Key points
- The nodule collector’s Coanda nozzles use a curved plate and water jet that creates underpressure, sucking nodules into the vehicle before gravity pulls them down into the hopper.
- Sediment separated from the nodules exits through a diffuser at the back of the hopper, which gently guides the flow out so it settles quickly behind the collector onto the seabed.
- Early studies assumed nodule collectors would disturb 5-15 centimeters of seafloor sediment; Allseas reduced this to roughly 3-5 centimeters during test mining.
- Post-disturbance monitoring indicates the reduced disturbance depth could deliver much faster recovery than first-generation collector technologies.
