Teck has started a new pilot project that is the first in Canada by equipping some of the mining company's haulers with a blended liquefied natural gas (LNG) fuel source. Six haul trucks make up the pilot at Teck’s Fording River steelmaking coal operation. The pilot had support from FortisBC, a gas and electric power distributor.
“Teck, with support from FortisBC, is piloting the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel source in six haul trucks at the Fording River steelmaking coal operation,” said Nic Milligan, Manager of Community and Aboriginal Affairs at Teck.
It is possible that there will be a large reduction in CO2 emissions and big fuel cost savings.
“There is the potential to eliminate approximately 35,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually at Teck’s steelmaking coal operations and potentially reduce fuel costs by more than $20 million annually by adopting LNG and diesel hybrid fuel across the operations,” said Milligan.
The pilot uses a blended fuel source, as a complete fuel source change over would involve new engines for the haulers.
“Teck is using a blended fuel because LNG alone is not compatible with the existing haul truck engines.”
The LNG pilot gives information to Teck to allow them to evaluate and compare the blended LNG with the full diesel powered trucks.
“The pilot is expected to run until mid-year 2016 and will provide us with more information about the potential of using LNG more broadly across Teck’s haul truck fleet. We will evaluate next steps once the pilot is complete. Costs relating to the pilot are proprietary for business reasons,” said Milligan.
Teck recognizes that they could not have done the pilot themselves and acknowledges the help from its employees at the jobsite and strategic units.