To thoroughly implement CCCC Group’s “666” strategic framework and “1545” development goals, along with CCCC Dredging’s “1446” development strategy and “123456” work policy, and to showcase the results of the Dredging National Center’s drive to build a world-class source of original dredging and marine technology and a strategic scientific and technological force, the company is launching the “Blue Research at the Center” series. The column focuses on the company’s core research platforms, independently developed achievements and engineering applications, presenting its technical breakthroughs and innovation strength in dredging, marine engineering and ecological remediation, accelerating the conversion of research results into new industries, new models and new growth drivers, and injecting strong innovation momentum into the group’s effort to build a world-class enterprise.
Deep-sea mining is one of the most complex marine engineering systems humanity has attempted to date. It involves great technical difficulty, high sea-trial costs and strict environmental constraints, and the industry has long lacked a land-based pilot verification capability that links the entire process together, which has been a core bottleneck constraining technology iteration and commercialization. Building on its accumulated dredging technology and existing test platform base, the National Engineering Research Center of Dredging Technology and Equipment won the lead role in the deep-sea exploration and mining project of the 2024 Shanghai Future Industry Test Field open-competition (“unveil the list and take command”) program, and has completed the full-system land-based joint pilot test platform for deep-sea mining. The platform was created by upgrading the center’s existing water basin test platform and vertical pipeline platform into three large-scale pilot platforms, for excavation, lifting and sorting, each able to run independently. Connected by physical pipelines and an integrated control system, they form a closed loop covering the full sequence of excavation, intermediate storage, vertical lifting, grading and sorting, and environmental treatment of tailings water. It is the world’s first land-based pilot test platform to join up the complete deep-sea mining system, filling the pilot-scale gap between single-equipment performance verification and whole-system compatibility testing, and providing core support for the development, process optimization and sea-trial deployment of 6,000-meter-class deep-sea mining systems.
The platform consists of three core modules, the excavation pilot platform, the vertical lifting pilot platform, and the sorting and environmental pilot platform, together with an integrated control system and a high-precision monitoring system, supporting both stand-alone tests and full-system linked tests.
1. Excavation pilot platform
Built on a large-scale water basin with a movable trolley, the platform focuses on low-disturbance, high-efficiency collection technology for deep-sea minerals and on verifying mining vehicle performance, with the capacity to run pilot tests on prototype-scale mining equipment.
Typical test scenarios: simulating real seabed working conditions such as complex bottom topography, minerals in various states of occurrence, and the dispersion boundaries of collection plumes, reproducing the on-site spatial and environmental constraints on mining vehicle driving and steering and on collector head operation.
Core equipment: a 250 kW submersible slurry pump (rated head 50 m, flow 700 cubic meters per hour, capable of clog-free transport of particles up to 50 mm at 15 percent concentration), supported by an adjustable-angle suction pipe, a trolley traversing system for lateral and longitudinal movement, underwater camera and lighting systems, and turbidity and plume monitoring devices.
2. Vertical lifting pilot platform
Centered on a vertical pipeline system, supported by a relay unit for stable feeding and a multi-mode power system, this is the core facility for verifying long-distance lifting technology for deep-sea minerals.
Typical test scenarios: simulating deep-sea riser transport conditions, covering routine operations such as steady-state transport, flow fluctuation and pulsation, and intermittent passage of coarse particles, while also reproducing extreme fault conditions such as pipe blockage and sedimentation, pump shutdown and restart, and abnormal air supply, recreating the full range of service conditions of a deep-sea lifting system.
Core parameters: three test pipe diameters (DN100, DN200 and DN300), with a vertical test section more than 20 m high; a 500 kW main lifting pump (rated head 80 m, flow 1,500 cubic meters per hour) and an air compression system rated at 22 cubic meters per minute; a 10 cubic meter relay hopper fitted with an anti-clogging feed device for stable, metered supply of coarse particles, supporting transport of particles from 10 mm to 100 mm.
3. Sorting and environmental pilot platform
Addressing industry pain points such as the limited space for shipboard sorting and the strict environmental requirements on tailings water discharge, the platform provides a full-process sorting and tailings water treatment test system to support R&D on shipboard pre-concentration of deep-sea minerals.
Typical test scenarios: simulating engineering application conditions such as fluctuations in feed slurry composition and flow rate and offshore tailings water discharge limits, reproducing real production situations in which the sorting system operates continuously while tailings water and residue are treated at the same time.
Process configuration: a complete process chain of linear screen pre-classification, cyclone and spiral chute gravity separation, magnetic separation and flotation cleaning, magnetic coagulation purification, and plate-and-frame filter press dewatering, equipped with core units including a drum magnetic separator, a vertical-ring high-gradient magnetic separator and a four-cell flotation machine, with a maximum slurry throughput of 20 cubic meters per hour.
4. Integrated control and monitoring system
The three units are linked by physical pipelines and scheduled by an integrated control system, connecting the full process chain of excavation, intermediate storage, vertical lifting, grading and sorting, and tailings water treatment, and fully replicating the continuous operating logic of the complete deep-sea mining process.
Typical test scenarios: simulating continuous full-process deep-sea mining operations, reproducing coupled system conditions such as fluctuations in excavation feed and changes in lifting load, and recreating the coordination constraints and sequencing logic of multi-equipment, multi-stage operation encountered in real sea trials.
System configuration: independent control of each of the three platforms plus one-click full-system linkage; integration of a self-developed ERT (electrical resistance tomography) concentration meter, high-speed camera systems, multi-dimensional pressure, flow and level sensors, and a high-frequency data acquisition system, enabling visualization of flow conditions inside the pipelines, real-time collection of full-process parameters, and playback analysis of test data, ensuring test precision and process control.
Core pilot verifications the platform can carry out, covering the entire deep-sea mining chain:
- Excavation technology tests: performance testing of low-disturbance collection devices, verification of mining vehicle collection efficiency and driving characteristics, and research on plume dispersion patterns and suppression technology.
- Lifting technology tests: coarse-particle hydraulic, pneumatic and hybrid-power transport characteristics, comparison of transport performance across different pipe diameters, verification of relay hopper feed stability, simulation of extreme conditions (pipe blockage, pump shutdown), pipe wear resistance testing, and lifting pump flow-passage and wear performance tests.
- Sorting and environmental tests: optimization of sorting processes for multiple types of deep-sea minerals, fine-particle mineral recovery trials, and verification of magnetic coagulation treatment of tailings water.
- Full-system linked tests: verification of end-to-end compatibility across excavation, lifting and sorting, optimization of full-process automatic control strategies, and evaluation of overall system energy efficiency.
The land-based pilot platform can, on one hand, greatly reduce the cost of trial and error at sea and effectively shorten technology development and equipment iteration cycles; on the other, it completes the key verification chain from single-equipment performance testing to full-system integrated operation, filling China’s gap in full-system, large-scale pilot testing capability, and stands as important infrastructure supporting the progression of China’s deep-sea mining technology system from following to keeping pace and leading. The platform offers open, shared testing services to research institutes, equipment manufacturers and resource development organizations in China’s deep-sea mining sector, supporting joint work on common industry technologies, performance testing of core equipment and verification of engineering process plans, comprehensively accelerating the iteration, upgrading and commercialization of China’s deep-sea mining technology.
Going forward, the platform will continue to expand its testing capabilities and deepen collaborative innovation among industry, academia and research institutes, building a national-level test and verification base for deep-sea mining technology and providing solid technical support for the construction of China’s deep-sea resource development equipment system and the implementation of the country’s maritime power strategy.
