Journal of Hydro-environment Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

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Journal of Hydro-environment Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jher

Pre-dilution of desalination reject brine: Impact on outfall dilution in

different water depths
⁎
Ishita Shrivastava , E. Eric Adams
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: High discharge salinity of reject brine from desalination plants necessitates the use of submerged jets which
Brine induce mixing with ambient water and lead to reduction in concentrations of salt and other contaminants. Pre-
Desalination dilution, in which brine is blended with a lighter effluent prior to discharge, can also cause reduction in con-
Pre-dilution taminant concentrations. Condenser cooling water from a co-located power plant, treated wastewater effluent
Near field
from a treatment plant and seawater can be used for pre-dilution. The effect of pre-dilution on shallowness and
Outfall
Dilution
contaminant concentrations in the diluted effluent is examined for discharge using single port and multiport
outfalls. The density difference between the effluent and ambient seawater is lower for the discharge of pre-
diluted brine, which leads to shallow conditions. Pre-dilution also results in lower concentrations of con-
taminants in the diluted effluent by reducing the discharge concentrations as well as increasing outfall dilution
in deep water by increasing the densimetric Froude number. This helps in satisfying regulatory requirements on
contaminant concentrations with small discharge velocity or using outfalls with small number of ports. While
discharge of pre-diluted brine using an existing outfall helps save on the capital cost, it can cause a significant
increase in pumping cost. For a new outfall, design parameters can be adjusted such that pumping cost stays
constant.

1. Introduction
Reject brine from desalination plants can have twice as high salinity
as seawater (Bleninger and Jirka, 2010) as well as other contaminants
such as anti-fouling agents, anti-scalants, products of corrosion, etc.
High concentrations of these contaminants can be harmful to benthic
organisms. Thus, brine needs to be efficiently diluted in the near field.
For example, to dilute brine with an excess salinity of about 40 ppt
(Bleninger and Jirka, 2010) to the recommended excess salinity of 2 ppt
(Roberts et al., 2012), a near-field dilution of 20 is needed. To provide
adequate mixing, dense brine is usually discharged in the form of a
negatively buoyant submerged jet. However, at locations that are
characterized by shallow water depth, diffusers with multiple jets are
preferred as they can generate the required amount of mixing in smaller
water depths.
Coastal desalination plants are often co-located with power plants
which provide them with low-grade heat, used in the distillation of
seawater (for multistage flash desalination plants) (Al-Mutaz and Al-
Namlah, 2004), or electricity (for reverse osmosis plants). Reject brine
from multistage flash desalination plants is often blended with con-
denser cooling water (CW) from the power plant prior to discharge
(Bleninger and Jirka, 2010). Brine from reverse osmosis plants can also
be pre-diluted with CW. Processes such as pressure retarded osmosis
(PRO) (Akram et al., 2013) and reverse electrodialysis (RED) (Weiner
et al., 2015), which utilize the salinity difference between brine and
treated wastewater effluent (TWE) to recover energy, also lead to pre-
dilution of brine with TWE. Even if TWE is not used for energy recovery
processes, pre-dilution of brine with TWE is recommended to reduce
the discharge salinity (Roberts et al., 2012).
Pre-dilution of brine affects discharge parameters such as effluent
flow rate, salinity and temperature (both of which affect effluent den-
sity) and contaminant concentrations, and thus it can lead to changes in
the outfall design. In particular, if brine is pre-diluted with a large
amount of TWE or CW, then the effluent can become positively buoyant
which would produce a significantly different plume from that pro-
duced by the discharge of brine without pre-dilution. While previous
studies have looked at the effect of pre-dilution on discharge para-
meters (e.g., Bleninger and Jirka, 2010) and the type of outfall used to
discharge the blended effluent in deep water (e.g., Bleninger and Jirka,
2010; Roberts et al., 2012), there has not been a systematic analysis of
the effects of blending on outfall dilution. In locations with small water
depth, pre-dilution can affect the near field concentrations of

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ishita@mit.edu (I. Shrivastava), eeadams@mit.edu (E.E. Adams).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jher.2018.09.001

1570-6443/ © 2018 International Association for Hydro-environment Engineering and Research, Asia Pacific Division. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights
reserved.

