Assessment of different technologies for vertical hydraulic transport in deep sea mining applications

Abstract

Successful mining of deep sea deposits strongly depends on the proper choice of the right equipment. The most probable concept for a deep sea mining system would consist of the three major sub-components: Seafloor Mining Tool, Vertical Transport System and Mining Support Vessel. In this paper, emphasis is placed on the Vertical Transport System. We analyse the pros and cons of the different concepts such as hydraulic transport using centrifugal or positive-displacement slurry pumps, conventional and unconventional airlift systems, vertical offshore mining systems and vortex slurry transportation systems. All these systems are considered for their applicability at different water depths (from the relatively shallow to the relatively deep) for the different types of materials (from the relatively fine to the relatively coarse) and various production rates in terms of the efficiency, reliability and state of the art of technology.