4 ms·

The dilution can be done in holding tanks. Fill a tank a tenth of the way with the hyper-saline brine (or whatever the right ratio is), flood the rest of it w

The dilution can be done in holding tanks. Fill a tank a tenth of the way with the hyper-saline brine (or whatever the right ratio is), flood the rest of it with sea water, stir it around for a while then dump it into the ocean. If the holding tanks are built in the tidal zone and are sized appropriate relative to the brine output of the desalination plant, then you wouldn't even need to do much pumping. The salinity of the tank could be tested before dumping it, an extra layer of safety in the system.

lstodd 4y ago
What holding tanks? They would have to be by the volume about the equal of where you'd discharge them. This is just sad.
- robonerd 4y ago
  I don't see the problem. The holding tanks would be concrete lined basins amounting to relatively small reservoirs. Not exactly unprecedented.
ncmncm 4y ago
A long, leaky pipe achieves the same thing without the tanks.
- robonerd 4y ago
  There is public opposition to building desalination plants in part because a lot of people don't like that solution. For starters, it just sounds bad; it sounds like a company brushing aside pollution concerns by saying they'll spread it out where you can't see it. That characterization isn't fair; but fair or not, poor public perception still stalls land development. More significantly, it requires more infrastructure under the water where it will be difficult to inspect and repair. Furthermore there is a financial incentive for plants to neglect these pipes. Suppose there is a break in the pipe that discharges concentrated brine straight into the ocean. Slowing or ceasing production until the pipe could be repaired would be very expensive to the plant operator. On the other hand if they ignore the problem, they wouldn't have to slow production and it would cost them nothing (unless they got caught.)

lstodd 4y ago

What holding tanks? They would have to be by the volume about the equal of where you'd discharge them. This is just sad.

robonerd 4y ago
I don't see the problem. The holding tanks would be concrete lined basins amounting to relatively small reservoirs. Not exactly unprecedented.

ncmncm 4y ago

A long, leaky pipe achieves the same thing without the tanks.

robonerd 4y ago
There is public opposition to building desalination plants in part because a lot of people don't like that solution. For starters, it just sounds bad; it sounds like a company brushing aside pollution concerns by saying they'll spread it out where you can't see it. That characterization isn't fair; but fair or not, poor public perception still stalls land development. More significantly, it requires more infrastructure under the water where it will be difficult to inspect and repair. Furthermore there is a financial incentive for plants to neglect these pipes. Suppose there is a break in the pipe that discharges concentrated brine straight into the ocean. Slowing or ceasing production until the pipe could be repaired would be very expensive to the plant operator. On the other hand if they ignore the problem, they wouldn't have to slow production and it would cost them nothing (unless they got caught.)