Underwater holding-type lithium recovering apparatus and method thererof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10087083-B2
Application number	US-201615007778-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2016
Priority date	Jan 28, 2015
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

Provided is an underwater holding-type lithium recovering apparatus 1000 including: an underwater holder 100 installed on an offshore sea bed; a lithium adsorbent 200 held in the underwater holder 100 and adsorbing lithium ions contained in seawater; a moving ship 300 installed with a cleaning tank 320 cleaning the lithium adsorbent 200 transferred from the underwater holder 100 and a desorbing tank 330 desorbing lithium ions adsorbed in the lithium adsorbent 200 transferred from the cleaning tank 320 , and moved to a coastline when lithium ions of a reference value or more are filled in the desorbing tank 330 ; and a transfer pump 400 transferring lithium ions filled in the desorbing tank 330 to a reservoir 500 installed at the coastline.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An underwater lithium recovering apparatus comprising:
an underwater holder installed on an offshore sea bed;
a lithium adsorbent held in the underwater holder and for adsorbing lithium ions contained in seawater;
a moving ship installed with a cleaning tank for cleaning the lithium adsorbent transferred from the underwater holder and a desorbing tank for desorbing lithium ions adsorbed in the lithium adsorbent transferred from the cleaning tank and the moving ship movable to a coastline when an amount of lithium ions of a reference value or more are filled in the desorbing tank; and
a transfer pump configured to transfer lithium ions filled in the desorbing tank to a reservoir.

2. The underwater lithium recovering apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the underwater holder includes an underwater weight seated on the offshore sea bed, and an underwater case coupled to an upper side of the underwater weight.

3. The underwater lithium recovering apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the underwater case has an upper surface which is opened and a bent step formed around the upper surface and externally bent from the underwater case.

4. The underwater lithium recovering apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of underwater holders are installed on the offshore sea bed.

5. The underwater lithium recovering apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the lithium adsorbent has an inclined step dented to be internally inclined at an edge of a lower surface thereof.

6. An underwater lithium recovering method comprising:
installing an underwater holder on an offshore sea bed;
holding a lithium adsorbent in the underwater holder to allow lithium ions contained in seawater to be adsorbed in the lithium adsorbent;
moving a moving ship near the underwater holder;
transferring and cleaning the lithium adsorbent held in the underwater holder to a cleaning tank installed in the moving ship;
transferring the lithium adsorbent cleaned by the cleaning tank to a desorbing tank installed in the moving ship to desorb lithium ions adsorbed in the lithium adsorbent;
moving the moving ship to a coastline when an amount of lithium ions of a reference value or more are filled in the desorbing tank; and
transferring lithium ions filled in the desorbing tank to a reservoir.

7. The underwater lithium recovering method of claim 6 , wherein the underwater holder includes an underwater weight seated on the offshore sea bed, and an underwater case coupled to an upper side of the underwater weight.

8. The underwater lithium recovering method of claim 7 , wherein the underwater case has an upper surface which is opened and a bent step formed around the upper surface and externally bent from the underwater case.

9. The underwater lithium recovering method of claim 8 , wherein the lithium adsorbent has an inclined step dented to be internally inclined at an edge of a lower surface thereof.

10. The underwater lithium recovering method of claim 6 , wherein a plurality of underwater holders are installed on the offshore sea bed.

Assignees

• Korea Inst Geoscience & Mineral Resources

Inventors

• Chung Kang-Sup
• Kim Byoung-Gyu
• Ryu Taegong
• Ryu Jungho
• Park In-Su
• Hong Hye-Jin

Classifications

• C22B26/12 Primary

  Obtaining lithium · CPC title

• C22B3/42

  by ion-exchange extraction · CPC title

• C02F2303/16

  Regeneration of sorbents, filters · CPC title

• C02F1/28 Primary

  by sorption (using ion-exchange C02F1/42; sorbent compositions B01J) · CPC title

• B01J49/60

  Cleaning or rinsing ion-exchange beds · CPC title