Method of Selecting the Means of Transport of the Winning, Taking into Account Environmental Aspects

Abstract

The transport of the winning in deep mines, using the room and pillar mining system, is most often performed with bucket loaders and haul trucks. In the era of attempts to stop rapid climate change, it is crucial to choose the transport means for the winning both in terms of efficiency and cost-effectiveness and to consider its environmental aspect. Permissible levels of pollutant emissions in exhaust gases are defined for this type of means of transport by the EU Stage Standards. There is a discernible need to develop a multi-criteria method supporting the decision-making process, which should reward loaders and haul trucks that meet more stringent emission standards. The article proposes an innovative idea of taking environmental aspects into account when selecting loaders and haul trucks for excavated material transport tasks, so that the amount of pollutants emitted by them in exhaust gases, e.g., the sum of hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides (HC+NOx), is also taken into consideration when assigning means of transport to particular tasks. Based on simulation studies for a specific case, it was found that a 20% reduction of HC+NOx emission is possible with only a 2% increase in the transport costs of the winning. For this purpose, an objective function was used formulated on the basis of two criteria: minimization of the transport cost of the winning and the level of pollutant emissions in the exhaust gases. Since dozens of mining machines are operated continuously in deep mines of non-ferrous metal ores, the application of the proposed method would significantly reduce the emission of pollutants in the used air coming out of ventilation shafts.