Impact of Bulldozer's Engine Load Factor on Fuel Consumption, CO2 Emission and Cost
Abstract
Problem statement: Bulldozers consume a large amount of diesel fuel and consequently produce a significant quantity of CO2. Environmental and economic cost issues related to fuel consumption and CO2 emission represent a substantial challenge to the mining industry. Approach: Impact of engine load conditions on fuel consumption and the subsequent CO2 emission and cost was analyzed for Caterpillar bulldozers. Results were compared with the data on bulldozers' fuel consumption from an operating coal surface mine in the United States. Results: There is a strong linear correlation among power, fuel consumption and engine load factor. Reduction in load factor by 15% may significantly reduce the fuel consumption and the CO2 emission. Conclusion/Recommendation: Application of appropriate bulldozer's load factor may help mine operators manage fuel consumption, cost and environmental burden.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3844/ajessp.2011.125.131
Copyright: © 2011 Vladislav Kecojevic and Dragan Komljenovic. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Keywords
- Engine load factor
- fuel consumption
- CO2 emission
- mining industry
- linear correlation
- caterpillar bulldozers
- diesel fuel
- low idling
- bulldozers consume
- mining operations