Please cite this article as: Shrivastava, I., Journal of Hydro-environment Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jher.2018.09.001
I. Shrivastava, E.E. Adams Journal of Hydro-environment Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Nomenclature Δc1 Excess concentration of a type 1 contaminant

Δc2 Excess concentration of a type 2 contaminant
The following symbols are used in this paper: Δρ Density difference between discharge effluent and am-
bient water
B Width of effluent plume discharged from a tee diffuser Δs Excess salinity
C1 (θ0) Empirical coefficient for impact point dilution in deep θ0 Angle of port inclination with horizontal
water ρa Density of ambient water
C2 (θ0) Empirical coefficient for terminal rise height in deep water ρ0 Density of discharge effluent
C3 (θ0) Empirical coefficient for impact point dilution in shallow σ Contraction coefficient for a tee diffuser
water
D0 Port diameter Additional subscripts:
F0 Densimetric Froude number
g Acceleration due to gravity b brine
g′ Reduced gravity deep deep ambient
H Ambient water depth i impact point
L Length of diffuser o discharge quantity
l Spacing between adjacent ports of the diffuser p pre-dilution stream
N Number of ports shallow shallow water conditions
Q Flow rate single single jet
R Ratio of flow rate of blended effluent to that of reject brine tee tee diffuser
Si Impact point dilution well-mixed well-mixed conditions
u0 Exit velocity through a port
yT Terminal rise height

contaminants by leading to “shallower” conditions and affecting the
outfall dilution.
The effect of shallowness on the dilution of a submerged negatively
buoyant jet and a tee diffuser has been discussed by Shrivastava and
Adams (2018). For a jet (with diameter D0 ) discharging an effluent of
density ρ0 with a velocity u 0 in an ambient of density ρa and uniform
depth equal to H , one of three regimes – deep, shallow or well-mixed
can be identified depending on the value of D0 F0/ H (Shrivastava and
Adams, 2018). Here, F0 = u 0 / g0'D0 is the densimetric Froude number
'
of the jet, g0 = (Δρ /ρa ) g = {(ρ0 −ρa )/ ρa } g is the reduced gravity and g is
the acceleration due to gravity. Shallow depth conditions can refer to
locations where the water depth is actually small and/or conditions
where the discharge momentum is large or the density difference be-
tween effluent and ambient water is small allowing the effluent to mix
vertically. The dependence of dilution on ambient and outfall para-
meters is different in different regimes. This is reviewed in Section 2.
As pre-dilution of brine results in a blended effluent with a lower
density and higher flow rate, discharge of this effluent leads to an in-
crease in the densimetric Froude number and a progression towards
shallow and well-mixed conditions. Thus, the dilution induced by the
outfall when the blended effluent is discharged can be quite different to
that when only brine is discharged. The effect of pre-dilution on shal-
lowness and dilution of various contaminants is explored in this paper.
Section 3 provides an overview of the effects of pre-dilution on
discharge parameters. Section 4 discusses the effects on contaminant
concentrations when pre-diluted brine is discharged using existing
single or multiple port outfalls. Section 5 modifies the analysis from
Section 4 by considering discharge with a constant velocity using out-
falls for which design parameters can be adjusted. Section 6 sum-
marizes the results and presents conclusions.
2. Review of near-field mixing concepts
Inclined negatively buoyant jets (with angle of inclination θ0 ) lo-
cated near the sea floor and discharging in deep water rise to a max-
imum (terminal rise) height equal to yT before returning to the seafloor
at the impact point as shown in Fig. 1(a). The receiving water is con-
sidered “deep” if its depth is sufficiently large and the dense effluent
does not interact with the water surface. “Shallow” conditions occur if
the effluent interacts with the surface but it still forms a dense layer
under the ambient water. If the depth is small enough that the effluent
gets mixed over the water depth, then the conditions are considered to
be “well-mixed”. Flow patterns for a dense submerged jet in deep,
shallow and well-mixed regimes are shown in Fig. 1. Increase in the
value of D0 F0/ H leads to a progression towards well-mixed conditions
(Shrivastava and Adams, 2018).

