The dark seabed is rich in metal minerals, but considering the high cost of mining and environmental issues, mining is not as popular as before, but now the international team is testing the Apollo 2 (Apollo 2) system. Pick up deep-sea gold “Metallic Nodules”.
In parts of the sea, there are many Manganese nodules (polymetallic nodules) scattered on the seabed, and the growth of nodules is arguably one of the slowest processes of geological phenomena, with an average diameter of about 14 centimeters per few million years. Centimeters of seafloor rock solids contain not only manganese, but also elements such as copper, cobalt, and nickel, all of which can be used in electronics or renewable energy.
However, these nodules are located several kilometers underwater, which is difficult to mine, and mining operations will also impact the environment. In addition to disturbing the life of the benthic area, the tailings will also increase the toxicity of the water body, and form a suspension plume (sediment plume), damaging food chain.
In this regard, a Blue Harvesting project spanning five countries and nine institutions came up with a solution and spent two and a half years building Apollo 2. He was like a large electric “vacuum cleaner”, sucking the surrounding seawater Running on hydraulics, it’s designed to absorb less water and sediment than other comparable systems, and it can recycle sediment clouds back into the back like traditional vacuum cleaners.
During the three-week test, the team tested the prototype of Apollo 2 at a depth of 300 meters at a test site about 15 to 20 kilometers south of Malaga, Spain. The research team pointed out that the conditions here are similar to those of the deep sea. Sensors on Apollo 2, autonomous underwater vehicles with cameras and sonar, try to pick up artificial nodules.
According to Rudy Helmons, coordinator of the Blue Harvesting project, Apollo 2 was able to pick up nodules efficiently without creating a large sediment dust cloud, and the suspended matter drifted less widely and contained less sediment than expected, the team said, Further testing will also be carried out in the future at a manganese nodule field in the deep sea of the Northeast Atlantic.
(Source: TU Delft)
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