Research on the Scheme and System Parameter Matching of a Wastewater-Driven Diaphragm Pump Group for Slurry Transport in Deep-Sea Mining

Abstract

Prior research has proposed a basic configuration for a deep-sea mining system integrating slurry transport and wastewater discharge, and examined the operational characteristics of water-driven diaphragm pumps. Against the backdrop of commercial deep-sea polymetallic nodule exploitation, this study focuses on the technical design of seabed diaphragm pump groups and hydraulic parameter matching for a coupled slurry transport-wastewater discharge system. The solid–liquid two-phase output characteristics of the water-driven diaphragm pump were analyzed, leading to the proposal of a four-pump staggered configuration to ensure continuous particulate discharge throughout the full operating cycle. To meet commercial mining capacity requirements, the system consists of two sets (each with four pumps) operating with a phase offset to reduce fluctuations in slurry output concentration. A centralized output device was developed for the pump group, and a centralized mixing tank was designed based on analyses of outlet pipe length and positional effects. CFD-DEM simulations show that the combined effects of phased pump operation and centralized mixing tank mixing result in the slurry concentration delivered to the riser pipeline staying within ±1% of the mean for up to 57.8% of the system’s operational time. Considering the characteristics of both diaphragm and centrifugal pumps, the system is designed to output high-concentration slurry from the seabed diaphragm pumps, driven solely by wastewater, while centrifugal pumps provide lower-concentration transport by adding supplementary water from a buffer—thus reducing the risk of clogging. Under the constraints of centrifugal pump capacity, the system’s hydraulic parameters were optimized to maximize overall slurry transport efficiency while minimizing the energy consumption from wastewater discharge. The resulting configuration defines the flow rate and slurry concentration of the diaphragm pump group. Compared with conventional centrifugal pump-based transport schemes, the proposed system increases the slurry pipeline efficiency from 53.14% to 55.43% and reduces wastewater discharge-related pipeline resistance losses from 475.9 mH2O to 361.7 mH2O.

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