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Energy
EnergyProcedia 158
Procedia 00(2019)
(2017)3976–3981
000–000 www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018), 22-25 August 2018, Hong Kong,
10th International Conference on Applied Energy
China(ICAE2018), 22-25 August 2018, Hong Kong,
th China
10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018), 22-25 August 2018, Hong Kong,
10 International Conference on Applied Energy
China(ICAE2018), 22-25 August 2018, Hong Kong,
Study of
Study of Mine Mine Exhaust
Exhaust Heat
Heat Recovery
Recovery System
System with
with Coupled Heat
The 15th International China
Symposium on District Heating and Coupled
Cooling Heat
Study of Mine Exhaust Heat Exchangers
Recovery System with
Study of Mine Exhaust
Assessing the HeatExchangers
feasibility Recovery
of using System
the heat with Coupled
Coupled Heat
Heat
demand-outdoor
Hosein Kalantari and Exchangers
Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh*
Exchangers
temperatureHosein
function for aand
Kalantari long-term district heat demand forecast
Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh*
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Hosein Kalantari and
University of Seyed
British Ali
Columbia, Ghoreishi-Madiseh*
Vancouver, Canada
Hosein
I. Andrića,b,c Kalantari
*, A. Pinaa
, P. and Seyed
Ferrão a
, J. Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh*
Fournier b
., B. Lacarrièrec, O. Le Correc
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Abstract University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Abstract
a
IN+ Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research - Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal
b
Air-preconditioning is one of the major factors& of
Veolia Recherche Innovation, 291 Avenue
mine operating costsDreyfous Daniel, 78520
for underground Limay,
mining France located in cold regions
operations
Abstract c
of the world such as Canada. In fact, increasing prices of electricity and fossil-fuels are motivating44300
Air-preconditioning
Abstract
Département
is one Systèmes
of the Énergétiques
major factors et
of Environnement
mine operating - IMT
costs Atlantique,
for 4 rue
underground Alfred Kastler,
mining operations
mining Nantes,
locatedFrance
companiesin cold regions
to employ
of the world such as Canada. In fact, increasing prices of electricity and fossil-fuels are motivating
alternative techniques in their energy management strategies. However, there are potential solutions that can possibly lessen the mining companies to employ
Air-preconditioning
alternative is in
onetheir
of the majormanagement
factors of mine operating costs forthere
underground mining operations located in cold regions
cost issues techniques
related toisthe
Air-preconditioning one of theenergy
pre-conditioning
major of mine
factors strategies.
air
ofprices
mine foroperatingHowever,
similar cases.
costs Heat
for are potential
recovery
underground systemsolutions
mining proposed that
operationsin can
the possibly
present
located lessen
paper
in cold thea
has
regions
of the
cost world
issues such
related as
to Canada.
the In fact,
pre-conditioning increasing
of mine air forof electricity
similar and
cases. fossil-fuels
Heat recovery are motivating
system mining
proposed in companies
the present to
paperemploy
has
promising
ofAbstract potential
the worldtechniques of
such as Canada. saving a large amount of energy and consequently can be deemed as an alternative solution to reduce thea
alternative
promising potential in theirIn fact, increasing
aenergy management prices of electricity
strategies. However,and there
fossil-fuels
can are
are motivating
potential assolutions
mining
that can companies
possibly to employ
lessen the
costs associated
alternative withofmine
techniques saving
in their large amount
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regard
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MATLABthere code be
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of a mine
lessen the
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costs related
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air heating of mine
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this similar
regard a cases. Heat
MATLAB coderecovery
was system proposed
developed to testify in
thethe present paper
potentiality of a has
mine a
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toofthe
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which a thermally-coupled,
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in the battery
similar
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system
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effective in the
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present
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paper
decreasing has a
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the heat heat
promising
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© 2019 The
Keywords: Authors.
Mine Exhaust Published
Heat by Elsevier
Recovery (MEHR), Ltd.
Underground mining,shaft.
MATLAB, Energy recovery
the
for
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ismain
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(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) is project.
function
of the also
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heat demand
Keywords: Mine Exhaust Heat Recovery (MEHR), Underground mining, MATLAB, Energy
for proposed
forecast. Theheat recovery
district of system
Alvalade, with an
locatedemphasis
in on
Lisbon exploring
(Portugal), the savings
was used and
as therefore
a case the
study.
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of ICAE2018 – The 10th International Conference on Applied Energy. feasibility
The of
districttheisproject.
consisted of 665
buildingsMine
Keywords: thatExhaust
vary inHeat
both construction
Recovery period
(MEHR), and typology.
Underground Three weather
mining, MATLAB, scenarios
Energy recovery (low, medium, high) and three district
1. Introduction
Keywords: Mine
renovation Exhaust Heat
scenarios wereRecovery (MEHR),
developed Underground