Fig. 1. Typical flow patterns for a submerged jet in: (a) deep, (b) shallow and (c) well-mixed regimes.

2
I. Shrivastava, E.E. Adams
2.1. Negatively buoyant submerged jet
In deep water, the impact point dilution, which is the minimum
dilution along the seafloor, of an inclined dense submerged jet is pro-
portional to the densimetric Froude number and the terminal rise
height is proportional to D0 F0 (Roberts et al., 1997; Shao and Law,
2010; Lai and Lee, 2012b; Abessi and Roberts, 2015b). But, in shallow
water and well-mixed conditions, the impact point dilution is in-
dependent of the buoyancy flux and is proportional to H / D0 (Jiang
et al., 2014; Shrivastava and Adams, 2018). The impact point dilution
and the terminal rise height in deep water are given by Eqs. (1) and (2),
respectively. The impact point dilution in shallow water is given by Eq.
(3).
Si, deep = C1 (θ0 ) F0
yT = C2 (θ0 ) D0 F0
Si, shallow = C3 (θ0 ) H / D0
In deep water, an inclination of 60o provides the highest dilution
(for fixed value of F0 ). However, smaller angles are preferred in shallow
conditions (Jiang et al., 2014; Abessi and Roberts, 2015a). For θ0 = 30o ,
C1 = 1.2 , C2 = 1.18, C3 = 0.86 and the transition between deep and
shallow ambient is observed at D0 F0/ H = 0.72 (Shrivastava and Adams,
2018). Table 1 lists the values of coefficients C1, C2 and C3 and the
criteria for shallowness for jets with different angles of inclination as
reported by Shrivastava and Adams (2018).
2.2. Tee diffuser
A tee diffuser is an array of jets (number of jets = N) discharging in
parallel (as shown in Fig. 2). Use of a tee diffuser is suitable in locations
with mild bi-directional currents (Adams, 1982). Individual jets of a tee
diffuser interact with each other due to effects of dynamic pressure (Lai
and Lee, 2012a). Thus, the mixing characteristics of a tee diffuser are
different from a mere superposition of individual jets. In particular, the
plume downstream from a tee diffuser is observed to contract in
shallow water (Adams, 1982) leading to reduced dilution. The con-
traction coefficient (σ = B / L , where B is the width of the diffuser plume
and L is the length of the diffuser) varies from 1 to 0.5.
In deep water and with adequate port spacing, the tee diffuser be-
haves as a collection of individual jets with no dynamic pressure effects
(Abessi and Roberts, 2014). The contraction coefficient is equal to 1 and
the impact point dilution is the same as that of a single jet (given by Eq.
(1)).
In shallow water (D0 F0/ H between 0.72 and 7.36 for θ0 = 30o ), the
contraction coefficient varies as a function of D0 F0/ H and so does the
dilution (Shrivastava and Adams, 2018). For shallow water conditions,
the variation of the contraction coefficient is given by:
σ = 0.91(D0 F0/ H )−0.30
The impact point dilution of a tee diffuser (Si, tee ) in shallow water
can be calculated as:
Si, tee = σl/ H Si, single
Table 1
Impact point dilution and rise height coefficients and shallowness criterion for submerged jets with different discharge angles.
Parameter
60o
C1 (θ0) 1.70
C2 (θ0) 2.25
C3 (θ0) 0.76
Criterion for shallowness D0 F0/ H > 0.44
Journal of Hydro-environment Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
(1)
(2)
Fig. 2. Plan view of a tee diffuser.
(3)
Here, Si, single is the impact point dilution of a single submerged jet
and l is the spacing between adjacent jets. Using Eqs. (3) and (4), the
impact point dilution of a tee diffuser with θ0 = 30o in shallow water is:
Si, shallow, tee = 0.82F0−0.15 (H / D0 )1.15 (l/ H )0.5 (6)
Unlike the case of deep water, the impact point dilution of a tee
diffuser in shallow water reduces, slightly, with increasing F0 (Eq. (6)).
This is due to the reduction in the contraction coefficient. For fixed D0
and H , increase in F0 leads to shallower conditions for which the con-
traction coefficient reduces.
In well-mixed conditions (D0 F0/ H > 7.36), the contracted width is
equal to half of the diffuser length (Adams, 1982), i.e., σ = 0.5. The
impact point dilution of a tee diffuser in well-mixed conditions is given
by:
Si, well − mixed, tee = 0.61(H / D0 )(l/ H )0.5 (7)
Fig. 3 shows the variation of the impact point dilutions of a single jet
and a tee diffuser with l=H, normalized by the dilution in deep water,
