Uranium extraction from seawater using adsorbent shell enclosures via a symbiotic offshore wind turbine device

摘要

Seawater is estimated to contain 1000 times more uranium than conventional terrestrial resources, which are forecasted to be depleted within the century. Previous studies of harvesting uranium from seawater have focused on stand-alone, intermittent operation systems that have significant economic challenges due to the high cost of mooring and recovery of the uranium adsorbing polymer. This paper presents two new designs of a seawater uranium extraction system coupled to a floating offshore wind turbine to eliminate the need for additional mooring and increase the overall energy-gathering ability of the wind farm system. Both designs utilize adsorbent filament that is enclosed in a hard permeable shell to decouple the mechanical and chemical requirements of the system. One concept is prototyped at a 1:50-scale and pool tested.