(shallow, mining,deep).
intermediate, MATLAB, Energy recovery
To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were
1. Introduction
compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors.
A results
1.The sizeable
Introduction portion
showed of underground
that when only weather mine changeoperating costs
is considered, theare associated
margin with be
of error could mine air ventilation
acceptable and pre-
for some applications
A error
1.(the sizeable
Introduction
conditioning. portion
For
in annual
of underground
cold-climate
demand wasregions
lower than
mine
like operating
Canada,
20% for allthis
costs
cost
weather
are can
factor
scenarios
associated
be even with
considered).more mine air
important,
However,
ventilation
after in terms ofand
introducing minepre-
air
renovation
conditioning.
heating, due
scenarios, the For
to the
error cold-climate
necessity
value ofregions
increased ice
up to like
prevention
59.5%Canada,
duringthis
(depending cost
theon factor
peak
the can
winter
weather be even
season
and more
cold.
renovation important,
[1] However,
scenarios in terms
there
combination of
are mine air
possible
considered).
A sizeable portion of underground mine operating costs are associated with mine air ventilation and pre-
heating,
energy due
A value
sizeable
sources,to the
like necessity
portionexhaust of
air ice
of underground prevention
thermallike mine
energy during
operating
content, the peak
costs
which winter
areofbe
can season
associated cold.
up towith
recovered [1] However,
mine
and per
used, there
air ventilation
instead are possible
and pre-
The
conditioning. of For
slope coefficient
cold-climate increased
regions on average
Canada, within the
this cost range
factor can3.8%
be even 8%
more decade,
important, in of
that fuelofburning
corresponds
terms mineto at
the
air
energy sources,
conditioning.
decrease
intake in the
shaft. For
As like
number
a exhaust
cold-climateair
of heating
matter of thermal
regions
fact, hours
currentofenergy
like22-139hcontent,
Canada,
energy this
during
costs which
cost
the
are can be
factor
heating can recovered
be
season
leveraging even and
more
(depending
the idea of used,
on the instead
important,
investing in of
combination
in fuel
termsofof
alternativeburning
mine
weather at
air
and
energy
heating, due to the necessity of ice prevention during the peak winter season cold. [1] However, there are possible
intake
heating,shaft.
renovation
due Asthe
scenarios
to a matter of of
necessity fact,
considered). Oncurrent
ice the other
prevention energy
hand, costs
of function
during theare leveraging
intercept
peak the for
increased
winter season idea of investing
7.8-12.7%
cold. in alternative
perExhaust
decade (depending energy
on the
recovery
energy systems.
sources, likeThis paper
exhaust airfocuses
thermal on one
energy these
content, alternative
which can besolutions
recovered and[1]
called However,
Mine
used, instead there fuelare
of Heat possible
Recovery
burning at
recovery
coupled systems.
scenarios).
energy shaft.
(MEHR). sources,
Using likeThis
MEHRThe paper
values
exhaust air
system focuses
suggested
thermal on
two energy
hascurrent one
could
major beof these
used
content,to
advantages; alternative
modify
which the
can it
firstly, solutions
function
becan
recovered called
parameters
and
economically Mine
for
used, Exhaust
the scenarios
saveinstead Heat Recovery
considered,
of fuel amount
a significant burning and
at
of
intake
improve the As a
accuracy matter
of heatof fact,
demand estimations.energy costs are leveraging the idea of investing in alternative energy
(MEHR).
intake Using
shaft. As MEHR
a matter system
of fact,hascurrent
two major advantages;
energy costs are firstly, it canthe
leveraging economically
idea of save a significant
investing in alternativeamount of
energy
recovery systems. This paper focuses on one of these alternative solutions called Mine Exhaust Heat Recovery
recovery systems.
(MEHR). Using This paper
MEHR system focuses twoon one advantages;
of these alternative
firstly, itsolutions called Mine saveExhaust Heat amount
Recovery
© 2017 The Authors. Published byhasElsevier major
Ltd. can economically a significant of
(MEHR). Using MEHR system has two major advantages; firstly, it can economically save a significant amount of
Peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of The 15th International Symposium on District Heating and
Cooling.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-604-827-2028; fax: +1-604-827-2028.
* E-mail
Corresponding
address:author. Tel.: +1-604-827-2028; fax: +1-604-827-2028.
ali.madiseh@ubc.ca
Keywords: Heat demand;
E-mail address: Forecast; Climate change
ali.madiseh@ubc.ca
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-604-827-2028; fax: +1-604-827-2028.
1876-6102
* E-mail Copyright
Corresponding © 2018
author. Tel.:Elsevier Ltd. All rights
+1-604-827-2028; fax:reserved.
+1-604-827-2028.
1876-6102 address:
Copyrightali.madiseh@ubc.ca
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All of
rights reserved. committee of the 10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018).
Selection
E-mailand peer-review
address: under responsibility
ali.madiseh@ubc.ca the scientific
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018).
1876-6102 Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1876-6102
1876-6102
Selection and©peer-review
2017 The
Copyright Authors.
© 2018
under Published
Elsevier byof
Ltd. All
responsibility Elsevier
rights Ltd. committee of the 10th International Conference on Applied Energy (ICAE2018).
reserved.
the scientific
Peer-review
Selection under responsibility
and peer-review of the Scientific
under responsibility Committee
of the scientific of
committee the 10th International
The 15thofInternational Symposium on DistrictonHeating
Conference Appliedand Cooling.
Energy (ICAE2018).
1876-6102 © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of ICAE2018 – The 10th International Conference on Applied Energy.
10.1016/j.egypro.2019.01.844
 Hosein Kalantari et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 3976–3981 3977
2 Hosein Kalantari and Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

