A

Report on

Exploring the Possibilities of Waste Heat Recovery from

Comminution Process in Mining
Submitted by
A. Sandeep Reddy (2013A4PS155P) in partial fulfilment of the
Course No. BITS F412
to
Prof. Dinesh Wagh

Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani

Exploring the Possibilities of Waste Heat Recovery from
Comminution Process in Mining
(A.Sandeep Reddy)

Abstract: Comminution efficiency is typically cited to be less than 1%. Low temperature
rise during the comminution process results in very low efficiency in the conversion of
this heat energy generated to electrical energy. Any possibility to increase some or a
significant part of this 99% lost energy could drastically help to bring down the global
energy consumption.

The focus of this paper is to give an overview of the various waste heat recovery process,
their feasibility for the comminution process. We then look at a few case studies for
looking into the potential for waste heat recovery. Finally, a discussion on the latest
developments and technologies is provided which could go a long way in increasing the
waste heat energy capture.

Introduction: In comminution the efficiency is defined as the ratio of new surface energy
generated to the electrical energy supplied. It is found that the comminution efficiency in
mining is less than 1% (Radziszewski, 2015). Around 35-40% (Ballantyne, 2014) of total
energy in mining is consumed by comminution, this makes the efficiency of comminution
an important parameter as huge amount of energy is involved in it.

There were efforts to increase the comminution efficiency and some of the modifications
are like using High Pressure Grinding Rolls, blast design, flanged rolls and stirred mills,
which gives efficiency up to 20%(Radziszewski, 2015).

As we have already have mentioned typical comminution efficiency is 1%, the remaining
99% of the energy is utilized in heating the slurry. One way of increasing this efficiency
is by extracting the waste heat which is carried away by the slurry. Waste heat recovery
from slurry is a challenging process as its temperature is just 100 𝐶 above the ambient
𝑇𝐿
temperature, which leads to very low Carnot efficiency( 1 − , temperatures as 275 K
𝑇𝐻
and 285K), which is 3.5%. As of now there is no efficient method for converting this
heat to usable electrical energy economically.

In this report we explore different options of recovering heat generated during

comminution process like thermoelectric generator, Piezo electric generation, Organic
Rankine cycle, thermionic generation, and also do an economic analysis, some case
studies are also presented.

Waste Heat Sources:

Waste heat sources may differ in quality, thermal power and temperature range. They can
be classified by thermal power into the following categories: large-power (more than 500
kW), medium-power (10–500 kW), and small- and micro-power (0.5–100 kW).
By temperature range, waste heat sources can be classified (Kolasinska, 2016) into the
following categories: high-grade (500–1500 C), medium-grade (250–500 C) and low-
grade (40–250 C).

1. Organic Rankine Cycle: The Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) is similar to a

conventional Rankine cycle except it uses organic fluids as a working fluid rather than
water. The working principle of the organic Rankine cycle is the same as that of the
Rankine cycle: the working fluid is pumped to a boiler where it is evaporated, passed
through an expansion device (turbine or other expander), and then through a
condenser heat exchanger where it is finally re-condensed.

The ORC is especially viable for low grade heat recovery, can efficiently produce shaft-
work from medium temperature heat sources up to 370 °C.

Feasibility analysis: let us see how it is going to be if we employ Organic Rankine

cycle (ORC) to recover waste heat from the comminution process. As we have seen that
the average temperature rise of the slurry after the comminution process is 70 C. If we
take this as heat source for boiler in ORC, we can achieve maximum (Counter flow heat
exchanger and 100% effectiveness) of 70 C rise in the temperature of the working fluid of
ORC. Now after this fluid passes through the expander, heat is to be rejected in
condenser. We need temperature difference minimum 2-30 C (14, Research Gate). So for
ideal conditions we can extract the enthalpy of 50 C temperature difference. But taking
effectiveness of heat exchanger into consideration this decreases further.

Limitations:

 The temperature difference we have is not suitable for this process.

 Organic Rankine Cycle installation requires significant infrastructure.
2. Piezoelectric Power Generation: It converts low temperature heat of 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎 -𝟏𝟓𝟎𝟎 𝑪
to electrical energy (BCS, Incorporated). Piezoelectric devices convert mechanical
energy in the form of ambient vibrations to electrical energy. A piezoelectric thin film
membrane can take advantage of oscillatory gas expansion to create a voltage output.
 Limitations:

 It has the efficiency of only 1% in conversion there may be opportunities to use PEPG
cascading, in which case efficiencies could reach about 10%.
 The costs related are also pretty high around $10,000/W (BCS, Incorporated).
 Other key issues are the costs of manufacturing piezoelectric devices, as well as the
design of heat exchangers to facilitate sufficient heat transfer rates across a relatively
low temperature difference.
3. Thermionic Generation: Thermionic devices operate similar to thermoelectric
devices; however, whereas thermoelectric devices operate according to the Seebeck
effect, thermionic devices operate via thermionic emission.

