International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 32 (2022) 155–169

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International Journal of Mining Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijmst

Diesel generator exhaust heat recovery fully-coupled with intake air

heating for off-grid mining operations: An experimental, numerical, and
analytical evaluation
Durjoy Baidya a, Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito a, Agus P. Sasmito b, Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh a,⇑
a
Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver V6T 1Z4, Canada
b
Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Montreal H3A 2A7, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The customarily discarded exhaust from the fossil fuel-based power plants of the off-grid mines holds the
Received 30 March 2021 thermal potential to fulfill the heating requirement of the underground operation. This present research
Received in revised form 30 July 2021 fills in an important research gap by investigating the coupling effect between a diesel exhaust heat
Accepted 27 October 2021
recovery and an intake air heating system employed in a remote mine. An integrative approach compris-
Available online 24 November 2021
ing analytical, numerical, and experimental assessment has been adapted. The novel analytical model
developed here establishes the reliability of the proposed mine heating system by providing comparative
Keywords:
analysis between a coupled and a decoupled system. The effect of working fluid variation has been exam-
Remote mines
Waste heat utilization
ined by the numerical analysis and the possible improvement has been identified. Experimental investi-
Diesel exhaust gations present a demonstration of the successful lab-scale implementation of the concept and validate
Combined heat and power generation the numerical and analytical models developed. Successful deployment of the fully coupled mine heating
Clean energy in mining system proposed here will assist the mining industry on its journey towards energy-efficient, and sus-
Coupled heating system tainable mining practices through nearly 70% reduction in fossil fuel consumption for heating intentions.
Ó 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China University of Mining & Technology. This is an open
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction energy. The remaining diesel fuel is wasted as heat through the
waterjacket, cooling system, and exhaust stream [13]. A detailed
There are currently 32 remote (neither connected to power grid study [14] on the energy distribution of diesel generators has
nor to natural gas pipeline [1]) mines in Canada, including both shown that most of this waste heat is dumped through the exhaust
those in operation and in planning stages. The overall power and depending on the size and type of the generator, it is equiva-
demand of these mines is 658 MWe, with individual demands lent to 31% to 41% of the consumed fuel. In other words, a diesel
ranging from 4 to 125 MWe [2]. Most of these remote mines are generator generally discards 1.4 kW of energy through the exhaust,
being powered by fossil fuels, commonly through diesel generators primarily in the form of heat, to provide 1 kW of electricity. Gener-
[3]. This results in high economic and logistics costs. Most remote ators that are fueled by natural gas or LNG also have similar heat-
locations do not have road access year-round, and all necessary ing energy potential lost in the exhaust [15,16]. Based on the cost
equipment, including fuels, needs to be annually transported dur- of the supplied fossil fuels at the remote mine site, a typical mine
ing a short time span [4,5]. This absence of road access results in a with a power demand of 10 MWe, discards 3.5 to 7 million CAD
notable surcharge on fuel prices, which can be two or three-fold in equivalent of thermal energy through their power generation
some locations [6,7]. Such scenario is influencing the mining exhaust [14].
industry to come up with energy-efficient ventilation system [8] Almost all Canadian remote mines, located in the Arctic [17]
along with necessary cooling [9,10] and heating [11] solutions for experience long, harsh winters where the air temperatures as
future remote operations. low as
40 °C. This makes it mandatory to preheat the subfreezing
Although fossil fuel-based generators are the most reliable air at mine intake shaft above +1 °C (generally to 4–7 °C) to prevent
choice for supplying electric power to a remote mining operation rime development in underground innards and machineries [18].
[12], they can only convert up to 40% of the fuel burn into electric There are two traditional heating techniques for preheating mine
intake air, both of which entail the use of fossil fuels. The first is
⇑ Corresponding author. a direct heating system that uses a fossil fuel (propane or diesel)
E-mail address: ali.madiseh@ubc.ca (S.A. Ghoreishi-Madiseh). burner. The other is an indirect heating system, in which a heat

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmst.2021.10.013
2095-2686/Ó 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China University of Mining & Technology.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
D. Baidya, Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito, A.P. Sasmito et al. International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 32 (2022) 155–169

