Environmental
Recycling Used Oil for Blasting Fuel
Large mining operations generate significant quantities of used oil, often the volumes are measured in millions of litres per year. With today's technologies this used oil can be recycled to a number of reuses, including reused as base stock oil but this creates lower quality oil that was not as good as new oil or even Diesel fuel. Most of these options are not suitable for remote locations. Recently a new process has been proven overseas to turn used oil into Blasting Fuel. This recycling method is very cost effective and will generate Blasting Fuel at much less than the cost of the diesel it replaces and should generate significant Carbon Credits.
It has been standard practice for Australian mines to use 100% diesel with ammonium nitrate for mine blasting, now more than 50% of this diesel can be replaced with processed used lubricating oil.
Case Study
A plant was recently installed in Kitadin BANPU in Indonesia. It handles ?? litres of oil per year. It has been working reliably for ?? years. The explosives contractor has provided strict guidelines for the output of this plant to ensure it meets their specifications. The output is tested regularly and is consistently within the specs.
Method
The process works by filtering the oil to remove any free water and major contaminants. The process is regularly sampled to determine the consistency of the input oil to ensure the waste oil is kept to peak performance for the mixing ratios. After filtering it is diluted with fuel oil to get the correct consistency. The output of the process is metered directly into the ANFO truck for use in the Blasting Process. Storage tanks are built into the process to ensure consistent operations. The output of the process is regularly tested and the product certified before use with the blasting process. The certification covers water content, viscosity and ISO cleanliness.
It runs at approx 97% efficiency depending on the quality of the input oil and the waste is suitable for use in an asphalting plant.
Previously this used oil has been trucked significant distances and used as fuel in kilns and furnaces. Now the processing facilities are at the mine, so that the oil never leaves the site. Disposal as Blasting Fuel is better for the environment as the higher temperatures ensures some Organo Clorides are not released.
The system arrives on site as a skid the size of a shipping container. It has been tested and commissioned before arrival and only needs to be plumbed together then power hooked up to be running on your site. If larger quantities require processing multiple skids are used.
Other systems can be very energy intensive involving significant amounts of electricity due to the necessity to heat the oil. This system relies on pumps and filters so is less energy intensive.
If you would like to enquire further about this system please contact Chris Purkiss on (61) 02 65712699 or email chris.purkiss@techenomics.com.