Renewable energy systems in the mining industry: a literature review and research agenda

Hossein Abbaspour, Fatemeh Abbaspour

Abstract


Renewable energy (RE) sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, and biofuels are counted as clean energy sources, which their implication is becoming widespread. These sources are mostly favorable because of their environmental-friendly features compared to conventional energy sources such as fossil fuels. Accordingly, the daily tendency to apply RE systems in households and industries is observable. Likewise, as a leading industry in raw material production, the mining industry is trying to take advantage of these systems in its different mining stages, from exploration to mineral processing. This study presents a literature review of the scientific works performed in this area. By identifying 40 research articles, conference papers, theses and dissertations, they could be divided into three main topics: 1) potential and feasibility analysis, 2) RE system selection and, 3) application and perspective of RE systems. Reviewing these studies revealed that although some valuable contributions in this field were carried out in the recent decade, more works are still desirable in the future. Accordingly, the following items were proposed as research agenda: 1) multi-factor evaluations, 2) optimization methods, 3) mine and mineral processing operations and, 4) software development.


Keywords


Renewable Energy (RE) Systems, Mining Industry, Literature Review, Mine Operation, Mineral Processing

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DOI (PDF): https://doi.org/10.20508/ijrer.v12i1.12828.g8438

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