as a function of D0 F0/ H for θ0 = 30o .
3. Analysis
Pre-dilution of brine involves blending with a lighter effluent such
as condenser cooling water, treated wastewater effluent or seawater.
Not only does pre-dilution result in lower discharge salinity, but it also
helps in diluting other contaminants which are introduced in brine by
the desalination process (referred to as type 1 contaminants). Examples
of type 1 contaminants include products of corrosion, anti-fouling
agents, anti-scalants, etc. The contaminants present in the pre-diluting
stream (referred to as type 2 contaminants) are also diluted with pre-
(4) dilution. Examples of type 2 contaminants are biochemical oxygen
demand (BOD), nutrients etc. present in TWE and excess temperature
from CW.
The effect of blending on the resulting dilution of salinity and other
contaminants of concern (COCs) is examined here. Reject brine from a
(5)
typical reverse osmosis (RO) plant (having double the salinity as
Angle of inclination to horizontal, θ0
45o 30o 15o
1.60 1.20 0.76
1.80 1.18 0.73
0.71 0.86 0.88
D0 F0/ H > 0.44 D0 F0/ H > 0.72 D0 F0/ H > 1.16
3
I. Shrivastava, E.E. Adams
Fig. 3. Dilution of a single jet and a tee diffuser as a function of D0 F0/ H .
ambient seawater and with flow rate = Qb , reduced gravity = gb ′, excess
salinity above ambient water = Δsb and excess concentration of type 1
contaminant = Δc1b ) is blended with a pre-dilution stream (flow
rate = (R−1) Qb , reduced gravity = gp ′, excess salinity = Δsp and excess
concentration of type 2 contaminant = Δc2p ), making a combined flow
rate of Q0 = RQb . Treated wastewater effluent, condenser cooling water
and seawater are considered as pre-dilution streams. The combined
flow has a reduced gravity of g0' ≅ {gb' + (R−1) gp'}/ R and excess salinity
of Δs0 = {Δsb + (R−1)Δsp}/ R . With the assumption that the concentra-
tions of type 1 and type 2 contaminants are zero in ambient seawater,
the concentrations of type 1 and type 2 contaminants in the blended
stream (equal to their excess concentration in the combined stream) are
Δc10 = Δc1b/ R and Δc20 = {(R−1)Δc2p}/ R , respectively. The concentra-
tions of type 1 contaminants in the pre-dilution stream and type 2
contaminants in brine are also assumed to be zero.
The density difference between TWE and ambient seawater (SW) is
assumed to be equal, but of opposite sign, to that between brine and
seawater. This assumption leads to an interesting case when the flows
are blended in a 1:1 ratio (R = 2 ) which produces a blended effluent
having the same salinity as the ambient seawater. Thus, the dilution of
salinity in this case is infinite. Table 2 gives the properties of brine,
seawater, TWE and CW used in this analysis.
When brine is pre-diluted with TWE or CW, the blended effluent can
become positively buoyant for high values of blending ratio (R ). This
happens for R > 2 when brine is blended with TWE and for R > 8.7
when brine is blended with CW. For this analysis, R is varied between 1
and 4, and thus the blended effluent is positively buoyant for R between
2 and 4 when brine is blended with TWE. There is no impact point for a
positively buoyant jet, but the equations for dense jets are used in this
range as well. These results are qualitative at best. Any further dis-
cussion is only applicable to cases for which the effluent is negatively
buoyant, and therefore does not pertain to blending with TWE with R
between 2 and 4.
The effective dilution of any contaminant is defined as the total
dilution starting from its concentration in the source stream (brine for
salinity and type 1 contaminants and pre-dilution stream for type 2
contaminants). For example, the effective dilution of salinity at impact
point is equal to Δsb/Δsi , where Δsi is the excess salinity of the diluted
effluent at impact point. It can be seen that the effective dilution of a
contaminant is equal to its pre-dilution (= Δsb/Δs0 for salinity, as an
example) times the physical dilution generated by the outfall
(Si = Δs0/Δsi = Δc10/Δc1i = Δc20/Δc2i ). Here, Δc1i and Δc2i are the excess
concentrations at impact point of type 1 and type 2 contaminants, re-
spectively. The pre-dilutions of salinity and type 1 contaminants
(= Δc1b/Δc10 ) increase with R , whereas the pre-dilution of a type 2