exchanger transports heat from fossil fuel burning to mine intake from a diesel-based engine [27]. In another study, deploying a shell
air. The cost of heating an off-grid mine can approach 7–8 million and tube heat exchanger in a DEHR system, which had a parallel
CAD per year, based on the heating technique, heating fuel type, flow pattern inside, with an optimized design attained 76% recov-
ambient, and operational setpoint temperature [11,14]. ery [13]. In certain scenarios, shell and tube heat exchanger opti-
Moreover, there is a substantial carbon tax associated with this mization can even enable an increase in effectiveness by 42%
type of heating. These circumstances compel the mining industry [46]. Both heat pipe and shell and tube-based heat exchangers
to focus on alternative heating solutions for both surface and have been proved to be beneficial for coupling with energy storage
underground operations. These solutions include using waste heat systems in terms of improving energy efficiency [47,48].
from mine water [19,20], mine exhaust [21,22], and exhaust from A few other types of heat exchanger-based exhaust heat recov-
the power generation units [11,14]. However, because of the ery systems are available in the literature. Nevertheless, employ-
higher heating energy potential, utilizing waste heat from the ments of those heat exchangers are usually very case-specific
exhaust of power production units is the most practical alternative [49] and were found not to fit the scope of the present work.
in severe cold, isolated situations. The literature review presented here proves that the recovery of
Waste heat recovery technologies that have been developed waste heat from the diesel generator exhaust is advancing gradu-
over the years can be categorized based on the method to recover ally. However, in terms of utilizing the thermal potential of the die-
and use the energy. The first involves heat recovery and the provi- sel exhaust in mine heating system, the number of studies
sion of direct heating when and where required. This type of recov- available is very limited. The only work [11,14] obtainable on such
ery method is applicable where there is a great demand for heating topics was previously developed by the present authors but
[23–25]. The second method converts the recovered heat into elec- focused on a straightforward and elementary analytical approach
tricity via an energy conversion technology (e.g., Organic Rankine to appraise the practicability of such a system. These studies were
Cycle [26–28], thermoelectric generators [29–31]). These methods the very first ones in this field promoting the idea of recovering
are more viable in areas facing severe energy shortages [32] and diesel exhaust heat for shaft heating and did not include the ther-
there is no demand of direct utilization of the recovered heat. Con- mal coupling effects between the heat exchangers in the analysis
version technologies have substantial energy losses (due to lower for simplification purpose. Rather, those studies vastly focused on
efficiency [33]), which makes their payback period higher than the potentiality of such system in sustainable reduction of carbon
direct heating usage of waste heat [34]. As the scope of the current footprint of the off-grid mining operations. In a decoupled system,
study is the remote mining operations, which requires vast the performance of the intake air heating unit is considered inde-
amounts of energy for heating, the first method has been focused pendent to diesel exhaust heat recovery system. In such systems,
upon here. it is assumed that all the heat captured in the heat recovery unit
The literature review shows that heat pipes and shell and tube is supplied through the heat delivery unit. On the other hand, in
heat exchanger-centered heat recovery systems are the most a coupled system, the output of the exhaust heat recovery unit is
prevalent ones for diesel or natural gas/LNG generators. Effective considered as direct input of the heat delivery unit which makes
thermal control makes the heat pipes flexible enough to be recom- the system dynamic and brings it closer to the reality. Keeping
mended for use in gas-to-gas heat exchange where high- the two heat exchangers performance independent to each other
temperature, polluted, or corrosive fluids are involved [35]. Suc- could be proved misleading in the long run by overestimating
cessful applications of heat pipe-based heat recovery systems were the energy savings or carbon reduction offered by the system for
found in labs and hospitals where air was required to be altered the off-grid mining operation [22,50].
nearly 40 times/h [36]. During the winter in China, a passenger This paper intends to fill in this crucial research gap by present-
bus was provided with the necessary heating by retrieving waste ing an in-depth analytical, numerical, and experimental investiga-
heat from the bus engine exhaust through heat pipes [37]. The tions on the prospect of recovering heat from diesel generator (the
selection of materials can significantly improve the competence most common and reliable power generation unit in a mine)
of heat pipes in terms of dealing with corrosion problems. For exhaust to transport it to a system for heating the underground
example, employing a split heat exchanger prevented corrosion mine intake airflow. An experimental pilot-scale setup of the sys-
within a diesel exhaust heat recovery (DEHR) system of a fishing tem was designed, assembled, and tested for further verification
boat [38]. Nonetheless, numerous other variables (for example, of the developed three-dimensional numerical model. Later, the
boiling, capillary, sonic and viscous) restrict the working condi- validated numerical models were used to study the impact of
tions of heat pipes [39]. Against gravity, heat pipes seem to under- changing working fluid in the proposed mine heating system.
perform [40]. Heat pipes also require special working fluids while Finally, the parameters obtained from the experimental study were
working with very high temperatures [41]. Limitations such as used to analytically scrutinize the performance of a large-scale
these reduce the application of heat pipes for heat recovery at dynamic coupled version of the system. This present study holds
remote mines in cold climate regions. its uniqueness in its coupled analysis where the continuous recip-
In diverse sectors, shell and tube heat exchangers are exten- rocal impacts between two heat exchanging devices placed in the
sively employed [42]. Their ability to handle high vacuum to heat capturing and supplying regions were taken into considera-
ultra-high operating pressures, high temperatures, corrosive fluids, tion to offer a more practical model for real-life off-grid mine heat-
and their low potential for fluid leakage, has made the shell and ing system. So far as the authors are aware, no such comprehensive
tube type the most flexible heat exchanging devices for medium work is available on the recovery of diesel exhaust waste energy
to high heat requirements [43,44]. Several studies demonstrate for intake airflow heating of remote underground mines and this
the use of shell and tube heat exchanger in DEHR systems. In establishes the novelty of the present work.
Alaska, with the deployment of a shell and tube-based heat
exchanger system, it was possible to capture almost two-third of
the heat available from a 125 kWe diesel generator exhaust, run- 2. Methodology
ning at various load factors. The accumulated soot (one of the big-
gest concerns for such system) in the tube was 97.5% less than In this study, an integrated coupled system is investigated that
theoretically estimated [45]. A finned-tube heat exchanger-based consists of two heat exchanging components, i.e., a diesel exhaust
system, for most of the operating load factors, showed 60%-70% heat recovery unit (DEHRU) and an intake air heating unit (IAHU).
heat recovery of the maximum heat transfer theoretically possible These units are dynamically interconnected by a liquid loop that
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transports the recovered heat and delivers it to an end-user. The tem, DEHRU to capture the exhaust heat, and IAHU to transport the
practicality of transporting hot liquids over hot gases with minimal captured heat from the DEHRU to the fresh intake air.
losses and the flexibility of having different sources and end-users The experimental setup (shown in Fig. 2) was built to collect all
were the two most important factors affecting the selection of this the required real-time data without interfering with the operation.
design. The hazards of having direct heat exchange between flue The open-loop system was the case where a drum heater was used
gases and fresh intake air have also been considered carefully. Heat to maintain a certain temperature in the water tank and water out-
exchangers were selected for their practicality and low cost. let from IAHU was not returned to the tank. Results from open-
The selected DEHRU was a one-shell-pass and one-tube-pass loop experimental investigations were used to validate the numer-
shell-and-tube heat exchanger, which is a flexible device that can ical results. On the other hand, in the closed-loop investigation, the
withstand high-temperature differences and heavy fouling. The drum heater was disconnected and the water outlet form IAHU
IAHU, a compact cross-flow, fin-and-tube heat exchanger was cho- was sent back to the tank. The data collected after the system
sen for its larger heat transfer area and low-pressure drop on the reached stead-state was used to validate the coupled analytical
gas side. The mobile, compact experimental setup was built as a model developed here. Fig. 3 shows the mobile lab-scale imple-
pilot-scale version of this system and tested in a series of configu- mentation of the designed schematic.
rations with various operating parameters. To further investigate
the effect of changing the working fluid on the coupled heating 2.1.1. Diesel exhaust heat recovery unit
system, numerical models of the two selected heat exchanger units A low-noise, air-cooled diesel generator with a maximum
were developed and simulated using a popular Computational power of 5 kWe, was used for the experiment. The diesel generator
Fluid Dynamics package (ANSYS Fluent 2019R1 Campus Solution). was operated at different load factors using a Simplex portable
After a thorough examination of the performance and feasibility of load bank with a capacity of up to 10 kW, and the exhaust temper-
the system, some key parameters were obtained. These parameters atures were recorded. The exhaust mass flow had to be deter-
were then employed in a novel analytical thermodynamically cou- mined in order to evaluate the heat transfer between the
pled model of the established system. This analytical model was exhaust and the water. To estimate this, the intake air-flow into
analyzed to evaluate the large-scale, closed-loop performance of the generator was monitored, with earlier research supporting
the currently proposed system. Both the numerical and analytical and correlating the results [13]. The mass flow rate of the diesel
models were validated against the experimental results. The work- exhaust at various load factors (0–100%) was found ranging from
flow of the integrative approach has been shown in Fig. 1. 0.01 to 0.012 kg/s, using the datasheet’s fuel consumption and
air to fuel ratio.
2.1. Experimental setup On a counter flow configuration, a shell and tube heat exchan-
ger (single pass) was installed in the same movable trolley that
For the experimental model, the generator exhaust was run contained the generator and the load bank. The exhaust portion
through the tube side of the shell-and-tube heat exchanger. In uni- from the manifold was lengthened and hooked to the heat exchan-
son, working fluid was flowing through the shell side, recovering ger’s tubes.
the exhaust heat, and delivering it to the IAHU to preheat the fresh To observe the pressure drop throughout the unit, two chrome-
intake air. Water was selected as the working fluid owing to its plated steel pressure gauges (0–2.49 kPa) with ±2% accuracy were
convenience and economy in the experimental investigation. Also, positioned at the exhaust inlet and the outlet. Similarly, two stain-
since the test was conducted with a conventional air conditioning less steel pressure gauges (0–10.34 kPa) with ±1.5% accuracy were
unit, the intake air was only approximately 15 °C, which made the placed on the water side. These pressure gauges were installed to
use of water possible. The working fluid should nevertheless have prevent the unit from choking. However, the pressure drops were
anti-freezing characteristics in off-grid areas which was studied in too low to be measured accurately. Four K-type thermocouples
the numerical analysis of this paper. were placed at the exhaust and the water side of the system’s inlets
The experimental set-up had three units running simultane- and outlets. The temperature data was recorded using a channel
ously: continuous water supply for the working fluid into the sys- data recorder.

