4 ms·

What are they going to do with all the brine. It's quite toxic and I don't think it's a good idea to dump that back in the sea.

AYBABTME 6y ago
Is it? I'd guess putting the brine back far enough in the water, away from the seafloor, would provide plenty of dilution. I'm doubtful that they'd desalinate at such a rate that would drastically change local conditions where they return the brine. I'm just guessing here, but that's my half informed idea.
flybrand 6y ago
Brine has set waste disposal costs and methods - near the ocean and with active oil wells nearby there are many options.
- SECProto 6y ago
  Yup. Salinity would be 36 ppt, so for every 1000 tonnes of water they need, they'd produce 2 truck loads of salt (so say maybe 20 truckloads of brine). It's a lot easier to truck out and dispose of 20 loads of brine, than to source and truck in 250 loads of fresh water
  - babesh 6y ago
    Maybe they can use that salt for the Tesla lithium extraction?
    - patrickk 6y ago
      Extracting lithium from water is indeed a promising area to keep an eye on: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-54188071 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-54188071
Rapzid 6y ago
The sea can handle it, it's just a matter of how it's introduced back into it.
colechristensen 6y ago
Dilute it? There’s a whole ocean right there.
- morlockabove 6y ago
  If you dump industrial amounts of salt in the ocean, it kills sealife in the immediate area.
perilunar 6y ago
The discharge from the Sydney desalination plant has been unexpectedly good for sea life: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-19/sydney-desalination-plant-discharge-boosts-fish-numbers/11811650 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-19/sydney-desalination-p...
dzhiurgis 6y ago
Maybe they can make concrete out of it https://www.fastcompany.com/90338907/a-new-breakthrough-lowers-the-footprint-of-making-both-concrete-and-fresh-water https://www.fastcompany.com/90338907/a-new-breakthrough-lowe... Or they can disperse it atmosphere to fight climate change https://www.livescience.com/62140-can-salt-stop-climate-change.html https://www.livescience.com/62140-can-salt-stop-climate-chan... Finally they can serve it with shitload of tequila :)

AYBABTME 6y ago

Is it? I'd guess putting the brine back far enough in the water, away from the seafloor, would provide plenty of dilution. I'm doubtful that they'd desalinate at such a rate that would drastically change local conditions where they return the brine. I'm just guessing here, but that's my half informed idea.

flybrand 6y ago

Brine has set waste disposal costs and methods - near the ocean and with active oil wells nearby there are many options.

SECProto 6y ago
Yup. Salinity would be 36 ppt, so for every 1000 tonnes of water they need, they'd produce 2 truck loads of salt (so say maybe 20 truckloads of brine). It's a lot easier to truck out and dispose of 20 loads of brine, than to source and truck in 250 loads of fresh water
- babesh 6y ago
  Maybe they can use that salt for the Tesla lithium extraction?
  - patrickk 6y ago
    Extracting lithium from water is indeed a promising area to keep an eye on: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-54188071 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cornwall-54188071

Rapzid 6y ago

The sea can handle it, it's just a matter of how it's introduced back into it.

colechristensen 6y ago

Dilute it? There’s a whole ocean right there.

morlockabove 6y ago
If you dump industrial amounts of salt in the ocean, it kills sealife in the immediate area.

perilunar 6y ago

The discharge from the Sydney desalination plant has been unexpectedly good for sea life: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-19/sydney-desalination-plant-discharge-boosts-fish-numbers/11811650 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-19/sydney-desalination-p...

dzhiurgis 6y ago

Maybe they can make concrete out of it https://www.fastcompany.com/90338907/a-new-breakthrough-lowers-the-footprint-of-making-both-concrete-and-fresh-water https://www.fastcompany.com/90338907/a-new-breakthrough-lowe... Or they can disperse it atmosphere to fight climate change https://www.livescience.com/62140-can-salt-stop-climate-change.html https://www.livescience.com/62140-can-salt-stop-climate-chan... Finally they can serve it with shitload of tequila :)