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EU funding (€7,991,138): Breakthrough Solutions for the Sustainable Harvesting and Processing of Deep Sea Polymetallic Nodules Hor 1 Feb 2016 EU Research and Innovation programme "Horizon"
Overview
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Breakthrough Solutions for the Sustainable Harvesting and Processing of Deep Sea Polymetallic Nodules
A key EU policy aims to reduce the Union dependency on raw materials imports, in particular (candidate) Critical Raw Materials that are vital for the EU innovative technologies. Topic SC5-11c-2015 scope focuses on “developing new highly-automated technological sustainable solutions for deep mining … in the sea bed combined with in-situ processing of minerals”. An existing but challenging raw material resource concerns polymetallic nodules. These round to elongated concretions of 1–15 cm diameter form on sediment-covered deep-sea plains in all oceans between 4-6000m water depth. The challenge to harvest and transport the nodules to the EU shore is taken on by Blue Nodules. The governing project principle is: industrial viability within the context of a realistic and technical, economic and environmentally balanced business case for the complete Polymetallic Nodules value chain of mining, processing and valorisation. Blue Nodules will develop and test to TRL6 maturity a new highly-automated and technologically sustainable deep sea mining system. Key features are: an annual production capability of 2 Million Tons nodules in water depths up to 6000m, in-situ processing of the nodules and intrinsic safe working conditions. Technical WPs are dedicated to subsea harvesting equipment & control technology, in-situ seafloor processing of polymetallic nodules and sea surface, land operations & processes. A dedicated WP focuses on environmental issues and on an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). A WP setting requirements and assessing the developed technology controls the entire work plan structure. High credibility is obtained by linking the project work to a nodule field licence owned by a project partner and located in the most promising known nodule deposit: the Clarion Clipperton Zone. The project consortium contains 14 leading industry and research partners from 9 EU member states. The project duration is 48 months, the required funding amounts to 8 Million.
Funded Companies:
| Company name | Funding amount |
| Aarhus Universitet | €170,969 |
| Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore Registre International de Classification de Navires et de Plateformes Offshore | €128,922 |
| Bureau Veritas SA | €6,342.60 |
| Contitech Rubber Industrial kft. | €298,800 |
| DE Regt Marine Cables B.V. | €297,938 |
| Dredging International N.V. | €831,625 |
| Dunlop OIL & Marine Ltd. | €0.00 |
| Global SEA Mineral Resources | €606,438 |
| IHC Merwede Employment B.V. | €0.00 |
| IHC Mining B.V. | €2,427,440 |
| IHC MTI B.V. | €559,375 |
| Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet Ntnu | €144,786 |
| Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule Aachen | €480,675 |
| Seascape Consultants Ltd. | €203,604 |
| Stichting Nederlandse Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Instituten | €1,416,443 |
| Tideway B.V. | €0.00 |
| Uniresearch B.V. | €315,281 |
| Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya | €102,500 |
Source: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/688975
The filing refers to a past date, and does not necessarily reflect the current state.
