The Impact of Rolling Resistance
Why are mining companies ignoring an easy solution to reducing their operating costs? The truth is, they are losing millions of dollars each year by underestimating the significant cost savings they could be getting with more efficient roads. One way to improve their bottom line is to make stronger, smoother haul roads so their trucks do not use as much fuel.
More specifically, rolling resistance, or the force resisting the motion when a vehicle rolls on a road surface, needs to be addressed. It is a critical factor that can be reduced through better road design and management and is often overlooked. This is a mistake we see on mining sites all over the world that can easily be avoided with the use of EarthZyme®.
What is rolling resistance?
Rolling resistance is the force resisting a vehicle’s tires as they roll across a surface. The main factors that contribute to rolling resistance are the tires (roughness and tire pressure), the strength of the road, and the road surface (roughness and deformation). The greater the road deflects under the weight of a vehicle, and the deeper the tires sink into the road surface, the greater the energy lost.
Why should mines care about rolling resistance?
One critical fact about mining sites is that they are temporary, so developers seldomly construct permanent roads. However, using massive haul trucks on temporary roads is not the most cost-effective solution either. Temporary roads are rarely made of materials that are stable enough to support mining trucks and deteriorate quickly.
The problem is many mines do not understand the direct relationship between road quality and haul fleet fuel consumption and wear-and-tear. Rolling resistance is an important factor in a vehicle’s fuel consumption because the more resistive force working against a vehicle in motion, the more fuel is consumed to maintain that motion. Unstable, uneven, and rough roads greatly increase operating expenses in terms of road maintenance, fuel consumption, vehicle maintenance, and productivity.
How can Cypher help reduce rolling resistance?
EarthZyme® significantly improves the conditions of haul roads, especially those with relatively high clay content. The non-corrosive and environmentally friendly combination of enzymes, electrolytes, and surfactants in EarthZyme® work by reacting with the clay component of the road materials and releasing water during compaction creating a denser road. EarthZyme® manipulates the clay to bind the road materials permanently, increasing the road’s density and CBR values, and reducing its permeability and swell potential. All of which help to reduce deflection.
Harder roads with less deflection mean getting from point A to point B faster, leading to an increase in cycle time efficiency on mining haul roads. Reduction in rolling resistance also means less energy required to transport that same load from point A to point B, thereby reducing fuel consumption of haul trucks and helping to improve the fuel efficiency of a fleet.
In fact, Synrude Canada Ltd. , one of the largest producers of crude oil from the oil sands in Canada, reported a 61% reduction in rolling resistance on a EarthZyme® treated road.
How can reducing rolling resistance save a mine money?
Mines need to know that rolling resistance is actually an energy cost which causes excessive fuel usage to move materials. If they are not measuring it, they might never know how much money they are losing, or how much money they could be saving. By reducing rolling resistance mines spend less on road maintenance, vehicle and equipment maintenance, and most importantly, fuel. They will see an immediate improvement on their overall OPEX.
The proof: In 2015, after a one-year study of the performance of the EarthZyme® stabilized roads, Shenhua mine reported a 17.4% reduction in fuel consumption of the haul trucks using the EarthZyme® treated roads, as compared to the previous year using untreated roads. This represented approximately USD 3.6M in fuel savings!
Why should mines choose Cypher Environmental to help them reduce rolling resistance?
Cypher Environmental provides you with best-in-class customer service. We will test samples of your road materials, or work with local testing facilities, to tell you what is in them and if it is possible to treat them effectively using our products. We will discuss your specific project with you to make sure our products are a good fit, before you buy. We will come to your site personally to supervise product application and help reduce your rolling resistance, wherever you are in the world.
Have you heard about Cypher Green Roads? We will donate up to 5% of a project value for any orders exceeding USD 250K in the form of product to a local community, near the project location. This program is specifically designed to help mining companies increase their Environmental Social Governance.
We do all of this with the promise that our products will always have absolutely zero environmental impact. We truly believe that we can build better roads, make a better planet, and give mines a better bottom line, without any tradeoffs.
What other costly mistakes can mining companies avoid?
Reducing rolling resistance is just one of the ways mines can save on operational costs on their sites. There are many other opportunities for mines to save money by using our products. Find out more by downloading the book below.
Cypher Environmental is a leading global environmental solution provider for dust control and road stabilization. With ESG (Environmental Social Governance) and CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) principles at the core of every decision we make, we proudly boast the tag line, “Always do what’s right.”
If you’re interested in building better haul roads please contact us here or reach us at: +420 602 443 914 // info@vivoconsult.com // vivoconsult.com