Minimum emissions earthmoving and optimum fleet size

Abstract

Earthmoving operations in construction and mining, using diesel powered equipment, produce large quantities of emissions. There is an increasing public awareness of the need to reduce these emissions due to their negative impacts on the environment. A reduction in emissions can be achieved by, amongst other things, employing different management strategies. This paper examines emissions associated with earthmoving equipment from an operational standpoint. The paper’s results will be of interest to those designing, implementing and managing earthmoving operations and those interested in emissions in the earthmoving, quarrying and open-cut mining sectors. This paper summarizes and evaluates research on emissions associated with earthmoving operations, including research on percentage increases in emissions for equipment working at reduced operational efficiencies. The percentage increase in pollution emitted through variable fleet size in under-and over-trucked operations is analyzed and exampled, and optimum fleet sizes in terms of unit emissions are investigated. The paper's results will give engineers a better understanding of the relationship between emissions and earthmoving operations, and the impact of under-trucking and over-trucking