contaminant (= Δc2p/Δc20 ) reduces with R . Thus, the effective dilutions
also follow the same trends for most cases.
Environmental regulations usually require contaminant concentra-
tions at the edge of a specified mixing zone to be lower than specified
threshold concentrations. These threshold concentrations are based on
4
Journal of Hydro-environment Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
the adaptability of marine organisms at a given location and the pre-
sence of contaminants at levels higher than threshold is harmful. The
desired effective dilution of a contaminant is the ratio of its excess
concentration in the source stream to its threshold concentration. Thus,
if the threshold salinity (in excess of ambient concentration) is 2 ppt
(Roberts et al., 2012), then the desired effective dilution of salinity is
equal to 18 as the excess salinity of brine is 36 ppt (Table 2).
After blending, the combined stream is discharged into the receiving
water body (with uniform depth of water = H ) through a single sub-
merged jet or a tee diffuser. In a retrofit design, the blended effluent
could be discharged through an existing outfall (being used by a de-
salination plant or a treatment plant). This is explored in Section 4. A
new outfall can also be designed to discharge the blended effluent. The
latter approach has the advantage that outfall design parameters (such
as port diameter, discharge angle, number of ports and port spacing)
can be optimized to provide maximum dilution and minimum costs for
a given value of R . We consider a simple case in Section 5 where port
diameter and discharge angle are adjusted such that the blended ef-
fluent is discharged with a constant discharge velocity.
4. Discharge using an existing outfall
An existing outfall can be utilized to discharge pre-diluted brine in
certain cases. For example, if brine is pre-diluted using cooling water
from a power plant, the outfall used to discharge the cooling water can
be used to discharge the blended effluent. Use of an existing outfall
reduces the capital cost of the plant because a new outfall is not re-
quired. However, as the port diameter and the number of ports is
constant, the discharge velocity increases with the flow rate and can
lead to an increase in the pumping cost which is proportional to the
flow rate times the velocity head. Compared to the pumping cost of
discharging brine and pre-dilution stream separately, the pumping cost
for the blended effluent increases proportionally to R2 (as the increase
in u 0 is proportional to R ). Thus, the choice between constructing a new
outfall and utilizing an existing one would depend on the relative
magnitudes of the two costs.
We look at the variation of effective dilution of different con-
taminants of concern when the effluent is discharged using an existing
outfall. A jet with D0 = 0.71 m and jet inclination of 30o discharging in a
water depth of 10 m is considered as the design for the single port
outfall. A tee diffuser with L = 40 m (defined as L = Nl ),
N = 10, D0 = 0.22 m and ports inclined at 30o discharging in a water
depth of 4 m is used as the design for the multiport outfall. For these
outfall designs, the discharge velocity for the discharge of brine without
pre-dilution (R = 1) is 2.5 m/s. However, as the blending ratio in-
creases, u 0 increases.
4.1. Single port outfall
When an existing outfall is used to discharge pre-diluted brine, the
discharge velocity increases and the reduced gravity of the effluent
decreases with the amount of pre-dilution leading to an increase in the
densimetric Froude number. This, in turn, leads to an increase in di-
lution and the terminal rise height (if the water is sufficiently deep),
both of which increase proportionally to F0 (as D0 is constant). Not only
does blending result in higher dilution but, since the excess salinity of
the blended effluent is lower than that of brine, the excess salinity at the
Table 2
Properties of brine and various pre-dilution streams.
Reject Brine TWE CW SW
Salinity 72 ppt 0 36 ppt 36 ppt
Temperature 27oC 27oC 37oC 27oC
Reduced gravity 0.27 m/ s 2 −0.26 m/ s 2 −0.035 m/ s 2 0
I. Shrivastava, E.E. Adams Journal of Hydro-environment Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