Fig. 1. Overall workflow of the study.

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Fig. 2. Schematic of the experimental set-up (not to scale).

2.1.2. Water supply system system for mining applications. Recovering the heat from the die-
After connecting the heat exchanger to the diesel exhaust pipe, sel generator exhaust, the DEHRU transferred it to a flow of water.
it was necessary to have a continuous flow of water through the Pumping the water to the IAHU, heat in the water was transferred
unit to prevent overheating. With the purpose of doing that, a to the air.
movable trolley was constructed containing of the subsequent A pilot-scale heating unit was built containing a portable air
equipment: conditioning component and a cross-flow heat exchanger (similar
to a radiator) for intake air heating. Such a unit contains a high heat
(1) A 208.2 L plastic barrel with lid fittings mounted to flow the transfer area in the air side, which compensates for the lower con-
water to the heat exchanger from the pump. vection factor of the gas side. Such units are commonly imple-
(2) A drum heater to maintain a consistent water inlet temper- mented in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)
ature (only used in an open-loop system and was kept applications and also as alternative solutions in mine ventilation
detached in the closed-loop system). systems [22,50].
(3) A submersible pump within the drum for mixing water to
provide a uniform distribution of temperature.
(4) A peristaltic pump was connected to pump the water. 2.2. Numerical model development
(5) Flow and temperature sensors for real-time monitoring of
the working fluid parameters. To achieve agreement between the experimental and numerical
simulation results, both heat exchangers (DEHRU and IAHU) were
First, the drum was filled with tap water and then the drum drawn in SolidWorks 2018 and then implemented in ANSYS mesh-
heater maintained the temperature. The temperature and mass ing software. The heat transfer between the fluids within a heat
flow sensors ensured the water was pumped at the required flow exchanger is regulated by Navier-Stokes equations (a set of paired
rate via the peristaltic pump. continuity partial differential equations). To approximate the solu-
tion to these equations a finite volume-based numerical model was
2.1.3. Intake air heating unit employed. The fluid flow and heat transfer equations were
The IAHU was designed to demonstrate that the real-life DEHRU resolved using ANSYS Fluent. The simulation model could then
would be able to retrieve a substantial portion of the available investigate the temperature profiles, heat transfer rates, effective-
energy in diesel exhaust and send it to a fresh intake air heating ness, and velocity fields in more detail than permitted experimen-
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Fig. 3. Photographic view of the experimental setup.


