Increased time between overhauls, effective reduction of fuel consumption and costs as well as savings in carbon emissions; crowned by unbeatable aftersales support. Rolls-Royce says this was the result of a repowering of haul trucks at one of Yancoal’s open-cut coal mines in Australia’s Hunter Valley with state-of-the-art mtu engine solutions by Penske Australia. It adds that the results were so convincing that haul trucks operating at two more Yancoal mines are now being repowered by Penske Australia with mtu engines.
The project began at one of Yancoal’s mine sites in the Hunter Valley region of Australia, Mount Thorley Warkworth (MTW), which presented special challenges for the haul trucks used on site. For every tonne of coal, around six tonnes of waste have to be removed, and the gradients of up to 10% mean that the trucks have to run at full rpm for an average of one third of the time in order to retrieve the coal.
The customer previously had conventional 2,500 bhp engines powering the haul trucks that had come to the end of their life and needed replacing. The decision was made to repower the fleet of Komatsu 830Es with 2,500 bhp 16-cylinder mtu Series 4000 engines through distributor Penske Australia. Penske Australia backs the mtu technology with an expert team of engineers and factory-trained technicians designing, installing, and commissioning repower solutions.
Rolls-Royce states: “The results overwhelmingly convinced the operators: the initially estimated 25,000 hours of engine life were increased to 36,000 hours. This is a benefit that Yancoal is now extending across two more mines, with a total fleet of 75 trucks being repowered across the Yancoal fleet.”
Close cooperation between Penske Australia and Yancoal, and comprehensive monitoring of the mtu engine revealed further benefits: in addition to the longer time between overhauls, resulting in lower expenses, the mtu engines at MTW mine also consumed around 6.8% less fuel than the previous conventional engine while maintaining the same performance, accompanied by equal emission savings.
At two other mines, Yarrabee mine in Central Queensland and Moolarben in New South Wales, Yancoal operates fleets comparable to the one at Mount Thorley Warkworth Mine. After a successful tender process, Yancoal and Penske Australia developed a plan to bring the reliability and performance of the mtu engine to the 19 Komatsu 830E trucks at Yarrabee as well as to the 17 Komatsu 830E and five Komatsu 930E trucks at Moolarben.
Repowered Komatsu 930E truck at Yancoal Moolarben
By mid-2022, 46 Komatsu 830E/930E trucks had been repowered and were operating with an mtu Series 4000 engine across the three Yancoal mines. The initial repower project at MTW was launched in 2018 with a total of 75 repowers expected to be delivered across the three mine sites by 2025.
The repowers of the 930Es was an important milestone was also part of the plan. As they accumulate service hours, they will be monitored in similar detail as the initial 830E truck repowers were to accurately assess and validate the business case cost benefits for Yancoal partnering with Penske Australia and powering their mining trucks with an mtu 16V 4000 C01 engine.
Rools-Royce concludes: “Engineered and built specifically for mining, the mtu Series 4000 is widely regarded as the industry’s ideal engine for high-horsepower applications, due to its superior durability, fuel economy and low total cost of ownership. In order to meet this standard, even after the first lifetime of an engine, we provide fully customised repowering solutions for every possible requirement and any application. We achieve this through over 25 years of experience with the engine series, which is by now in its 5th and most advanced generation.”
It adds that the efficiency of its repowering process results in typical equipment outage of one week or less, with many equipment operators having saved enough in fuel, maintenance and repair costs to return their repower investment before the first overhaul.