing in hybrid and fullelectric
battery capability with the acquisitions of
Brammo, Johnson Matthey Battery Systems and
Efficient Drivetrains Inc in 2018. The addition of
Hydrogenics last year, meanwhile, came with
added hydrogen fuel cell expertise.
“During all of our experience with the OEMs
and their applications, we are trying to bring what
is the best power solution for their equipment to
the table,” Nendick said. “That is dependent on
the duty cycle, cost of technology, accessibility to
charging, etc.
“Our investments to date have really been
about attaining the knowledge and capability to
position ourselves for the future.”
The problem for Cummins and many of its peers
is the fact that different OEMs and miners are
pushing different diesel-alternative solutions.
OEMs such as Sandvik and Epiroc have tied
much of their future underground R&D to a mix of
battery, tethered electric, trolley-electric and
hybrid solutions. These solutions look to stack up
for 65-t-and-under payload trucks.
Caterpillar, also an engines supplier, has talked
up the use of trolley assist in the open-pit space,
while it is also working on Project Verde, a project
“focused on energy and emissions reduction, and
helping customers decrease their carbon
footprints through machinery and power solutions
that contribute to lower greenhouse gas”, Brian
Weller, Chief Engineer, Surface Mining &
Technology, Caterpillar Inc, told IM earlier this
year.
It too has plans to roll out battery solutions for
underground mining, with its R1700 the first LHD
set for the battery-electric treatment.
BELAZ is currently working on a 90-t batteryelectric
haul truck for the open-pit space, which
will trump the 63-t payload eDumper as the
world’s largest battery-powered vehicle when it is
finished (expected to
be later this year).
Komatsu has created
the first hybrid rope
shovel for mining in the
form of its P&H
2650CX, which uses
the technology of
Komatsu electric drive
wheel loaders –
switched reluctance
technology – to capture
the energy naturally
regenerated in swing
deceleration and hoist
lowering, thereby
reducing the diesel power draw. Underground, it
has also manufactured diesel-battery hybrids that
are currently being trialled at Codelco’s
Chuquicamata mine.
The likes of Liebherr and Hitachi have not yet
publicly laid out diesel engine-alternatives, but
their participation in the International Council on
Mining and Metals’ Innovation for Cleaner, Safer
Vehicles (ICSV) program (which Sandvik, Epiroc,
Cat and Komatsu are also involved in) should
provide industry guidance.
The ICSV is looking at introducing greenhouse
gas emission-free surface mining vehicles by 2040
and minimising the operational impact of diesel
exhaust underground by 2025.
Then, of course, there are pockets of mining
companies close to cheap and accessible LNG that
are asking their suppliers to prepare engines for
using increased amounts of this diesel fuel
alternative. Similarly, the price of – and tariffs
associated with – diesel fuel in some countries is
pushing miners with the correct open-pit setup to
install trolley infrastructure to help save thousands
of litres of fuel, while reducing emissions.
Schaefer conveys the problem Cummins and
other power solution companies are facing: “The
challenge is to figure out the common technology
or architecture that we can scale. Neither the
OEMs nor the supply base can develop one-off
solutions and be commercially viable.”
Yet, the adoption of hydrogen fuel cells is one
avenue Schaefer believes the industry will
evaluate. Cummins’ acquisition of Hydrogenics
and its status as a ‘Steering Member’ of the
Hydrogen Council would indicate it will also
pursue the use of this technology.
“Beyond the high-profile trial that Anglo is
carrying out, we believe there is a future for fuel
cells in mining,” he said.
But deploying such technology at scale is likely
to require the building of hydrogen infrastructure.
“We know how to make hydrogen – we
acquired electrolyser technology through
Hydrogenics. Now, we have to make the economic
equation work in mining.”
Components of microgrids – initially viewed as
important elements for flexible stationary power
solutions – can be adapted for mobile
applications, Scott Woodruff says
Carbon-neutral territory
“We are a power systems company and a
solutions provider, not only an engine company,”
Woodruff says.
The Rolls-Royce business unit Power Systems
has backed that statement up in the last five
years, adding a majority stake in Berlin-based
smart plug-and-play battery power storage
specialist Qinous, now renamed Rolls-Royce
Solutions Berlin and extended into the company’s
Microgrid Competence Center; acquiring the
exclusive rights from G+L innotec to a new
technology for the electrically-assisted charging of
off-highway combustion engines in the power
range above 450 kW; and co-operating on fuel cell
developments with Daimler Truck AG.
Not all of these have a direct line of sight to the
mobile mining equipment power solutions
business, but Woodruff believes they could still
influence the company’s offering in this segment.
“While many of these technologies are rooted
in the power generation side of the business, we
see tremendous opportunities to adapt solutions
to the mining and oil & gas segments,” Woodruff
said.
Components of microgrids – initially viewed as
important elements for flexible stationary power
solutions – can be adapted for mobile
applications, he added. Microgrids themselves are
also of interest to operators of remote mining sites
which are disconnected from the grid.
The area of development Rolls-Royce thinks has
the most potential for bringing down the
emissions of large mining engines for mobile
applications in the near- to medium-term is the
creation of carbon-neutral fuels.
It is these fuels that could provide MTU engines
a new, climate-friendlier lease of life.
“Another one of our pillars is power-to-x,”
Woodruff explains. “Taking ‘green’ hydrogen and
enriching fuels is definitely a way of extending
44 International Mining | JULY/AUGUST 2020