Controllable defect engineering to enhance the corrosion resistance of Cr/GLC multilayered coating for deep-sea applications

Energy recovery from wastewater in deep-sea mining: Feasibility study on an energy supply solution with cold wastewater

Research on cobalt-rich crust cutting modes by deep-sea mining vehicle and cutting performance evaluation

It is increasingly recognised that deep-sea mining of seafloor massive sulphides (SMS) could become an important source of mineral resources. These operations will remove the targeted substrate and produce potentially toxic plumes from in situ seabed excavation and from the return water pumped back down to the seafloor. However, the spatial extent of the impact of deep-sea mining is still uncertain because few field experiments and models of plume dispersion have been conducted. In this study, we used three-dimensional hydrodynamic models of the Azores region together with a theoretical commercial mining operation of polymetallic SMS to simulate the potential dispersal of plumes originating from different phases of mining operations, and to assess the magnitude of potential impacts. Although the model simulations presented here were subject to many caveats, they did reveal some important patterns. The model projected marked differences among sites making generalisations about plume-dispersal patterns in mid-ocean ridges difficult. Nevertheless, the models predicted large horizontal and vertical plume-dispersals above the thresholds adopted. Persistent plumes (temporal frequency >50%, i.e., 6 months out of 12 months) were projected to disperse an average linear distance of 10 to 20 km, cover an area of 17 to 150 km2, and extend more than 800 m in the water column. In fact, the model projected that plumes may disperse beyond the licensed mining areas, reach the flanks and summits of nearby topographic features, and extend into the bathypelagic, mesopelagic, and epipelagic environments. Modelled plume-dispersal overlaps with the predicted distribution of cold-water corals and with existing fishing activities. These potential impacts would be of particular concern in regions such as the Azores, where local populations are highly dependent on the sea for their livelihoods. The findings of this study are an important initial step towards understanding the nature and magnitude of deep-sea mining impacts in space and time.

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Modelling the Dispersion of Seafloor Massive Sulphide Mining Plumes in the Mid Atlantic Ridge Around the Azores

A brief review of recent progress on deep sea mining vehicle

The invention discloses a deep sea mining sitting-bottom type connection processing center. The top end of the connection processing center is connected with a mining riser through a universal joint.A multi-degree-of-freedom platform and a mining robot are arranged in the connection processing center, the multi-degree-of-freedom platform is correspondingly provided with a plurality of fan-shapedmining areas, and the mining robot operates in the fan-shaped mining areas. The mining robot comprises a feeding mechanism, a ballast mechanism and a discharging mechanism, wherein the feeding mechanism conveys mineral materials to the ballast tank; a compression rod and a push rod are mutually transmitted by combining a transmission mechanism; and a sealing plate is pushed to act on a sealing medium to push a second-order push plate, so that the mineral materials in a discharging tank are pushed to be discharged. According to the deep sea mining sitting-bottom type connection processing center, the feeding and discharging of the mining robot reach a stable and balanced state, the strong nonlinear dynamic interference influence brought by an umbilical cable and an ore conveying hose is eliminated, the robust control of the autonomous underwater mining robot becomes possible, and the seabed mining operation mode is revolutionary changed.

Deep sea mining sitting-bottom type connection processing center

The invention belongs to the technical field of deep-sea mining equipment and particularly relates to a deep-sea mining bottom resting type docking processing center. The deep-sea mining bottom resting type docking processing center comprises a docking chamber, a multi-degree-of-freedom platform and docking device. The docking device is arranged on the multi-degree-of-freedom platform, a pluralityof vertical partition plates are arranged in the circumferential direction of the docking chamber at intervals to divide the docking chamber into a plurality of fan-shaped docking spaces, horizontalpartition plates are arranged in the docking spaces and divide the docking spaces into waste material storerooms and fresh material storerooms, the waste material storerooms are located on the fresh material storerooms, the docking device is located between the waste material storerooms and the fresh material storerooms, the waste material storerooms and the fresh material storerooms are spaced, the docking device is connected with the waste material storerooms through a waste material loading and conveying belt located on the upper portion of the docking device, outlets in the bottoms of thewaste material storerooms are located above the waste material loading and conveying belt, the top end of the docking chamber is connected with a mine lifting vertical pipe through a universal joint,and a fresh material rising channel and a waste material sinking channel are arranged in the mine lifting vertical pipe. The deep-sea mining bottom resting type docking processing center cooperates with a deep-sea mining robot, and the stability of the deep-sea mining process is ensured.

Shao Shuai

Papers

A brief review of recent progress on deep sea mining vehicle

Deep sea mining sitting-bottom type connection processing center

Deep-sea mining bottom resting type docking processing center