Based on the concept of adsorber previously proposed by some of the present authors, a submarine adsorber system utilizing the energy of ocean current was proposed. In order to make the concept of adsorber practical, the system design was made by taking into account the support of equipment in the sea, the equipment structure, the packed bed of adsorbents, the mooring method and the replacement of adsorbents.
An estimation equation of adsorber cost was derived for the present type of adsorber. The optimum dimensions of adsorber were determined under the restrictions such as the size of dock in a shipbuilding factory and the stability in towing and mooring the equipment. The calculated results suggested that the adsorber cost decreased by around 30% under the optimum condition. And the transportation system of the adsorbent was investigated. In the case where a mother ship system was adopted, the transportation cost was 5,000 yen/ton-adsorbent.
It was made clear that the total recovery cost of uranium from the seawater could be reduced to 140,000yen/kg-U from 190,000yen/kg-U based on the above consideration. It was also considered necessary to further improve the adsorption capacity of adsorbent in order to realize a sharp reduction in the recovery cost of uranium.
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