 
tally. The numerical simulations for both the DEHRU and the IAHU lt
r  ðqkV Þ ¼ r  lþ r  k þ Gk
Y k ð6Þ
have been performed with a 3D steady-state turbulent model. rk

 
2.2.1. Governing equations lt
r  ðqeV Þ ¼ r  lþ r  e þ Ge
Y e ð7Þ
The standard k
e turbulence model was opted due to its wide re
range of practical engineering applications for numerous ranges of
where rk and re are the turbulent Prandtl numbers respectively for
flows. All the governing equations were revised according to the
k and e; l and lt the dynamic fluid viscosity and the eddy viscosity,
appropriate fluid flow and conjugate heat transfer parameters.
respectively; and Gk and Y k the production of turbulent kinetic
Since the heat transfer was in steady-state conditions, the time-
energy which increases attributable to mean velocity gradients
dependent equations for continuity, momentum, and energy
and turbulence-induced dissipation of kinetic energy. Similarly, Ge
needed to be altered to the followings [13,53].
and Y e are the production and dissipation of e that also considers
Continuity equation : r  ðqV Þ ¼ 0 ð1Þ the generation of buoyancy derived kinetic energy.
With the following equation, the heat loss from the heat
Momentum equations:
exchanger shell surface was computed and used as an input in
@P @ sxx @ sxy @ szx assigning the boundary condition in the software [54].
x-direction : r  ðquV Þ ¼
þ þ þ ð2Þ
@x @x @y @z
K
h¼ Nu ð8Þ
@P @ sxy @ syy @ syz D
y-direction : r  ðqv V Þ ¼
þ þ þ
qg ð3Þ
@y @x @y @z where h is the convective heat transfer co-efficient, W/m2K; and K
the thermal air conductivity at average film temperature (air sur-
@P @ szx @ syz @ szz face and ambient temperature average) and 101325 Pa pressure,
z-direction : r  ðqwV Þ ¼
þ þ þ ð4Þ W/mK [54].
@z @x @y @z
D = shell diameter (m)

 !
@T @T @T @2T @2T @2T Nu ¼ Nusselt number
Energy: qC p u þv þw ¼K þ þ ð5Þ
@x @y @z @x2 @y2 @z2 (
58 )45
0:62Re0:5 Pr0:33 Re
¼ 0:3 þ n  1þ
The turbulent viscosity that was induced by the flow, was calcu-  23 o0:25 282; 200
lated by solving for the turbulent kinetic energy (k) and the turbu- 1 þ 0:4
Pr
lent dissipation rate (e).
Transport equations:
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where Pr is the air Prandtl number; Re the Reynolds number = aD

n
;a the solid domain’s lateral parts were regarded symmetrical (uni-
the speed of wind(m/s); and n the kinematic viscosity(m2/s). tary part) or adiabatic (for the full row). The turbulence modeling
method that was found to better represent the real operation of
the unit was the standard k
e model accompanied by an
2.2.2. Meshing
enhanced wall treatment that enhanced the exactness of flow in
Due to the complex geometry of the heat exchanger, an assem-
close proximity to the walls.
bly meshing strategy was used in the numerical model for both
DEHRU and IAHU. For both heat exchanger, the analysis started
2.3. Analytical model
with an initial mesh and afterwards refinements were made till
the grid independence was achieved.
To comprehend the implementation of the system, the equa-
For DEHRU, a predominantly hexagonal mesh with inflation
tions governing its thermodynamic balance were developed. An
layers was generated, and as a result, it had the capability to cap-
e-NTU assessment was executed utilizing a few acceptable notions.
ture the viscous boundary effects and to converge quicker in com-
The most critical constraint of the study was the heat to be effec-
parison with the regular meshing methods. The simulations were
tively regained from the diesel exhaust and provided to the cold
performed with coarser to finer meshed models which resulted
fresh intake airflow of the mine. Fig. 5 shows the critical tempera-
in the optimum meshing for the heat exchanger. This approach
ture points which have been selected to establish the reliability of
began with an element size selection of 40 mm, which yielded a
the coupled heating system.
very coarse mesh with 0.18 million elements. Then the largest ele-
Following the literature [43,50,54], the equations of interest are
ment size was reduced to 5.76, 4, and 0.8 mm. Considerable effects
listed as follows Eqs. (9–13).
were observed by increasing the number of elements to 0.78 mil-
   