money (i.e. energy costs); and secondly, it can help decreasing carbon emissions remarkably by replacing fossil-fuel
burners. However, this system is not economically viable for all mines especially shallow mines in warmer regions
with low air volume flow rate. Therefore, a well-rounded feasibility study should be conducted in order to ensure
that the system is technically viable, cost-effective and profitable for a specific mine.
Exhaust air heat recovery projects have been undertaken for decades and have achieved valuable breakthroughs
by resulting in sizeable economic and environmental benefits. A successful example could be Williams Mine located
in North-west Ontario which implemented a combined exhaust air, compressor and water discharge heat recovery
system. The feasibility study of the project carried out by V.B. Cook Co. Limited [2] showed that with an investment
of 1.7 million dollars of capital costs annual savings of CAD $500k can be achieved.
Despite the history of this heat recovery idea, there are only a few studies carried out focusing on the feasibility of
installing such systems in different mines. One of the first attempts on the feasibility of exhaust heat recovery was
made by M. Joy[3], who studied the feasibility of using heat pipes between exhaust and intake air. He used liquid-
vapor flow in heat pipes to provide thermal exchange. The system has proven to be efficient to transfer heat and
require no maintenance; however, this system is applicable if the exhaust and intake shaft are close to each other.
Hall et al.[4] conducted a study to determine the feasibility of controlled recirculation of air at Rocanville division of
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. The mine air has low levels of contaminants and dust, due to the minimum use
of blasting and diesel units underground. The project has proven to be feasible and deemed to result in substantial
reduction of winter heating costs by decreasing the heating demands of airflows at intake shaft. Most recently,
Sbarba et al.[5] developed a computer software with Microsoft Excel in order to study the feasibility of recovering
heat from mine exhaust air. Despite the fact that they had promising results in their studies, their study does not
include the impact of thermal coupling between the heat recovery and the heat delivery heat exchange (HDHX)
units. In other words, their study is based on the assumption that all the heat is transferred end-to-end with no loss
and regardless of the temperature and moisture conditions of the air on intake and exhaust shafts. To be more
realistic it can be noted that this coupling effect, has a major influence on the project success and the feasibility.
Therefore, the present study focuses on this coupling effect and tries to explore its effects.
Literature review indicates that a general realistic model to ensure the feasibility of using MEHR system for
different mines in different locations is highly required. In this paper, a MATLAB code has been developed for the
proposed MEHR system, which instead of non-realistic assumption made by Sbarba et al. [5] work, uses a coupled
battery heat exchanging system (heat capturing and heat delivery). The aim of this study is to investigate the process
of the suggested heat recovery system with an emphasis on exploring the savings of such projects.

