A viable option for mines to continue processing ore in power outages and also for Eskom and mines to recycle saved energy...
Overview:
I have reviewed technology that solves wet coal problems as it crushers the coal it dries it from plus 15% to 5%, uses less energy to crush material hence can replace or work in tandem with mines and Eskom and mines to crush their coal and other resources, can work on a generator and can continue crushing material using a generator thus reducing mine losses during this dark time, and may be worthy of a story from your investigative team. It was presented last week at the mining conference at the Hyatt and welcomed by the mining industry. The beauty is it is SA patented technology, one up for our country. It seems to be able to front end current technology and also work independently. The savings on wear and tear more than pay for this rather cheap alternative and the resultant energy recycled into the Eskom grid from the mines and Eskom’s own power station savings use.
History:
I do not pretend to be an expert but this technology must have a role to play in SA. It makes interesting reading and was patented technology developed in 1996/2000, first patents sold to Elkem in Sweden and these units installed at Siltek in New Castle Natal since 2000.
The new generation technology developed in 2003 has been purchased by an overseas consortium based in UK/ Switzerland with which Alstom is involved. I note that one of the largest companies in Europe has developed 3 strategies for the power industry, namely fronting current mills/crushers in power stations, thus not in interfering with the direct feeding into the boilers but reducing the wear and tear on the ball mills and also reducing maintenance and operating costs. The second option is direct feed biomass milling and the third is co firing with coal and biomass.
South Africa:
I believe this may be an option for Eskom as this would alleviate the wet coal problem reported as the process is a form of attrition, and reduce the ball mill wear and tear, energy burden costs on power consumption as these units total motor output is 132 kwh compared to current plus 1500 kwh for mine and power station crushers and mills. One of these units is available at Mintek for testing over the last 2,5 years and a number of mines are in final stage testing for using these underground to crush waste ore and not have to send it top side. The saving is immense and one of the best advantages is that these units can run on generators.
It may be news worthy to look at these units at Mintek in operation as they have numerous test results on a number of different products from coal, biomass to various mine ores, e.g. platinum, gold, uranium to name a few. This may be of immense interest and assistance to our Mining industry.
Certainly this technology may be a viable option for the mines to continue processing ore in power outages and also for Eskom and mines to recycle saved energy from the current mills and crushers back into the grid. The capital cost of these units is less than10% of the ball mills and the maint is remarkable, with all the internals of the mills replaced within 8 hours according to the company.
I have enclosed a draft document that I was looking at and this may be one of the options available to the mines and Eskom in our troubled energy crisis. Their web site is www.energydensification.com
Source:
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The difficulty with crisis is that every charlatan and snake oil salesman tries to climb on the bandwagon with his pet solution to the problem. usually the only effects of the solution are:
1/. to make the problem worse.
2/. to increase the salesman's bank . .more balance.
The article as contributed is largely unreadable because of the utterly shocking English used.
The grammar makes the whole story incomprehensible.
I suggest the contributor is trying to climb on the bandwagon. . .less
by Plutarch on January 27 2008, 09:44 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it
by Don't miss your chance Plutarch- grab a first-class seat on the gravy train. on January 27 2008, 17:11 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it
If wet coal really is the problem... After having just watched Carte Blanche one has to conclude that Eskom has lost control and do not know what is going on at their own power stations.
by Davey on January 27 2008, 22:01 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it
Sounds like Plutarch can only be a grumpy old man & one who's probably right However that does not mean write the contribution off without looking at it.
by anonymous on January 27 2008, 22:06 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it
What about the old-fashioned way?
These solutions proposed above would clearly require mayor capital outlay and long construction periods to implement.
It is not clear to me how it can be proposed as a solution to an emergency.
We still need to learn . .more exactly what is cooking here. More likely the problem is simply a deviation from old established operating regimes where proper stockpile management was employed. Rumour has it that inexperienced transport and other subcontractors have caused this simple system to fail.
Surely that is the first thing to be fixed – and Eskom’s incompetence in generally managing risk.
Has wet coal ever been a problem before?
And as we are running these plants at the limit now, there may be cost-benefit arguments on a long term, in a discounted saving model, taking into account efficiency and boiler erosion, but that may not be the solution in the short term?
. .less
by Jack on January 28 2008, 11:40 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it
Innovative !Great technology I commend your thinking and acknowledge the idea that SA needs a Quick Fix to resolve this crisis, However my Solution is more home based (the technology we have keeps the Country operational and similtaneously allows Eskom to recover
by Bobby on January 29 2008, 12:19 Find this comment inappropriate? Report it