lion. Subsequent to this point, the impacts became less consider- Q_ a ¼ C h T h;in
T h;out ¼ C c T c;out
T c;in ð9Þ
able (less than 0.05%) for the whole system. However, since it
was found that the model achieved mesh independence with a which gives the actual heat transfer in each heat exchanger, where
maximum element size of 4 mm, the model with 1988450 nodes C was found by:
and 2037562 elements was selected for DEHRU to further _ p
C ¼ mc ð10Þ
investigate in this study.
For IAHU, the Cutcell meshing method was used to achieve a Knowing effectiveness was calculated by:
perfectly hexahedral mesh, which was modeled to accompany
Q_
the direction of the flow and the field of gradients which signifi- e¼ _ a ð11Þ
cantly decreased the truncation error. By taking advantage of the Q max
unitary repetitions and symmetries present in the geometry, a Knowing the maximum heat exchangeable was
small unitary cell was chosen for the mesh sensitivity analysis.  
The smallest area in the unit was anticipated to be between the Q_ max ¼ C min  DT max ¼ C min T h;in
T c;in ð12Þ
fins, with the largest temperature gradients. This region also deter-
While the heat demand was found by:
mines the heat transfer on the gas side via flow conditions [55].
Therefore, assessing a small unitary section of the finned tube Q_ dem ¼ qair  V_ air  cpair ðT set
T amb Þ ð13Þ
would be enough to analyze the impact of element sizes on the
overall heat transfer of the unit. To come up with a mesh indepen- Using the relationships mentioned above for the system pre-
dent numerical model for the IAHU, four different meshing sented in Baidya et al. [14] and here simplified as Fig. 5, a set of
schemes containing 4–7 elements in the area between neighboring six equations and six unknowns, were composed presuming a per-
fins were developed and investigated. By evaluating these, it was sistent effectiveness for both DEHRU and IAHU. The six equations,
understood that increasing the further refinement of the mesh Eqs. (14–19), were as follows.


would not improve results. Hence, the mesh with 7 elements eEHRU
between neighboring fins was chosen for all subsequent simula- T2 ¼ T1
C min;EHRU   ðT 1
T 6 Þ ð14Þ
C EHRU
tions for IAHU.


C EHRU
T3 ¼ T6 þ  ðT 1
T 2 Þ ð15Þ
2.2.3. Boundary conditions C flu;u
For DEHRU, the exhaust coming from the diesel generator was
!
referred to as the hot fluid in the tube section. On the other hand, Q_ loss;s
the working fluid (water or 50% water-glycol mixture) was referred T4 ¼ T3
ð16Þ
C flu;t
to as the cold fluid in the section (shown in). The DEHRU boundary
circumstances were a mix of constant mass flow intakes at con-

C min;IAHU  eIAHU
stant temperatures and pressurized outputs under ambient condi- T8 ¼ T7 þ  ðT 4
T 7 Þ ð17Þ
tions. The shell surface of DEHRU was given a convective heat C IAHU
transfer coefficient (based on Eq. (8)) to replicate the heat loss

due to the windy environment during the experiment. The outputs C IAHU
T5 ¼ T4
 ðT 8
T 7 Þ ð18Þ
from DEHRU were used as inputs for IAHU. C flu;t
This IAHU featured one gas side pass and eight liquid fluid side !
passes, with the first fluid mixed and second one unmixed (shown Q_ loss;r
in Fig. 4) [56]. Such arrangements worked as a parallel configura- T6 ¼ T5
ð19Þ
C flu;t
tion for the unmixed side (air) and a series configuration for the
mixed (liquid) [56,57]. And so, it was feasible to declare that the where subscripts s and r are the supply and return pipelines,
symmetry planes between passes were adiabatic. All simulations respectively; and u and t the values related to single unit (or mod-
assumed that there was no heat loss in the pipes between passes ule) of the exhaust heat recovery component of the system and the
and that the entry temperature of each pass was identical to the entire system (including all modules). The amount of saved heat
exit temperature of the preceding one. Boundary conditions of was found by
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Fig. 4. Schematic of the numerical models developed [51,52].

Q_ sav ¼ C air  ðT 7
T 8 Þ ð20Þ units. After a long series of experimental tests, mean values for the
effectiveness and the losses in the system have been logged and
It was considered that the exhaust will not be cooled below a
used as estimates for a large-scale model. Full-scale performance
known limit (T exh;min ) to avoid condensation and subsequent corro-
was projected and then compared with previous analytical results.
sion. The quantity of discarded heat could be determined when- To investigate the large-scale adaptation of the proposed sys-
ever the exhaust was not cooled down to that limit, meaning tem, data from a real arctic mine was retrieved from literature
there was potential for more energy to be recovered. Hence, the [58,59]. The key constraints are listed in Table 1. This mine was
discarded heat was estimated by: an underground operation in the Northwest Territories (NWT),
  Canada. When necessary, the modeling of the diesel power plant
Q_ disc ¼ C exh  T 2
T exh;min ð21Þ was based on average values for power and load, using representa-
With these in mind, a MATLAB code was formed to iteratively tive numbers from datasheets for commonly used models [14].
solve the energy balance for the system. This new coupled model The temperature of the air being sent underground relies on the
differs from previously studies [14] by being more realistic in con- heating demand of the mine. Ambient temperatures from past
sidering the impact of both heat exchangers on one another, the weather data for the site of the mine were gathered from the Cana-
energy losses along the pipelines and effectiveness values for both dian government’s database [60]. Annual temperature data are

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Intake
T2 T6 T5 T8
air

EHRU IAHU

Diesel Exhaust
Gen-set stream
Working fluid Ambient
T1 T3 T4 T7 air

Fig. 5. Proposed coupled system showing the critical temperature points.