2. Model Development

The design schematic of the MEHR system, as illustrated in Fig. 1(a), consists of two separate heat exchanger
system located at the mine exhaust and intake shaft. In this system, basically, a closed-loop glycol circuit captures
the heat from the exhaust air and delivers it to the intake air shaft. The energy equations are presented in two main
parts, former being the exhaust air equations (heat capture) and latter are the intake air equations (heat delivery).

2.1. Heat capture unit

The exhaust air in contact with the heat exchanger wall (with T wall) tries to approach to the wall temperature at
the downstream zone. To simplify the calculations, this behaviour is assumed to be linear. Linear equation between
the mentioned points can be established as Eq. (1); where X, a and b represent the moisture content of the air, the
slope of the line and the X-intercept, respectively.

X i  X wall
X  aT  b, which a , b  aTwall  X wall (1)
Ti  Twall

In order to calculate the downstream conditions, an iteration process is implemented in the code with an initial
guess of the heat exchanger wall temperature (Twall) as follows:
3978 Hosein Kalantari et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 3976–3981
Hosein Kalantari and Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 3

Fig. 1. (a) Design schematic; (b) Ambient air temperature at mine site.

Tg ,1  Th ,1
Twall ,1  (2)
2

where, Tg,1 and Th,1 denote the upstream glycol and exhaust air temperature respectively. Moisture content of the air
at the heat exchanger wall surface can be calculated by using the saturation curve equation shown below.

17.27T
0.6106exp( )
X s  0.622 T  237.3 (3)
17.27T
P  0.6106exp( )
T  237.3

In Eq. (3), saturated moisture content and ambient air pressure are denoted with Xs and P, respectively. There are
two possible scenarios with respect to the moisture content at the heat exchanger wall surface. The first case is, if the
moisture content at the heat exchanger wall surface is equal or greater than the moisture content at the upstream
zone. In this case there is no condensation in the system, as given in Eq. (4). In other words, the captured heat is just
sensible. The second case, however, is when the moisture content at the heat exchanger wall surface is smaller than
the moisture content at the upstream zone, as given in Eq. (5). This means that the condensation should be taken into
account as well and the captured heat includes both latent heat and sensible heat.

If X wall  X exh no .  Qcap  Qsens  Cmin (Th,1  Tg ,1 )

cond (4)

If .Qcap  Qsens  Qlat  Cmin (Th,1  Tg ,1 )  h fg m

X wall  X exh cond
  air ( X in  X out ) (5)

where, ε represents the effectiveness of the heat exchanger and Cmin represents the smaller heat capacity rates. The
downstream temperatures for exhaust air and glycol can be calculated by using the energy balance for the glycol and
exhaust air stream separately as follows:

Qsens  Cair (Th,1  Th, 2 ), Qcap  Cgl (Tg , 2  Tg ,1 )

(6)

In Eq. (6), Cair and Cgl denote the exhaust air and glycol heat capacity rates, respectively. The values of exhaust
air and glycol temperatures at the downstream zone can be calculated by using Eq. (6), based on the first guess of
heat exchanger wall temperature (Twall) as mentioned before. For the second loop, the iteration mean wall
temperature can be calculated based on the thermal resistances of the cold and hot fluid sides as follows [6] :

