The prospects of using acoustic particle separation techniques to separate heavy metals from lake- and seabed sediments

Abstract: This work aims to investigate if it is realistic to use acoustic particle separation techniques for separating heavy-metals from pump-dredged seabed sediments on a large scale. A premise for the project has been that the material should undergo hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) before acoustic treatment. A number of scientific articles have been studied to understand where the frontier is regarding manipulating small particles in fluids using high frequency sound (ultrasound). Discussion has been held with experts on ultrasound, HTC and chemical analyses. In Conclusion, the feasibility of removal of heavy-metals from HTC-treated material using ultrasound have been evaluated based on theoretical possibilities, comparisons to a selection of similar studies, and on some measured properties of the material. Prerequisites for practical experiments, that would prove or disprove this feasibility, have been explored. The possibility to scale up the process has been discussed.