Major companies in the mining industry are scrambling to enter the dual-fuel hybrid truck sector, which has been tested for two years at New Acland Coal Mine of New Hope Group in Australia, the group said.
The project partners MES and Hastings Deering selected the New Hope Group mine as a test site for the latest dual fuel truck technology.
David Vink, general manager of New Acland Coal Mine, said the project was the best example of industry cooperation. "We provide venues and funding, MES is responsible for technology, Hastings Deering is responsible for hardware - trucks and engines." He said.
He said the innovative technology could transform a diesel-powered high-powered engine into a dual-fuel engine, using natural gas sequential injection as the main fuel, and the test vehicle was a Cat 789C. Natural gas is stored in four-type carbon fibre storage tanks, and the gas compression adopts patented technology. The storage pressure is 350 bar (5,000 psi), eliminating the weight and space limitations of the compression or liquefied natural gas technology previously used. Lightweight and non-destructive engine enhancement and vehicle control system also play a role in reducing these limitations.
"When MES was looking for partners in Queensland, they were not interested in it." "But we saw the potential of this technology from the beginning," Vink said. At present, the experiment has been carried out for nearly 24 months and the running time has exceeded 6200 hours, which has aroused the interest of major companies and skeptics.
The project has reached the level of commercialization, which also marks the end of the experiment. Vink said the experiment was initially planned to run for about six months in 2016, but with the progress of the experiment and data collection, the technology itself has developed further.
"The experiment has been completed and the technology of MES has been verified. This exciting project is going to go global, and we are very happy to be involved in it." Vink said.