Rg
Tg ,m  ( )Th ,m
Rh Tg ,1  Tg , 2 Th ,1  Th , 2
Tw,m  0.622 , which Tg , m  , Th ,m  (7)
Rg 2 2
1 ( )
Rh
 Hosein Kalantari et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 3976–3981 3979
4 Hosein Kalantari and Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

where, Ra and Rh represent the thermal resistances on the glycol and air stream sides respectively. In Eq. (7) Tg,m and
Th,m are the glycol and air mean temperatures. For simplicity they are assumed to be the arithmetic average of the
upstream and downstream temperature values.
After the first iteration is completed and all the downstream values are set, glycol with temperature of Tg,2 is
assumed to be transferred to the heat delivery unit, where another iteration should be included in the code. It is
worth to mention that the coupling of the second part with the first part is assumed to be at this point. Thermal
coupling between the heat capturing region and heat delivery region affects the nature of the system. For instance,
any inefficiency on one side could also impact the performance on the other side. Therefore, in order to have a
realistic case, two iterations have been included in the code and they are in coupled with each other.

2.2. Heat delivery unit

There are 3 cases with respect to the ambient air temperature. First one is, when the ambient temperature (Tambient)
is higher than Tmin, the minimum required temperature (MRT) for the intake shaft. For this case ambient air enters to
the mine without any heating up. Second case is when the ambient air temperature is lower than the MRT, and in the
same time the heat required to bring ambient air to the MRT (Qreq) is lower than the heat available by the HDHX
(QHE2). Therefore, the available heat can provide all the heat needed and consequently the saving energy (Qsav) is as
same as the required heat. In this case the system doesn’t work on the full load. Finally, the last case is when the
ambient air temperature is lower than the MRT and the heat required is higher than the available heat. In this case,
the available heat cannot provide all the heat required and the rest of the heat should be provided by the fuel burner
at the intake shaft zone. Therefore, the saving is simply all the energy that is available at the HDHX.

1.If Tambient  Tmin no . Qsav  0

req (8)

2.If Tambient  Tmin & QHE2  Qreq req

 .
Qsav  Qreq (9)

3.If Tambient  Tmin & QHE2  Qreq req

 .
Qsav  QHE2 (10)

The heat available by the HDHX (QHE2) can be calculated using the intake temperatures and efficiency of the heat
exchanger. Also, the required heat at the intake shaft (Qreq) can be calculated by using the temperature difference
between the MRT and the ambient air temperature as follows:

QHE2  Cmin (Tg , 2  Tambient), Qreq  Cair.i (Tmin  Tambient)

(11)

Heat capacity rate of air (Cair,i) in Eq. (11) is different from the heat capacity rate (Cair) in the Eq. (6) due to the
reason that all the air that enters to the mine through the intake shaft is not the same amount which goes out of the
mine through the exhaust shaft because of the various reasons including the leakages inside the mine. The saving
energy (Qsav) is the amount of heat that the glycol stream delivers to the ambient air through the delivery zone heat
exchanger for all the 3 cases that was mentioned. Temperature of glycol at the output of the HDHX can be
calculated by using the transferred heat through the heat exchanger as stated in Eq. (12). In this study it is assumed
that the piping insulation between the heat exchangers are efficient, therefore the heat losses in the piping system are
neglected.

Qsav
Tg ,1  Tg , 2 
C gl (12)

The glycol stream with the new temperature of (Tg,1) enters to the exhaust heat exchanger, and therefore, another
iteration process is included in the code at this point which is coupled with the first iteration process. This process of
calculation was repeated for every ambient temperature attained throughout the year.
3980 Hosein Kalantari et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 3976–3981
Hosein Kalantari and Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000 5