Table 1 3.1. Numerical investigation

Mine information and factors for the presumed generator type and power generation
plant.
3.1.1. Validation
Mine information Generator constraint The DEHRU and the IAHU were operated simultaneously during
Materials mined per year 2.1 Model CAT 3516 the experiment. So, the outlet water temperature of the DEHRU was
(Mt of ore/year) the input temperature for the IAHU. However, the numerical mod-
Total power capacity- 47 Engine 3516 TA, V- els were developed separately, and to ensure the same inputs as the
installed (MW) 16, Diesel
Annual consumption- 161 Capacity (MW) 1.75
experimental setup, the real-time values collected from the sensors
average (GWh) in the experiments were used in the numerical models. To authen-
Annual power demand- 18 Operating load factor- 1.225 (70%) ticate the developed numerical models for the DEHRU and IAHU,
average (MW) average (MW) (%] the working fluid mass flow rate was kept same (approximately
Airflow requirement 708 Number of gen-sets 15
0.02 kg/s) with varying load factors (22%–98%) of the diesel gener-
(m3/s) (average)
Set-point temperature 4.0 Maximum engine 6700 ator. The temperature of the exhaust inlet varied from 170 to
(intake air) (°C) backpressure (Pa) 385 °C, depending on the operating load factor of the generator.
The working fluid inlet temperature was around 40 °C. Due to the
limited insulation in the experimental setup, there were heat losses
shown in Fig. 6, together with the study’s chosen set-point, the from DEHRU which were considered in the simulations. The airflow
temperature to which the ambient air must be heated. from the air-conditioning unit installed in IAHU was 205 CFM
(0.0968 m3/s). Temperature increase and decrease in the cold and
hot fluid section respectively along with the overall effectiveness
3. Results and discussion of the units were considered as the comparing parameters to vali-
date the numerical models of both DEHRU and IAHU.
Both the experimental setup and the mesh independent numer- The increase in the generator load factors resulted in an
ical models for the DEHRU and the IAHU were tested, and the increased temperature rise and dropped on the water and the
experimental results were used to validate the numerical model. exhaust sides of DEHRU, respectively. In the case of the tempera-
After validation, the numerical model was run to analyze the ture change on the water (cold fluid) and the exhaust (hot fluid)
impact of working fluid on system performance. Later, the data sides of DEHRU, experimental and numerical results show differ-
obtained from the numerical analysis was used as inputs for the ences of 1%–5% and 0.1%–2%, respectively. In DEHRU, the maxi-
coupled analytical model to assess the large-scale feasibility of mum temperature rise on the waterside (34.4 °C) was found
the proposed model in a real-life scenario. while the generator was operated at a 98% load factor in the exper-

Fig. 6. Average daily temperatures for the site of the off-grid mine in NWT, Canada, in 2017 [60].