impact point is much lower than in the case without blending. The respectively. The excess concentrations of both COCs (salinity and type
value of D0 F0/ H also increases proportionally to F0 (as D0 and H are 1 contaminants) in SW and CW are zero and hence the effective dilu-
constant) and leads to a progression towards shallower conditions. In tions of the two COCs are the same. Runs SW-s/c1 and CW-s/c1 are
shallow and well mixed ambient (for a single jet), the physical mixing similar to run TWE-c1. However, the increase in F0 (or reduction in g0 ′)
induced by the outfall is constant but the effective dilutions of salinity with R is smaller when the pre-dilution stream is SW or CW (with it
and type 1 contaminants increase because of pre-dilution. This is shown being higher for the case of blending with CW than blending with SW)
below for blending with TWE: than when the pre-dilution stream is TWE. Hence, the transition be-
Q0 RQb tween deep and shallow conditions happens at higher values of R
u0 = = (R = 1.44 and R = 1.46 when pre-dilution stream is CW and SW, re-
(π /4) D0 2 (π /4) D0 2 (8)
spectively). Once shallow conditions are achieved for all three pre-di-
u0 R3/2 lution effluents (i.e., for R > 1.46), the effective dilution is the same for
F0 = ∼ runs TWE-c1, SW-s/c1 and CW-s/c1. This is because the effective di-
'
g0 D0 (|2−R|)1/2
(9) lution in shallow water changes only due to pre-dilution (as the phy-
D0 F0 R3/2 sical dilution is constant). Run CW-c2 is similar to run TWE-c2 with
∼ different values of R at which transition from deep to shallow occurs.
H (|2−R|)1/2 (10)
Runs TWE-c2 and CW-c2 overlap for R > 1.44 .
R3/2 For discharge of brine (with Qb = 1 m3/s ) without pre-dilution
⎧ Si, deep = C1 (θ0 ) F0 ∼ if deep
Si = (| 2 − R |)1/2 (R = 1), the effective dilution of salinity is equal to 6.8 which is less
⎨S H than the desired effective dilution of 18. However, if brine is pre-di-
i, shallow = C3 (θ0 ) D = constant if shallow
⎩ 0 (11) luted, then an effective dilution equal to or greater than 18 can be
R3/2 achieved for R > 1.5 if brine is pre-diluted with CW and SW and
yT = C2 (θ0 ) D0 F0 ∼ R > 1.25 when brine is pre-diluted with TWE.
(|2−R|)1/2 (12)

