A
Anonymous
Guest
Folks, I realize that this topic has probably been discussed before but I could not find good threads when searching for it here. Also, I realize that many people will instinctively say that it is "uneconomical" to extract gold from seawater, but I believe my situation may make it economical, so please hear me out.
I am an Electrical Engineer and I have developed a way to pump seawater using renewable energy - specifically using the waves themselves to power my pump. The primary purpose of the pumped seawater is to power the hydroturbines on shore to generate electricity. I already have engineering designs made up for a 3-5MW power plant using this method.
This power plant will pump a total of about 3-5 cubic meters/second of seawater. After powering the hydroturbines, I have to discharge this amount of sea water back to the sea - UNLESS, I can make use of it for further economic gain.
The best idea I am considering is to extract gold and other precious metals from this existing seawater flow.
Many people said that gold extraction is uneconomical because of the amount of sea water one has to pump to shore. The energy involved in pumping so much seawater would make it uneconomical. But what if, the pumping cost is zero, I am already pumping for my hydroturbine using renewable energy, I can deliver this amount of seawater flow for free. All of a sudden, the energy equation becomes favorable, probably leading to a favorable economic situation.
Knowing this fact, how would one go about in building a contraption to extract gold from this amount of seawater flow (5m3/s)?
I was thinking of using some electrolysis method using carbon anodes to extract the gold. Can anybody suggest a better method? Even if you don't have all the details, it would help me further in my research.
I appreciate any and all inputs. I may be an electrical engineer, but I am ignorant of any methods (electrolysis or otherwise) for extracting gold from seawater.
If an economical method can be adapted to my power plants, this would be huge economically and I would be willing to partner with companies and individuals in bringing this to full market penetration. I plan to build about 300 power plant just here in the Philippines alone, so this could be huge.
Jojo
I am an Electrical Engineer and I have developed a way to pump seawater using renewable energy - specifically using the waves themselves to power my pump. The primary purpose of the pumped seawater is to power the hydroturbines on shore to generate electricity. I already have engineering designs made up for a 3-5MW power plant using this method.
This power plant will pump a total of about 3-5 cubic meters/second of seawater. After powering the hydroturbines, I have to discharge this amount of sea water back to the sea - UNLESS, I can make use of it for further economic gain.
The best idea I am considering is to extract gold and other precious metals from this existing seawater flow.
Many people said that gold extraction is uneconomical because of the amount of sea water one has to pump to shore. The energy involved in pumping so much seawater would make it uneconomical. But what if, the pumping cost is zero, I am already pumping for my hydroturbine using renewable energy, I can deliver this amount of seawater flow for free. All of a sudden, the energy equation becomes favorable, probably leading to a favorable economic situation.
Knowing this fact, how would one go about in building a contraption to extract gold from this amount of seawater flow (5m3/s)?
I was thinking of using some electrolysis method using carbon anodes to extract the gold. Can anybody suggest a better method? Even if you don't have all the details, it would help me further in my research.
I appreciate any and all inputs. I may be an electrical engineer, but I am ignorant of any methods (electrolysis or otherwise) for extracting gold from seawater.
If an economical method can be adapted to my power plants, this would be huge economically and I would be willing to partner with companies and individuals in bringing this to full market penetration. I plan to build about 300 power plant just here in the Philippines alone, so this could be huge.
Jojo