Hyper-saline brine discharges into tidal coastal waters

The project will investigate the processes affecting the dilution of dense, concentrated brine when it is discharged from an industrial outfall diffuser into coastal waters. Concentrated brine is produced as a waste product from solution mining and desalination plants and it is harmful to marine fauna and flora when it is discharged into coastal waters. This project will model the ways in which the concentration of brine is diluted by mixing with the coastal waters and it will quantify the mixing taking place as the brine spreads away from the outfall diffuser under the action of currents and background turbulence. The problem will be modelled by means of laboratory experiments, mathematical analyses and computer simulations so that the important mixing processes can be understood, parameterised and quantified. Archived field monitoring measurements taken on a regular basis from the waters around an existing brine discharge diffuser will also be analysed and compared with the modelling results and predictions. By combining these modelling and field approaches, the results of the project can be used to provide guidance to outfall designers and environmental monitoring agencies to enable them to predict brine dilution and contamination.