The high-temperature processes used in producing commodities such as alumina, base metals, iron, steel and cement generate waste heats in various forms.

According to CSIRO Minerals research scientist Dr John Sanderson (who led the review), little is being done to recover low- to medium-grade waste heat (less than 500oC), which accounts for more than half of the total heat generated in industry.

“Capturing this energy could help the industry improve its environmental performance and realise substantial energy savings,” he says.

The review identified practical opportunities for additional recovery within key mineral processing industries, as well as the need for mapping key waste-heat emission hot spots in Australia.

“We’ve been working with CSIRO Land and Water to investigate the potential of their thermal imaging data processing in this area,” Dr Sanderson says.

Derived from NASA’s MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) satellite data, the technology was originally developed to assist with bushfire monitoring.

“It’s a reasonable assumption that thermal imaging data could be used to identify large waste-heat emissions from all industry sectors, not just minerals processing,” Dr Sanderson says.

The review recommends a pilot study of the MODIS technology and its application to the minerals processing industry, as well as further R&D to improve existing heat exchangers and heat cycles.

The full story can be found in the October issue of Process. A pdf of the magazine is available now at http://www.minerals.csiro.au/main/extpages/pdfs/process_oct06.pdf.

Other stories in Process include:

• The heat is on: researchers are using dry slag granulation to recover waste heat from molten slag.
• Turning up the heat on energy savings: a new on-line analysis technique has the potential to create significant energy savings for the coal industry.
• Energy savings ahead: drained cathode cell technology could help the aluminium industry achieve energy savings of at least 10 per cent.
• Directness: innovative direct solvent extraction technology simplifies the purification of nickel and cobalt.
• Tailoring a golden solution: a new cyanide leach circuit is helping Newcrest Mining Ltd increase gold recovery at its Telfer operation.