Hosting of green energy and chemical production on mining industry sites pre- and post-closure

摘要

The mining industry is extremely energy intensive, not just in consumption to extract ore, but also in subsequent processing. This high energy consumption, much of which is sourced from fossil fuels, also generates extremely large outflows of underutilised 'waste' energy in discharged off-gasses and water streams. In a volatile economic market with long-term rising energy prices, coupled to increasing pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and act sustainably, the industry can benefit from programmes that both enhance energy security and provide demonstrable benefits to the broader community. This in part can come through the work authors are conducting on reducing dependence on fossil fuels by integration into a range of mining related operations, on-site energy recovery schemes and CO_2 mitigation. One focus is looking at on-site production from biomass of 'green' products, such as microalgae-based biodiesel and/or other beneficial chemicals. This paper demonstrates that by the use of dynamic models that use site-specific data, including local climate conditions, how the feasibility of operating biomass production facilities pre- and post-closure can be determined. These sites can include, as discussed specifically in this paper, those that experience seasonal ambient temperatures well below those usually considered acceptable for microalgae growth.