Taking African mining organisations to Net Zero: Danfoss focuses on meeting decarbonisation goals at Electra Mining Africa 2024

anfoss, the global industrial Danish-based group, is proud to announce its participation at the upcoming free-to-attend Electra Mining Africa 2024 show, one of the continent’s premier mining and industrial exhibitions. This year’s event, taking place from September 2 to 6 at the Johannesburg Expo Centre, will highlight Danfoss’s latest innovations, sustainable solutions and commitment to supporting the African mining industry’s journey toward decarbonisation.

“The mining sector across the globe currently finds itself in the position of performing a balancing act; on the one hand striving to reach zero-net emissions before 2025, and on the other still having to increase production to meet growing demand,” explains Craig Rapson, Global Business Development Director for Mining, Minerals, and Cement at Danfoss South Africa.

“The International Energy Agency (IEA) notes that mineral requirements for clean energy technologies would need to quadruple by 2040 to reach the Paris Agreement goal of a global temperature rise of well below two degrees centigrade. Mining and minerals processing is a very energy-intensive industry, and with mining production expected to take a significant upward trajectory, this energy demand will also rise, which of course is the opposite of what is needed to achieve future decarbonisation.

“Changing the way in which we deliver energy to the mines will be pivotal in achieving these sustainability goals, however it will take enormous investments for a large-scale transition to alternatives, such as solar PV, wind, electrolysers and energy storage systems, while also keeping in mind that none of these energy alternatives will make the mining processes operate in a more energy-efficient way,” Rapson continues.

“This can seem like an overwhelming challenge for mining companies. Nevertheless, there are steps that can be taken today, with minimum investment, that will pave the way to a sustainable increase in productivity. This can be achieved through improvements in system reliability, proactive maintenance programmes, intelligent performance monitoring of critical assets and system level optimisation to deliver premium performance and efficiency.”

Looking specifically at the role of a variable speed drives (VSDs), Rapson maintains that this technology holds a great deal of potential for helping to reduce worldwide energy consumption, particularly within the context of electric motors accounting for between 50 and 75 percent of global electrical energy consumption, depending on the region and industrial area.

“VSDs are not new technology but the technological advancements within this space in recent years have been quite breathtaking, with increased efficiency, smaller footprint and intelligent functionality as examples. While VSDs are not the cure-all for our CO₂ challenges, if they are applied in the optimum way to mining applications, without detriment to the production, then the benefits can become much clearer.”

Rapson presented at Electra Mining Africa 2024 on September 2 at 11:00. His talk, entitled ‘Minimising Investment to Support the Long-Term Drive to Net Zero’, discussed the crucial role of VSDs and other innovations in reducing energy consumption and emissions within the mining sector.

Practical solutions and applications for the local mining industry

Danfoss’s contribution to the mining sector is focused on improving operational efficiencies, reducing environmental impact and ensuring the longevity and reliability of mining equipment, explains Sikantha Naidoo, Senior Country Sales Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at Danfoss.

“As an organisation that prides itself on being a technology partner for customers wanting to decarbonise through energy efficiency, machine productivity, lower emissions and electrification, Danfoss will be using Electra Mining Africa 2024 to showcase its iC7 series, which represents a major leap forward in VSD technology and is particularly aimed at harsh environments.”

Designed to enhance efficiency and reliability, the iC7 will enable mining companies to meet their energy efficiency targets while simultaneously ensuring operational excellence, with a focus on reducing CO₂ emissions and saving energy. Highly compact and easy to integrate into existing solutions, the iC7 range provides efficient heat management, with back-channel cooling, and intelligent security ready for industrial IoT thanks to hardware-based protection that prevents unauthorised access and a crypto chip ensuring end-to-end encrypted data transfer.

“We will also focus on Danfoss’s full suite of mining solutions, including harmonic filters and advanced power systems that are key to improving performance and reducing downtime.”

Alongside its cutting-edge technologies, Danfoss will emphasise its commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. “Sustainability is at the core of our business and value chain,” Naidoo adds. “We continue the transformation of our own business to meet the challenges and opportunities posed by the strengthening global megatrends: climate change, urbanisation, food and water supply, digitalisation and electrification. At the heart of these megatrends are societal and environmental changes in the world in which we do business.

“Danfoss integrates sustainability and ESG into everything we do; from our operations to the way we engineer solutions for our customers and our ability to attract people to lead the green transition, defining three sustainable focus areas namely: decarbonisation, circularity, and diversity, equity, and inclusion,” she concludes.