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imental investigation. This resulted in an approximately 208.6 °C freezing point than water. On that note, a 50% water-glycol mix-
temperature drop on the exhaust side. The results for heat fluxes ture was chosen for investigating the proposed system perfor-
on the water and exhaust sides pursued the same trend as a func- mance in a real-life mining operation in a remote location of
tion of temperature changes. The maximum heat flux on the water- northern Canada.
side (cold fluid at DEHRU) was about 2.34 kW in the experimental Fig. 9 represents the heat flux and temperature change results
investigation. On different operating load factors, the effectiveness of applying the water-glycol mixture as the working fluid in the
of the experimental setup (DEHRU) varied from 55% to 65%, having validated numerical model for the DEHRU. The boundary condi-
an average difference of 3% with the numerical results. tions of the numerical simulation were kept the same, and better
The temperatures of the exhaust, water and air were logged and insulation was introduced. Here, the mass flow rate of the glycol
read directly via thermocouples and data loggers, while fluid flow- mixture was kept the same (approximately 0.02 kg/s) at various
rates were read directly. Equipment accuracies have been consid- operating generator load factors. The DEHRU, with the water-
ered and are shown in the numerical model validation results glycol mixture as the working fluid, showed better performance
(shown in Fig. 7) as red vertical error bars. The results of the than using water in terms of heat transfer. On average, 30% more
numerical models at different test points were found in depend- of the existing heat in the diesel generator exhaust was captured
able agreements with the experimental results validating the and transferred to the glycol mixture than using water as the
numerical model of the DEHRU. working fluid.
In IAHU, the average difference between the numerical and The outputs (temperature and flow rate of the water-glycol
experimental results was 5%–8% for all the considering parameters. mixture) of the DEHRU were used in the validated numerical
The maximum heat flux was observed while the generator was model of the IAHU to investigate its performance. The boundary
running at the highest operating load factor due to the highest conditions were kept the same. For the first investigation, an ambi-
temperature gradients between the gas and liquid. The experimen- ent, inlet, air temperature of
15 °C was considered. Fig. 10
tal and numerical models showed, on average, 45% and 48% effec- demonstrates the temperature change of the intake air and the
tiveness, respectively. Even while accounting for sources of error heat flux for each iteration, under different operating generator
such as energy loss to ambient air, radiation heat from the sun, load factors. Seeing satisfactory results, a parametric study on
and measurement errors, the results establish the validity of the the impact of ambient air temperature was conducted. In this
IAHU numerical model for further investigation. investigation, the generator was operating at an 82% load factor,
Both the DEHRU and the IAHU have been consistently effective while ambient temperate varied from
35 to
5 °C.
throughout various experimental conditions. However, the DEHRU Both Figs. 10 and 11 show that even this lab-scale setup could
has shown somewhat more significant changes due to the more recover and deliver a substantial percentage of the heat obtainable
substantial changes in the working terms (i.e., exhaust inlet tem- in a diesel exhaust to the fresh mine intake air for preheating pur-
perature and therefore maximum temperature differential) with poses. The heat transfer rate and hence, the temperature shift
changing generator load factors. The DEHRU was capable to cap- increased almost linearly with the load factors of the diesel gener-
ture, on average 60% of the maximum energy available in the ator and the change of the intake air temperature. The performance
exhaust [14]. Meanwhile, the IAHU was able to deliver on average of the system with the water-glycol mixture as a working fluid in
89% of the energy transported to it by the DEHRU, or in total subfreezing temperatures is considerably enhanced over that of
around 52% of the available energy in the diesel exhaust. ambient temperatures and pure water.
Fig. 8 shows the amount of heat successfully recovered by the In some conditions, the results demonstrated more heat deliv-
DEHRU from the diesel generator exhaust, and then the amount ered than recovered. This was happened due to the higher temper-
of heat effectively supplied to the fresh air in the IAHU. The dis- ature difference between the water-glycol mixture and the inlet
crepancy between these two values raises as the generator operat- air. Even if the working fluid was not capturing heat from the diesel
ing load factor grows owing to the higher temperatures in the exhaust, the residual heat (due to the comparatively higher tem-
system that lead to more significant heat losses and ambient dis- perature) in itself would govern some sort of heat transfer to the
turbances. For the lower load factors, slightly more heat was deliv- cold intake air from the water-glycol mixture. This residual heat
ered in the IAHU than recovered by the DEHRU. This was happened added up to the heat recovered from the diesel exhaust and
because of the open-loop nature of the system which allowed the resulted in slightly higher heat delivered than recovered. This
working fluid to have residual heat before entering the system. amount of residual heat was found negligible in comparison with
This water then recovered less heat from the exhaust, and while the heat recovered from the exhaust and however it will make
delivering the heat to the air, it delivered not only recovered heat the system more profitable. Such phenomenon demonstrated the
from the exhaust but also the residual heat. This demonstrates the potential of taking benefit of the very low temperatures of fresh
capability to supply most of the captured heat and that significant intake air in a large-scale version of the proposed system in a
temperature differences between the fluids on the IAHU will lead remote arctic mining operation. This means that it should be pos-
to equally higher heat transfers. However, such discrepancies have sible to provide nearly all the captured heat in the DEHRU through
not been presented in Fig. 8 for the sake of clarity. the IAHU, aside from heat losses due to imperfect insulation.
It is necessary to mention that the fresh intake air was still
warm (around 15 °C) compared to realistic subfreezing tempera- 3.2. Analytical model for the closed-loop system
tures. A higher temperature difference between the fluids will
result in a higher amount of heat transfer, and this higher temper- Having gone through an in-depth investigation of the operation
ature difference would virtually allow the IAHU to supply most of of both heat exchanger units on a pilot-scale, the authors decided
the captured heat by the DEHRU. However, to efficiently operate to perform an evaluation of the performance of the full system.
this system in such low-temperature conditions, the working fluid For this, the MATLAB code from section 2.3 was used. Based on
would need anti-freezing properties, such as a water-glycol the thermodynamic equations described in the same section, the
mixture. code had as inputs: the initial temperatures of air and exhaust,
the heat exchanger effectiveness (of both units), the heat losses
3.1.2. Working fluid variation along the pipes, and the thermo-physical properties of all three flu-
The extreme cold climatic conditions of remote mining opera- ids (air, exhaust, and the working liquid). This code allowed an
tions make it necessary to have a working fluid that has a higher entirely closed-loop system analysis, returning temperatures from
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Fig. 7. Comparison of numerical and experimental results of both DEHRU and IAHU.

the points of interest in the system, with which all the main heat experimental and analytical outcomes was mostly to evaluate
transfer rates have been calculated. This is an advanced model how accurate the model was based on the assumptions taken.
from the previous decoupled model developed and published by Closed-loop tests were performed for an 82% and 98% load case,
the authors that did not take into account the effectiveness of the former being a more realistic case and the latter representing a
the IAHU and the heat losses [14]. maximum power case. Four important sections of the closed-loop
systems have been selected for validation and are reported in
3.2.1. Experimental and analytical comparison detail in Table 4. Fig. 12 shows the heat transfer rate and the tem-
The analytical model was first compared with its small-scale perature change results for both the analytical and experimental
experimental counterpart to confirm its efficacy. For that, all input models.
parameters came from the two sets of experimental tests, with the The analytical model succeeded in estimating the output tem-
most important ones shown in Tables 2 and 3. Comparing the peratures of the system with satisfactory agreement. The average

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D. Baidya, Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito, A.P. Sasmito et al. International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 32 (2022) 155–169

Fig. 8. Heat recovered (by the DEHRU) and heat delivered (by the IAHU) for a full cycle run in the experimental investigation.

Fig. 9. Heat flux (on left axis) and change of temperature (on right axis) in the exhaust and glycol sides of the DEHRU.

Fig. 10. IAHU performance analysis with different operating load factors of the generator.

discrepancy was close to 4% for the first load case, and around 5% 3.2.2. Analytical evaluation of large-scale system
for the second. Such results confirmed the validity of the analytical After finding that the code was sufficiently accurate and that
model when used to assess the capability of the heat recovery/de- the assumptions made were valid, it was possible to use it to
livery system established here. Having said that, the model was appraise the functioning of the large-scale system. The code used
considered sufficiently accurate to study the implementation of some experimental parameters from Section 3.2.1 as inputs (i.e.,
the proposed large-scale system. the effectiveness of the heat exchanger units and the heat losses

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D. Baidya, Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito, A.P. Sasmito et al. International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 32 (2022) 155–169

Fig. 11. IAHU performance analysis with the variation of inlet air temperature.

