HIGH PROFILE
fuel costs and will – understandably – try to bring
those costs down to meet their KPIs. But once our
discussions reach an operational or workshop
level, looking at the challenges on the ground,
then we see the true picture of injector
replacements and repair downtime – and wider
hidden costs that can be directly attributed to fuel
decisions. The opportunity we have when
collaborating with mining customers and decision
makers is to highlight the importance of making
the right fuel choice which in today’s environment
is crucial where every dollar counts and, where
equipment fleets are ageing, reliability and
efficiency are very important.
Q Do you also prove the benefits of additivated
fuels by allowing customers to trial these
products, maybe at one of their operations or on
part of their mining fleet?
A Our starting point is to try and understand in
depth the customer operations and where our fuel
and lubricant solutions could make potential
improvements. Once that is established we can
look at options for them in terms of trialling Shell
products in a way that meets their requirements.
But it will depend on a number of factors such as
the type of fuel storage tanks they have, the
nature and proximity of their sites, for example, if
it would be possible for one fleet in one pit to
keep running one product and a nearby pit fleet to
trial the new product; or even for a proportion of
one large fleet to switch to the Shell product. No
two mining operations are the same – it could be
the same company, same country and even two
similar types of operation but the challenges and
the P&L situation could be different. Once we
understand the operation, we can try to come up
with solutions that are tailored to that site and
then discuss things like trials and commercial
aspects. But it is very useful to be able to prove
the benefits of our products in a real customer
operation. Being on site also gives us the chance
to see first-hand the current situation on injectors
and equipment load pulling power, plus gain
direct feedback from operators and drivers. They
can sense physically drops in torque of the vehicle
where they have to switch to a lower gear so they
can give us a lot of insight, which together with
recommendations coming from the mining
company operations or maintenance teams etc,
then we can have the more commercial discussion
with procurement.
Q With the mining equipment becoming more
complex such as using Stage V and Tier 4 Final
engines, is the quality of fuel even more important?
A Definitely. What we see is mines trying to
squeeze every ounce of efficiency out of their
fleets. This is why all these vehicle technology
improvements are being made so that the
efficiency per unit of equipment is as high as it
can possibly be. But there are downsides to
complex equipment – the injector systems are
more prone to dirt buildup, so injector cleanliness
(another wording used is deposit control) becomes
even more important. This is because in these
Stage V/Tier 4 Final engines the injector nozzles
are much smaller, therefore injector performance is
more sensitive to smaller amounts of dirt or
deposits than previous injection systems to still
maintain optimum performance. With a Tier 2 and
even with a Tier 3 engine it is possible to manually
clean the injector nozzles as well as repair and
remanufacture them. However, with the Tier 4 Final
and Stage V engines this is not possible, and they
have to be replaced, also the cost of the injectors
is also much higher than on the Tier 1 to Tier 3
engines. Yes, they are more efficient – one recently
developed injector claims to offer a 15%
improvement in fuel efficiency over older models.
But the more efficient injectors are, the more
sophisticated they are and the more it matters that
they be kept in good condition to deliver the
performance they have been designed for. For Tier
1 and Tier 2 engines, the maintenance is easier
and cheaper so it may not be the major part of the
fuel related cost – that’s why discussions were
always mainly about fuel economy and
consumption. Now, the high efficiency engines use
less fuel, but also come with the requirement to
maintain the injection system in a much more
advanced way. We have mining customers who tell
us that when they look at the total fuel related
costs including fuel consumption and fuel related
maintenance, for Tier 4 and above, the share of
fuel related maintenance costs is higher than the
share for fuel consumption. This is where
additivated fuels really come into their own,
especially fuels with deposit control technology, so
they are becoming very important for today’s
mining fleets. This also reflects the need for more
load-pulling power since power loss can be a
direct result of deposit build-up and inefficient
combustion. The Worldwide Fuel Charter (WWFC)
recommends that Category 4 fuel should show no
more than 2% power loss associated with injector
cleanliness and our Shell fuels with DYNAFLEX
Technology meet this.
Q That said, many mining countries are still using
Tier 1 and Tier 2 engines as higher Tiers are not
yet mandated in those locations...
A Even in these places, the saving on fuel by using
basic regular diesel fuel is only temporary. In
mining, even for lower Tier engines, the 24/7
nature of operations means the strain on the
engines and on the equipment is very high and
often the machines are dealing with climatic
extremes of hot or cold as well. If mines take an
integrated view of the full impact of their fuel
choice, they can still see the benefits even if they
aren’t using Tier 4 Final or Stage V engines. Fuel
consumption and maintenance costs are still a big
factor, plus you have costs associated with the
storage tanks, for example, where regular fuel has
been stored for a long period or biofuels are being
used and additional filtration may be needed – all
extra costs. I also made the point before about
cost pressures in today’s business environment
meaning older fleets are not being replaced as
quickly – or they are being replaced in an ad hoc
way so they end up with a mix of older and newer
equipment. Then you need a fuel which will work
well in both types of equipment. The maintenance
regime for older and newer machines is also
different. The aim with newer equipment is to
maximise the value of that new investment with
preventative maintenance and keeping the
vehicles and engines as clean as possible to avoid
dirt build up. For older equipment, it is how to run
machines for as long as possible before
replacement. With older trucks which aren’t that
efficient, the driver is fuel consumption plus it is
likely their injectors have more deposits
accumulated over time. Here the active clean-up
property of additivated fuel (such as our Shell
fuels with DYNAFLEX Technology) is very
important, so that it is able to remove those sticky
carbon deposits.
Q Fuel storage is important – most mines receive
fuel with tankers and a few via pipelines but the
storage method varies a lot. What do you advise
with regard to fuel storage related to fuel
performance?
A Fuel efficiency doesn’t stop with the fuel choice.
How you handle the fuel is as important as how
you store it. We often provide advice to mining
customers on fuel storage housekeeping down to
the level of what storage tank is most suitable
depending on the climate and/or the level of bio
components in the fuel. Some components in the
fuel tank storage system may not work as well
with biofuel, for example. Underground fuel tanks
are most expensive but can be worth the
investment as the fuel is less exposed to climatic
conditions which can affect the longevity of the
fuel. Maintenance regimes for fuel tanks focus on
avoiding oxidation, microbial growth, water
ingress etc and we can advise on that. Our Shell
fuels with DYNAFLEX Technology contain
components that can help improve oxidation
stability and support water separation as an
example. At the end of the day you want the
quality of the fuel going in the storage tank to be
as close as possible to that coming out and going
on the mining truck. Lastly, in this COVID-19 crisis
many mining fleets have been parked and idled
for a period – meaning in some cases the
turnaround time for fuel has been slowed down
so it is important to assess if the fuel in the tanks
remains of good quality and again, we can advise
on this. IM
JULY/AUGUST 2020 | International Mining 91