Limitations:

 Key disadvantage of these systems is that they are limited to applications with high
temperatures above 1,800°F [1,000°C]. However, some development has enabled
their use at about 210-570°F [100-300°C] (BCS, Incorporated).
4. Thermoacoustic Electricity Generator: The working principle of thermoacoustic
devices is based on a thermoacoustic effect which enables producing sound waves
from thermal energy, or vice-versa. Thermoacoustic devices are generally described
as acoustic resonators filled with a gas as a working fluid and containing a porous
medium (regenerator) with heat source and heat sink (heat exchangers) adjacent to it.
The gas inside the resonance tube (within the porous medium limits) will undergo a
thermodynamic cycle somewhat similar to the Stirling cycle.
One advantage is that acoustic heat engines are mechanically much simpler than
conventional engines, requiring fewer moving parts. Thermoacoustic engine was
found to be able to convert waste heat from the cooking stove to electricity.

5. Thermoelectric Generators: It is solid state, passive, silent, scalable and durable.

Thermoelectric (TE) materials are semiconductor solids that produce an electric
current when joined together and subjected to a temperature difference across the
junction. This property makes it possible to produce direct electricity by applying
waste heat on one side of a TE material, while exposing the other to ambient or lower
temperature surroundings. Thermoelectric power generation is achieved by
combining four unit operations into a system which consists of a TE module
consisting of an array of several TE material junctions; a hot-side heat exchanger; a
cold-side heat exchanger; and a power electronic module volt and ampere output. The
two types of thermoelectric materials must be configured within the module such that
they are electrically in series, but thermally in parallel.

Alloys based on Bismuth (Bi) in combinations with Antimony (An), Tellurium (Te)
or Selenium (Se) are referred to as low temperature materials and can be used at
temperatures up to around 450K. Most commonly used material at or near room
temperature is Bismuth Telluride (Bi2Te3).
The possible installation of thermoelectric generator is shown in the below figure
 Figure 1 – TEG set-up for a rotary kiln.

The installation of a TEG at an industrial manufacturing site only makes sense if it is

reasonably competitive with the local electricity pricing. If the local electric price is assumed
to be $0.08/kWh and a seven-year payback on capital equipment is acceptable, then the
capital cost would need to be about $5/watt assuming the TEG has no operating costs (no-
cost waste energy). This requires roughly an 80% decrease in the current TEG system
pricing. A combination of more efficient materials (higher ZT), lower device manufacturing
costs, and value-engineered systems would be needed to make thermoelectric generation of
electricity from waste heat a commercial reality.

Table 1 – Calculations for TEG power generator

Max Energy
Power of Comminution Heat generated Heat losses Heat Available Slurry Inlet Temp Slurry Dishcarge Carnot Max Retrievable per year Money saved
Mill (MW) Efficiency (%) (MW) (MW) (MW) (K) Temp (K) Efficiency (%) (KW) (MWH) (Crores INR)
15 1 14.85 4.45 10.39 295 305 3.2 340.82 2985.6 1.48

To arrive at the above mentioned savings the cost of electricity is taken as 5/- per unit of
electricity. Heat losses from the slurry to environment are taken as 30% (Radziszewski,
2015). From the above table we notice that 1.4 crore INR could be saved if the TEG has
Carnot efficiency, but its efficiency is one sixth of Carnot efficiency so the money saved
reduces to 24.8 Lakhs.

Thermoelectric technology has existed for a long time (the thermoelectric effect was first
discovered in 1821), but has seen limited use due to low efficiencies and high cost.
However, recent advances in nanotechnology have enabled advanced TE materials that
might achieve conversion efficiencies 15% or greater.

Advantages:

 One main advantage of TEG is that they can generate power from any
(Akbarzadeh, 2015) temperature difference.
 Compared to other waste heat recovery technologies, the use of TEGs in a waste heat
recovery system has many desirable attributes such as silence, small size, scalability
and durability.

Limitations:

 Capital cost is high.