3. Economic analysis

Economic analysis is an important part of the decision-making process. It basically shows that whether installing
a MEHR system is worth the investment or not? The system can be hibernated during the seasons when heating is
not required and brought back into operation during the cold seasons when heating is needed. This operating period
depends on the different factors, such as the location of the mine and its corresponding weather conditions and
magnitude of pressure loss due to the installation of heat exchangers. The case study presented here is conducted for
an anonymous mine located in BC, Canada. The mine site ambient air temperature within a year and the minimum
temperature needed at the intake shaft for this mine are illustrated in Fig. 1(b). Note that the green line is the hourly
temperature of the site within a year reported by the mine site and the blue line is the monthly temperature of the
mine site reported by the Canadian government [7]. It is important to note that the records are averaged over 13
years. Also, the red line is the minimum temperature required by the mine at the intake shaft. As it can be seen in
this figure between May and September the ambient air temperature is higher than the minimum required
temperature; therefore, there is no need for the system to heat the mine intake air. In other words, the system can be
shut down and removed from the place during this period. Consequently, the operating time for the MEHR system
should be considered to be from January to April and October to January. The mine uses natural gas as the fuel for
heating the mine intake air. The required parameters used in the MATLAB code are listed in Table 1.
The required energy and possible savings of the MEHR system was calculated in the previous sections. It is
worth clear that the required energy is the amount of energy which is needed to heat the intake air to meet the MRT
and in a typical case (without installing the MEHR system), this energy comes from the natural gas. Also, energy
savings are simply representing the energy saved by the proposed MEHR system over natural gas burners. Calling
the cost of fuel burning without using the MEHR system (Costtot), and savings out of that by using the MEHR
system (Costsav), followings can be calculated:

Costtot  Qreq .top. Prfuel , Costsav  Qsav.top. Prfuel

(13)

Table 1. Operating parameters used in the MATLAB code.

Parameters Value Unit
Volume flow rate of intake 438.9 m3.s-1
Volume flow rate of exhaust 523.86 m3.s-1
o
Wet bulb temperature at exhaust 13 C
o
Dry bulb temperature at exhaust 14.5 C
Price of fuel 9 $/GJ
HE efficiency 0.68 -

As it can be predicted the more the savings are the more the MEHR becomes feasible for a particular mining
operation. In the Eq. (14), top and Prfuel denote the operating time of the system (MEHR or burner) and price of the
fuel in the mine site location, respectively.

4. Result and discussion

To better examine the feasibility of installing the MEHR system for the mentioned mine, savings in 3 different
bases (i.e. hourly, monthly and annually) and the payback period based on the capital cost are discussed in this
section.
The cost of burning fuel to heat the mine intake air without using the MEHR system and savings associated with
using the MEHR system is compared in Fig. 2. The results of the model are compared within a working year for the
mine. Fig. 2(a) shows the costs for every hour of operation. As seen from the figure as the temperature gets colder
due to the fact that the MEHR system is unable to provide all the required heat and the rest of the heat required
should be provided by fuel burner the difference between the savings and fuel cost increases.
 Hosein Kalantari et al. / Energy Procedia 158 (2019) 3976–3981 3981
6 Hosein Kalantari and Seyed Ali Ghoreishi-Madiseh / Energy Procedia 00 (2018) 000–000

Fig. 2. Fuel cost and savings in (a) hourly basis; (b) accumulated over a year; (c) monthly basis.

Also, Fig. 2(b) shows the accumulated cost of burning fuel and savings within an operating year. As can be seen,
for the mentioned mine approximately CAD $ 400k can be saved by using the MEHR system out of CAD $ 530k of
fuel cost. This fuel cost is for a typical case, mine without installing the MEHR system, which is 4 times greater than
the cost for a mine with MEHR system. Moreover, Fig. 2(c) shows the monthly basis of fuel burning cost and
savings. As it can be seen from this figure, due to the colder ambient air, January, February and December have the
significant portion of the consumed energy and savings of a whole operating year. On the other hand, for the months
of May to September there is no energy required for heating the mine air due to the warmer weather conditions.
Capital cost of the project according to Sbarba et al. [5] work will be around 1.2 million Canadian Dollars which ,
taking into account the saving cost of CAD $ 400k, leads to simple payback period of 3 years. For a typical mine,
considering a useful life of 15-20, this payback period is viable and the project is deemed to be feasible.

5. Conclusion

In this work, a MATLAB code has been developed for the MEHR system to study the process of the heat
recovery system with emphasis on the feasibility of installing MEHR system for mines. As a case study, an
anonymous mine situated in BC, Canada has been selected and studied. The results of the study have shown that
approximately CAD $ 400k can be saved using the MEHR system out of CAD $ 530k of fuel cost. Capital cost of
the project will be approximately CAD $ 1.2 million which leads to a payback period of 3 years.

References

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