4 ms·

Desal is not the panacea many believe it to be. There are serious environmental consequences associated with all the brine discharge.

raverbashing 11y ago
Or, you know, you sell it as salt (though you might need more sun and space for that)
- vinceguidry 11y ago
  It's not just salt, it's also the rest of the contaminants that came out of the seawater. The processing costs are greater than all the other ways to get salt.
  - raverbashing 11y ago
    Regular table salt do come from saltwater, you know that, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt#Production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt#Production "All the other ways" is salt mines
    - vinceguidry 11y ago
      Since you don't want to just Google the answer for why they're not already doing this, I'll do it for you. http://www.sidem-desalination.com/Process/FAQ/ http://www.sidem-desalination.com/Process/FAQ/ Second question down.
      - raverbashing 11y ago
        And? "Whereas they concentrate seawater 1.5 times, recovery of salt would require seawater to be concentrated ten times. Under such conditions the first crystals would appear in the brine" You'll just start with something more concentrated instead of seawater Yes, you might have a reason to not want to do that, it might be easier/cheaper to just throw it back into the sea
Dylan16807 11y ago
Is that because it's actually hard to avoid the consequences, or because a lot of plants are lazy about diluting brine to save pennies? Let's think big, willing to bump the cost by 50% to make brine disposal safe. How hard is it then?
- maxerickson 11y ago
  I haven't read more than the summary, but this California study seems to say that mitigation can be effective: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ocean/desalination/docs/dpr.pdf http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ocean/de...
MichaelBurge 11y ago
Can't you just dump it back in the ocean where it came from? The sea critters are already happy to swim around in it, and you're not going to meaningfully change the concentration of the ocean. You could mix it with sea water near the exit point to avoid temporarily raising the concentration there.
- hyperbovine 11y ago
  Nope, not if it's not carefully dispersed. Brine is denser than saltwater. It tends to sink to the bottom, where there is little wave action or tidal flow, and remain there. It's believed that many marine organisms are negatively affected by the increased salinity, although the overall impacts are not well understood.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

raverbashing 11y ago

Or, you know, you sell it as salt (though you might need more sun and space for that)

vinceguidry 11y ago
It's not just salt, it's also the rest of the contaminants that came out of the seawater. The processing costs are greater than all the other ways to get salt.
- raverbashing 11y ago
  Regular table salt do come from saltwater, you know that, right? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt#Production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt#Production "All the other ways" is salt mines
  - vinceguidry 11y ago
    Since you don't want to just Google the answer for why they're not already doing this, I'll do it for you. http://www.sidem-desalination.com/Process/FAQ/ http://www.sidem-desalination.com/Process/FAQ/ Second question down.
    - raverbashing 11y ago
      And? "Whereas they concentrate seawater 1.5 times, recovery of salt would require seawater to be concentrated ten times. Under such conditions the first crystals would appear in the brine" You'll just start with something more concentrated instead of seawater Yes, you might have a reason to not want to do that, it might be easier/cheaper to just throw it back into the sea

Dylan16807 11y ago

Is that because it's actually hard to avoid the consequences, or because a lot of plants are lazy about diluting brine to save pennies? Let's think big, willing to bump the cost by 50% to make brine disposal safe. How hard is it then?

maxerickson 11y ago
I haven't read more than the summary, but this California study seems to say that mitigation can be effective: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ocean/desalination/docs/dpr.pdf http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/ocean/de...

MichaelBurge 11y ago

Can't you just dump it back in the ocean where it came from? The sea critters are already happy to swim around in it, and you're not going to meaningfully change the concentration of the ocean. You could mix it with sea water near the exit point to avoid temporarily raising the concentration there.

hyperbovine 11y ago
Nope, not if it's not carefully dispersed. Brine is denser than saltwater. It tends to sink to the bottom, where there is little wave action or tidal flow, and remain there. It's believed that many marine organisms are negatively affected by the increased salinity, although the overall impacts are not well understood.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]