 Advancement in materials is needed to achieve higher efficiency.
 A TEG operates at approximately 20% of the Carnot efficiency over a wide
temperature range.
 CASE STUDIES:

Glencore Raglan Mine (Case Study): We now look in to the Raglan Mine case study.
The average annual temperatures are about -10C with lows in winter below -40C and
average ambient temperatures underground around -15C. Around 30% of the heat is lost
to environment in this particular case, which is calculated based on the observed
temperature changes of slurry and power input.

Table 2 – Real time data of the inlet and outlet of ball mill

We could see that the rise in temperature of slurry when passing through the ball mill is
5°C. Using mill make-up water (16C) as the cold source and the average slurry
temperature (34.4C) as the hot source, the energy capture potential efficiency is estimated
to be defined by the Carnot efficiency. For this particular case, the Carnot efficiency is
5.99% which represents some 132.7 kW.

Table 3 – Real time data of the inlet and outlet of SAG mill

Using mill make-up water (16C) as the cold source and the average slurry discharge
temperature (26.2C) as the hot source, the energy capture potential efficiency is estimated
to be defined by the Carnot efficiency. For this particular case, the Carnot efficiency is
3.41% which represents some 79 kW.
Cadia SAG Mill: Referring to the Cadia SAG mill (19 MW, 2065 tph) and assuming
slurry feed temperature of 20°C and 44.3°C slurry heat capture rate, it is calculates the
slurry discharge temperature as 25.3 °C and a Carnot efficiency for a 10 °C cold source of
5.1%. Expanding the Cadia control volume to include, not only the SAG mill, but also the
two ball mills (8 MW/mill) leads to a slurry circuit discharge temperature of 29.7 °C and
a Carnot efficiency of 6.5%. The resulting effect of expanding the control volume to
include the two ball mill circuits on the annual energy recovery potential is a recovery of
6.7 GW h for the SAG mill circuit and 8.6 GW h for the SAG/ball mill set or a potential
annual energy saving at 20 cents/kW h of 1.7 million dollars.

Future Scope and Recommendations: Thermoelectric generation seems to be the

possible way for heat recovery but development in thermoelectric materials (super
lattices) is needed in increasing efficiency so that it can be installed economically.
Advances in the piezo electric technology (cascading implementation) could lead to
application of this process for our case, which is 10°C temperature difference.

REFERENCES:

[1] Peter Radziszewski and David Hewitt “Exploring the effect of energy recovery
potential on comminution efficiency: the glencore raglan mine case” SAG conference,
Vancouver 2015.

[2] G.R. Ballantyne1, & M.S. Powell “Benchmarking comminution energy consumption
for the processing of copper and gold ores” Minerals Engineering, 2014, Vol. 65.

[3] BCS, Incorporated “Waste Heat Recovery: Technology and Opportunities in U.S.
Industry” March 2008.

[4] Peng Li et.al. “Thermoelectric Waste Heat Recovery System for Portland cement
Rotary Kilns”, Journal of Electronic Materials · December 2014.

[5] Peter Radziszewski “Energy recovery potential in comminution processes” 2013

Published by Elsevier Ltd.

[6] Bouchard et.al. “The CMIC / Canmet MINES Comminution Energy Recovery
Potential Initiative – The Agnico Eagle Goldex Division Case” September 2016.

[7] Hendricks et.al. “Engineering Scoping Study of Thermoelectric Generator Systems for
Industrial Waste Heat Recovery” BCS, Incorporated, November 2006.

[8] Karabetoglu et. al. “Characterization of a thermoelectric generator at low

temperatures”,2012 Elsevier Ltd.

[9] Bensaid et.al.“High efficiency Thermo-Electric power generator” 2011, Hydrogen

Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
[10] Patil, Arakerimath “A Review of Thermoelectric Generator for Waste Heat Recovery
from Engine Exhaust” International journal of research in aeronautical and mechanical
engineering, Pgs: 1-9 Vol.1 Issue.8, December 2013.

[11] Akbarzadeh et.al. “A review of car waste heat recovery systems utilising
thermoelectric generators and heat pipes” Applied Thermal Engineering 101 (2016) 490–
495.

[12] Ewa Kolasinska and Piotr “A Review on Electroactive Polymers for Waste Heat
Recovery” Materials 2016, 9, 485.

[13] Hamood et al. “Two-Stage Thermoacoustic Electricity Generator for Waste Heat Recovery”
World Congress on Engineering 2016, 29 Jun - 01 Jul 2016, London, UK. 978-988-14048-O-O,
pp. 944-949. ISBN 978-988-14048-O-O.

[14]https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_is_the_recommended_temperature_difference_for_h
eat_exchange_below_zero_Celsius