Bulk materials which are transported with continuous conveyors, partly have a high energy content,
depending on the specified mass flow and the conveying velocity. At discharge points to storage
areas or at transfer points from one conveyor to another, the energy content often increases due to
the elevation of the discharge conveyor. It is possible to recover a large part of the energy due to the
mass flow (conveying velocity) and the drop height of the bulk material at these points. A so-called
"Solid State Material Driven Turbine" has been developed at the "Chair of Mining Engineering and
Mineral Economics - Conveying Technology and Design Methods" at the Montanuniversität
Leoben / Austria , which allows recovery of this energy. This energy can be transferred directly to
the conveying system or via a generator to the electric circuit. In addition to energy recovery, this
technology offers further benefits, which could be even more interesting than the actual energy
recovery. This paper introduces this new technology and focuses on additional benefits like wear
reduction, avoiding particle size segregation, soft loading effects etc. Turbine prototypes, wear tests,
simulation examples and economic considerations are shown.