(1)Bound4blue Concept Applied to the Chilean Mining Industry

摘要

Mining is the largest economic sector in Chile and the considerable energy requirements represent20-40% of operating costs. The industry is heavily dependent on other countries for the supply ofthis demand. For these operational and cost-related reasons, the mining industry is looking for newenergy solutions, wherein renewables sources play a key role.In this research, our goal was to evaluate a new method of renewable energy production, based onhydrogen production, namely Bound4blue. This system uses movable energy productionequipment located on special ships. The ships are propelled by the wind using high-efficiency rigidwing sails, and the ship movement generates water flow through submerged turbines. Thismechanical energy is converted into electricity, which is used by electrolysis equipment to convertseawater to hydrogen and oxygen; these elements are then stored in high-pressure standard ISOtanks.Once the tanks are completely full, the ship returns to port and the hydrogen and oxygen aretransported to distribution centers. The hydrogen can be used directly by the mining industry, or itcan be transported by pipeline to the mine, where it is fed into a fuel cell to generate electricity andheat. Alternatively, it could be mixed with CO2 to produce methane, which could be transported bypipeline to the mine where it would be transformed into thermal energy and electricity. The oxygencould be used in metallurgical copper concentration plants. According to our evaluation, Cohilco'spredicted electricity demand for Chilean mines of 30 TWh by 2020 could be covered by the use of408 ships. This method is around 30% cheaper than conventional methods of hydrogenproduction. These results suggest that the electricity demands of copper mining could be covered ina sustainable way through the adoption of the Bound4Blue system.