Model Studies for Brine Discharges through Marine Outfall Systems

Desalination plants extract large volumes of seawater and discharge (unwanted) hot, waste water containing high salt concentration (hypersaline brine) back into the sea. As the number of new modern seawater desalination plants in the Sultanate is growing, there is an urgent need to demonstrate the compliance with the regulations for discharging brines continuously through submerged marine outfall systems of these plants, and to evaluate their potential environmental impacts. The proposed research project will initiate a collaboration with the School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, China, in providing analytical and numerical solutions of model studies, which illustrate how the seabed depth profile and the coastal flows affect the mixing and spreading of brine continuously being discharged through submerged marine outfall systems from coastal seawater desalination plants.