Overcoming Dust and Distances in Mining

Mines are often located far from the OEMs and dealers who support them. But advanced filters can extend the maintenance intervals for your high-power equipment from 250 to 500, 750 or even 1,000 hours.

Extracting precious metals, coal and iron requires excavating tons of material and then blasting, mining and loading the valuable deposits. And there's no way to do that without kicking up a lot of dust and debris.

But this is not the biggest challenge that mining companies face, as it is also necessary to overcome the remoteness of operations. Typically, surface mines are located far from population centers – and the OEMs and dealers that support them.

Under adverse conditions, keeping your fleet of high-class transport trucks, excavators, drills, dozers and loaders running for as long as possible is a top priority. So, how can mining companies mitigate the impacts of the environment and distances? If you believe that the quality of filters can help, know that this is true.

Maintenance – All the dirt created by mining needs to go somewhere. They often end up exactly where fleet and maintenance managers don't want them to be – that is, they pollute fuel storage tanks, damage injectors, compromise hydraulic components and contaminate lubricants.

Therefore, correct filtration in air, fuel, hydraulic and lubrication components systems can significantly improve equipment uptime.

Today, the most advanced filters can extend maintenance intervals for high-power equipment from 250 to 500, 750 or, in some cases, even 1,000 hours, maximizing asset availability.

This is essential on more remote job sites where replacement parts and service technicians may not be readily available.

Adopting appropriate solutions also allows you to reduce downtime by aligning service intervals with the planned maintenance of other systems and equipment.

In addition, it is possible to reduce labor and maintenance costs, increase productivity and minimize the total cost of ownership of the fleet.

A broader approach to engine and equipment protection can ensure maximum performance. Next, we'll look at best practices for filtering air and fuel, coolants, and monitoring vital machine systems.

Air filtration – Air intake is one of the biggest vulnerabilities of a diesel engine. The most advanced air filters prevent the layer of dust from damaging components, especially precision injectors used in high pressure common rail (HPCR) systems.

In many heavy-duty applications, up to 75% of contaminant particles that reach the air filter are less than 5 microns in size. If not trapped, these particles can wreak havoc on engine parts such as pistons, rings and linings.

Large engines require equally high volumes of air to operate. Excessive filter restriction leads to loss of power, decreased fuel economy and increased expenses for filter changes, resulting in increased equipment downtime.

Fleet managers can balance filtration and performance by selecting air filters that incorporate nanofiber media, which increases filtration efficiency to 99.99%, extends maintenance intervals by up to five times, and reduces filter and maintenance expenses by 30% per year.

Fuel filtration – But the air intake is not the only way that dirt can penetrate the equipment. The injectors, pumps and virtually every other component of a diesel engine are also susceptible to damage from contaminated fuel.

Contaminated injectors rob engines of power, while correct maintenance of these components provides greater fuel economy, reduced emissions, smooth running and optimized performance.

Filters with nanofiber media can capture and retain 10 to 13 times more contaminants than conventional filters and provide up to 14 times longer service life.

Of course, the advantages for operations are improved uptime and reduced costs. This is due to the fact that nanofiber filters are designed specifically for higher pressures and more critical tolerances.

These solutions extend injector life and allow mining companies to avoid more expensive and time-consuming repair services.

Tank and Engine Filtration – Fuel filtration starts with the fuel storage tanks, where condensation, dust and microorganisms can contaminate the diesel.

The most reliable solutions include filtration features installed in the piping systems that transport diesel to equipment. However, dust and dirt are not the only culprits.

Condensation water present in storage tanks and the atmosphere can also contaminate fuel systems.

Water removal requires Stage 1 separators, which provide an additional benefit by capturing larger particles, thus extending the life of Stage 2 fuel filters (which are the final defense against smaller contaminants that can damage the fuel pump, engine components and HPCR injectors).

Lubricant filtration – Keeping lubricants clean is essential to protect engine bearings, cylinder liners and valve blocks.

Contaminants can cause premature wear of these components. Abrasive particles and deposits on piston and cylinder coatings can also interfere with combustion.

Over time, contamination leads to increased blow-by (blown engine), losses of compression, friction and reduced fuel economy.

On the other hand, adequate filtration increases service time, improves fuel economy and minimizes the risk of mechanical failures.

In the extreme conditions of surface mines, conventional washable filters are not suitable. A more assertive choice for high power applications is to install centrifugal filter units designed with disposable rotors.

These units simplify maintenance and offer considerable cost savings without compromising filtration performance.

Centrifugal filters can help extend the service life to 1,000 h. Furthermore, they reduce the service time from 1.5-2 h (standard filters) to approximately 15-20 min.

Cooling – From dusty air to dirty fuel, diesel engines and their systems are constantly under attack in mining environments.

While the right air, fuel and lubricant filtration solutions can help, 40% of all engine problems are directly or indirectly related to improper cooling system maintenance.

To solve this problem, managers can select coolants specially designed to provide superior performance.

The best products, with organic acid technology (OAT – Organic Acid Technology) and without silicates, are designed for use throughout the engine's entire useful life.

OAT coolants protect components from radiator corrosion and metal cavitation, which are caused by high-pressure vapor bubbles, hot spots caused by scale, and gasket or hose failures, typically caused by material incompatibilities.

OAT filters have media designed for high power applications, with maintenance intervals of up to 4,000 h.

Monitoring – When mining companies want to obtain the best possible protection for their equipment, they start monitoring operating data in real time, seeking to gather information about the conditions of the engine and the equipment itself.

Smart monitoring and predictive maintenance solutions increase maintenance intervals and minimize consumable costs.

How mining companies can benefit from these solutions deserves a separate article, which we will not cover here.

Suffice it to say that the most advanced systems monitor filter performance while the equipment is running, recommending maintenance intervals and detecting problems more proactively. The results are longer engine life and lower total cost of ownership.

In conclusion, it can be stated that adequate filtration and cooling solutions allow mining companies to be successful even in the most extreme working conditions.