Table 2 consistent for both coupled and decoupled system individually. In

Same parameters for experimental and analytical comparison for both tests. some months, even though the heating requirement was not
Parameters Value Parameters Value served fully, there was heat that was discarded. It is because the
cp;exh (J/kg-°C) 1025 cp;air (J/kg-°C) 1010
calculation was conducted on daily basis while the results shown
_ exh (kg/s) here are monthly basis for simplicity purpose. So, in one day there
m 0.0111 V_ air (m3/s) 0.0967
m_ flu (kg/s) 0.0238 qair (kg/m3) Ideal-gas model was more heat recovered than the demand and, in another day, the
cp;water (J/kg-°C) 4180 W _ gen;max (W) 5000 demand was higher than the heat recovered. The first scenario
resulted in some portion of the recovered heat to be discarded
and the later one resulted recovered heat not meeting the heating
requirement.
Table 3 The findings of the coupled and decoupled analysis were extre-
Varying parameters for experimental and analytical comparison for two tests. mely comparable with a minor overestimation with the decoupled
Variable Test 1 Test 2 system on a yearly scenario. This reduction in the coupled model
was caused directly by three main differences between the two
Lgen;av g (%) 82 98
T exh;in (°C) 260.4 332.5
models: the impact of the heat exchangers on each other, the heat
T amb (°C) 17.7 16.8 losses along the pipes, and the lower effectiveness. The previously
Q_ (W/m)
loss;s
93.2 102.4 developed decoupled model did not include in the calculations the
Q_ loss;r (W/m) 46.6 135.4 efficiency of the IAHU and just assumed a set quantity of energy
eEHRU 0.56 0.53 transmitted in that section of the system. This would result in
eIAHU 0.28 0.33 the effectiveness for such a unit which would go from severely
low to ridiculously high. This critical concern can be answered with
coupled model presented here. For the coupled analytical model,
along the pipes) and the remaining inputs from the arctic mine the overall heat saved per year through using the proposed coupled
mentioned in Section 2.3. The main energy values are reported in system is nearly 110 TJ or 72% of the value reported by the decou-
Fig. 13. The lowest effectiveness and highest heat losses were used pled analysis [14]. Nevertheless, the benefits of the system would
to produce a ‘‘worst-case” heat transfer scenario. It is noted that be equivalent to saving around 3 million liters of diesel per year
the values used for heat losses are for a ‘‘poor insulation” scenario for an arctic mine. It is essential to mention that while the coupled
with industrial grade insulating technologies commonly outper- analysis produced results that were quite comparable to the sim-
forming this case [61]. A pipeline length of 1 km each way (supply pler decoupled one, the present technique enables for the IAHU’s
and return) was assumed. influence on the system to be analyzed in detail. The results also
Fig. 13 shows the comparison between the previously devel- showed that for a system of this size, the amount of energy lost
oped decoupled system [14] and the more realistic dynamically in the pipeline is minimal.
coupled system presented in the current study. ‘Heat demand’ Lastly, to investigate the impact of the heat exchanger effective-
stands for the heating requirement for the off-grid mine selected ness, a parametric study was performed. For that, the code was
here and it was same for both system. ‘Saved heat’ stands for the modified to select 11 values for the effectiveness between 0.4
amount of heat that could be served by any system and ‘discarded and 0.9 for both heat exchanger units at the same time, with
heat’ indicates the amount of heat that was discarded because of results shown in the contour plots in Fig. 14. It is notable how
no demand at that exact time. The total recovered heat will be the total heat saved by the system goes from around 190 TJ in
the accumulation of the heat saved and discarded which remained the best effectiveness scenario to nearly 110 TJ in the worst one,

Table 4
Variables used in the analytical and experimental comparison.

Section of interest Description DT Q_

1 Exhaust entering the DEHRU and leaving DT 1 ¼ ðT 1
T 2 Þ Q_ 1 ¼ m
_ exh  cp;exh  ðT 1
T 2 Þ
2 Water entering the DEHRU and leaving DT 2 ¼ ðT 3
T 6 Þ Q_ 2 ¼ m
_ water  cp;water  ðT 3
T 6 Þ
3 Water entering the IAHU and leaving DT 3 ¼ ðT 4
T 5 Þ Q_ ¼ m
3 _ water  cp;water  ðT 4
T 5 Þ
4 Fresh air entering the IAHU and leaving DT 4 ¼ ðT 8
T 7 Þ Q_ 4 ¼ q_ air  V_ air;r  cp;air  ðT 8
T 7 Þ

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D. Baidya, Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito, A.P. Sasmito et al. International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 32 (2022) 155–169

Fig. 12. Result (heat fluxes on left axis and temperature changes on right axis) comparison between analytical (coupled) and experimental results for closed-loop tests on 82%
and 98% generator load factors.

Fig. 13. Energy savings comparison between the analytical–coupled model and the previously published decoupled model [14].

Fig. 14. Concurrent sensitivity assessment on the effectiveness of both heat exchangers.

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D. Baidya, Marco Antonio Rodrigues de Brito, A.P. Sasmito et al. International Journal of Mining Science and Technology 32 (2022) 155–169

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