Technological and Profitable Analysis of Airlifting in Deep Sea Mining Systems

Abstract

Airlifting technology utilized in deep-sea mining (DSM) industry was proposed in the 70s of last century, which was triggered by the discovery of vast amounts of mineral resources on the seabed. The objective of this paper is to assess the technological feasibility and profitability analyses in terms of solid production rate, energy consumption per tonnage of mineral, and profitability per tonnage of mineral. The effects of submergence ratio, pipe diameter, particle diameter, mining depth, and gas flux rate are investigated. The analysis is based on a numerical calculation performed in a Matlab environment. The research reported in this paper can assist to select an optimal transport plan for DSM projects depending on its solid production rate, energy consumption, and profitability.

Application of multi-criteria decision making to sustainable deep-sea mining vertical transport plans

“…In this section, the numerical calculation principles and definitions of these evaluation criteria for a sustainable DSM vertical transport plan are explained in detail. The authors' previous work (Ma et al, 2017a;Ma et al, 2017b;Ma et al, 2017c;Ma et al, 2018a;Ma et al, 2018b;Ma et al, 2022) provided further detail concerning these criteria and their ability to systematically evaluate the technological, economic, and environmental impacts of DSM transport plans. Ma et al (2017aMa et al ( , 2017b quantitatively analyses various DSM lifting technologies (e.g., continuous line bucket lifting, hydraulic lifting and airlifting) from the perspective of technical feasibility and economic performance.…”

“…The authors' previous work (Ma et al, 2017a;Ma et al, 2017b;Ma et al, 2017c;Ma et al, 2018a;Ma et al, 2018b;Ma et al, 2022) provided further detail concerning these criteria and their ability to systematically evaluate the technological, economic, and environmental impacts of DSM transport plans. Ma et al (2017aMa et al ( , 2017b quantitatively analyses various DSM lifting technologies (e.g., continuous line bucket lifting, hydraulic lifting and airlifting) from the perspective of technical feasibility and economic performance. Ma et al (2018aMa et al ( , 2018b2017c) uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the environmental pollution (e.g., tailing disposal, sediment plume, species disturbance, physical seabed disturbance) caused by DSM.…”

“…In airlifting systems, pressures inside the pipe lifting system decrease with the continuous lifting of minerals. The volumetric concentration of mineral particles can be very small, which will lead to a fast-moving velocity of solid particles (roughly 20 -80 m/ s) (Ma et al, 2017b). (c) Compared to centrifugal pumpsthat can be added along the pipe lifting system to improve its mining capacitysteel rope strength is an important limiting factor in a continuous line bucket lifting system, which limits both its maximum lifting depth and maximum solid production rate (Ma et al, 2017a).…”

“…A key research topicand one that has received considerable attention previouslyis the environmental impact of DSM activities, particularly given the low productivity (Pabortsava and Lampitt, 2020;Peng et al, 2021) and vulnerability of deep ocean ecology (Tilot, 2010;Van Dover, 2011;Jones et al, 2017;Tilot et al, 2018). Beside environmental impacts, both the technological and economic considerations of DSM are key components in the development of a sustainable DSM transport plan (Ma et al, 2017a;Ma et al, 2017b). Furthermore, other researchers also have examined the social implications of DSM in influencing sustainability projects (Roche and Bice, 2013;Tilot et al, 2021).…”

Comminution of Polymetallic Nodules with a High-Pressure Water Jet

“…Vertical transport of polymetallic nodules from the seabed is usually carried out using suitable pipelines [31,33] and following either a hydraulic [34,35], a hydro-pneumatic [33], or-less commonly-a pneumatic [36] method. However, due to the considerable depth of the nodule excavation site, such means of vertical transport are subject to numerous complications [37,38], especially in the flexible part of the pipeline [39,40].…”