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Frontiers in Deep Sea Mining: Current Status and Future Prospects

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Oceans".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 7363

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Mechatronic Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410017, China
Interests: deep sea mining total system; mining robot; mining pipeline; hydraulic lifting pump

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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Exploitation and Utilization of Deep Sea Mineral Resources Technology, Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Changsha 410012, China
Interests: deep sea mining robot; mining pipeline; hydraulic lifting pump

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There are abundant mineral resources at the bottom of the ocean at a depth of several thousand meters, which vary in type and have large reserves and high grades. In the current situation of resource shortage, deep-sea mining has great potential for development, which is of enormous significance to mankind in its search for alternatives to onshore mineral resources.

The commercial exploitation of deep-sea mining faces many unresolved issues. Deep seabed ore resources are often in extreme environments and have a special occurrence state, which places extremely high requirements on the reliability and safety of deep-sea mining operation systems. In addition to the extremely high demand for technical equipment, the important issues that restrict the commercial exploitation of seabed mineral resources are the economic benefits of mining and the environmental protection of marine ecology.

Scholars have actively carried out deep-sea mining research and have achieved fruitful results in the exploration of mining methods, technical prototypes, and related operating equipment. Great strides have been made in the development of commercial extraction systems for deep-sea mining, with significant progress seen in key mining technologies such as deep-sea mineral resource analysis, deep-sea mining system design, intelligent control of deep-sea mining vehicles, mining head structures and collection strategies, hydraulic lifting and conveying methods, and surface support vessel systems.

However, there are still many gaps in related research that need to be filled. The purpose of this Special Issue is to gain a more in-depth understanding of the development of existing deep-sea mining technologies, analyze key issues that need to be solved urgently, and point out the direction for subsequent research on deep-sea-mining-related technologies. This Special Issue will summarize the development history of deep-sea mining technology research, focus on analyzing and classifying feasible deep sea mining systems and the progress of sea trials and laboratory research that have been carried out around the world, and look ahead to the future development prospects of deep-sea mining under the requirements of commercial exploitation.

Prof. Dr. Yu Dai
Dr. Yangrui Cheng
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • deep sea mineral resources
  • deep sea mining system
  • mining robot
  • mining pipeline
  • hydraulic lifting system
  • surface supporting system
  • sea trial

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 4916 KiB  
Article
Numerical Investigation of Recommended Operating Parameters Considering Movement of Polymetallic Nodule Particles during Hydraulic Lifting of Deep-Sea Mining Pipeline
by Yanyang Zhang, Yu Dai and Xiang Zhu
Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4248; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054248 - 27 Feb 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1734
Abstract
Previously conducted studies have established that pipeline hydraulic transport systems are currently the most promising deep-sea mining systems, and the pipeline transport performance of polymetallic nodules is one of the technical priorities. In this paper, a coupled CFD–DEM approach is adopted to numerically [...] Read more.
Previously conducted studies have established that pipeline hydraulic transport systems are currently the most promising deep-sea mining systems, and the pipeline transport performance of polymetallic nodules is one of the technical priorities. In this paper, a coupled CFD–DEM approach is adopted to numerically calculate the solid–liquid two-phase flow of seawater with polymetallic nodules. Small-scale experiments were conducted to validate the coupled model. Particle dynamics analysis was carried out under different inlet flow rates, feed concentrations and nodule fragmentation levels. The simulation results show that different operating parameters have significant effects on the pipeline transportation process. With low inlet flow rate, high feed concentration, and high percentage of large particles, the particle distribution and motion characteristics show a trend that is not conducive to safe transport. A set of recommended operating parameters for hydraulic transport of polymetallic nodule pipelines was summarized. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Deep Sea Mining: Current Status and Future Prospects)
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Review

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15 pages, 8756 KiB  
Review
Status and Prospects of the Development of Deep-Sea Polymetallic Nodule-Collecting Technology
by Yangrui Cheng, Yu Dai, Yanyang Zhang, Caihua Yang and Chenglong Liu
Sustainability 2023, 15(5), 4572; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054572 - 3 Mar 2023
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5058
Abstract
The deep-sea is rich in mineral resources, and deep-sea polymetallic nodules are considered to be the most likely resource for commercial exploitation. Since the discovery of polymetallic nodules by mankind, researchers around the world have made long and arduous explorations in the exploitation [...] Read more.
The deep-sea is rich in mineral resources, and deep-sea polymetallic nodules are considered to be the most likely resource for commercial exploitation. Since the discovery of polymetallic nodules by mankind, researchers around the world have made long and arduous explorations in the exploitation of deep-sea polymetallic nodules and have proposed various mining methods, such as the dragging bucket type, the continuous bucket rope type, the automatic shuttle boat type, and the pipeline -lifting type, and have carried out technical verification accordingly. In the collection of seabed polymetallic nodules, the development and testing of towed type, spiral-driven type, crawler self-propelled type, and suspended type technologies have been carried out, basically realizing the mining technology verification of seabed polymetallic nodules and providing technical support for commercial development. However, according to the demand for commercial development, there are still many technical difficulties in polymetallic nodule-collecting technology, and more focus needs to be placed on the efficiency, environmental protection, intelligence, safety, and reliability of the collecting system in the future. This paper compares the existing progress in collection technology and equipment, and provides ideas and references for the research and development of deep-sea polymetallic nodule-mining technology and equipment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Deep Sea Mining: Current Status and Future Prospects)
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