(| 2 − R |) 3/2 4.2. Multiport outfall

|Δsi | 1 |Δs0 | 1 |2−R| ⎞ ⎧ R5/2 if deep
= = ⎛ ∼
Δsb Si Δsb Si ⎝ R ⎠ ⎨ |2 − R| if shallow At a location with shallow ambient water depth, it is desirable to use
⎩ R (13)
a multiport diffuser which results in higher dilution by increasing the
1/2 surface area for entrainment. For example, in a water depth of 4 m,
Δc1i 1 Δc10 1 1 ⎧ (| 2 −5/2
R |)
if deep
= = ⎛ ⎞∼ R using a 40 m long tee diffuser with 10 ports of diameter 0.22 m to
Δc1b Si Δc1b Si ⎝ R ⎠ ⎨ 1 if shallow discharge 1 m3/s of brine results in a densimetric Froude number of
⎩ R (14)
10.1, terminal rise height of 2.7 m (Eq. (2)) and an impact point dilu-
Fig. 4 shows the effect of blending on the effective dilutions of tion of 12.2 for ports inclined at 30o to the horizontal (Eq. (1)). Fig. 5
various contaminants for discharge of 1 m3/s of reject brine in a water shows the effect of blending on the effective dilution of contaminants
depth of 10 m through a single jet with D0 = 0.71 m and θ0 = 30o . The when the blended effluent is discharged using this tee diffuser design
six runs shown correspond to different pre-dilution streams and dif- (L = 40 m , N = 10 , D0 = 0.22 m , H = 4 m and θ0 = 30o ).
ferent contaminants of concern (COC) as shown in Table 3. Without any Fig. 5 shows similar trends as shown in Fig. 4. The dilution in deep
pre-dilution, the densimetric Froude number of the discharge is 5.7, water increases with R as the densimetric Froude number increases. In
which results in an impact point dilution of 6.8 (Eq. (1)) for salinity and shallow water, the dilution induced by the outfall decreases with in-
type 1 contaminants and a terminal rise height of 4.8 m (Eq. (2)). Since crease in R (because of the reduction in the contraction coefficient), but
the water depth is 10 m, the ambient is “deep”. As shown by Eq. (12), the effective dilutions of salinity and type 1 contaminants increase in
the terminal rise height increases with R . At some value of R , the plume most cases due to pre-dilution (except for R between 1.8 and 1.95 for
appears at the water surface at which point the water depth becomes run TWE-c1). Once well-mixed conditions are achieved, the effective
“shallow”.
Runs TWE-s, TWE-c1 and TWE-c2 refer to the case of blending with
TWE (Table 3). When brine is pre-diluted with TWE, the salinity deficit
of TWE cancels out some of the salinity excess of brine. Thus, the pre-
dilution of salinity is higher than that of a type 1 contaminant which
leads to higher effective dilution of salinity (run TWE-s) as compared to
a type 1 contaminant (run TWE-c1). For the case of blending with TWE,
the transition between deep and shallow conditions happens at R = 1.3
(for which D0 F0/ H = 0.72 ). For R < 1.3, the physical dilution increases
because of the increase in F0 (Eq. (9)). For R > 1.3, the physical dilu-
tion, which is proportional to H / D0 , is constant but the effective dilu-
tion of salinity increases because of the increase in its pre-dilution. At
R = 2 , the excess salinity of the blended effluent is zero and hence the
effective dilution of salinity is infinite. For R > 2 , the blended effluent
has a salinity deficit relative to the salinity of ambient seawater and is
positively buoyant. The effective dilution of salinity is defined as
Δsb/|Δsi| for R > 2 .
Run TWE-c2 corresponds to the effective dilution of type 2 con-
taminants. With increasing R , the concentration of a type 2 con-
taminant in the blended effluent (Δc20 ) increases and thus the effective
dilution reduces in spite of the fact that the physical outfall dilution is Fig. 4. Effect of blending on dilution when discharging through an existing
increasing on account of increasing F0 (for R < 1.3). submerged jet inclined at 30o (Qb = 1 m3/s , H = 10 m , D0 = 0.71 m ). The
Runs SW-s/c1 and CW-s/c1 correspond to the effective dilution of transition between deep and shallow conditions is marked using an asterisk (*).
salinity or type 1 contaminants when brine is blended with SW and CW, The six runs shown are defined in Table 3.

5
I. Shrivastava, E.E. Adams Journal of Hydro-environment Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 3 port outfall, a jet with θ0 = 30o discharging in a water depth of 10 m is

Runs for analyzing the effect of pre-dilution. considered. For the multiport outfall, a 40 m long tee diffuser with 10
Run Pre-dilution stream Contaminant of concern (COC) ports discharging in a water depth of 4 m is considered.

TWE-s TWE Salinity 5.1. Single port outfall

TWE-c1 TWE Type 1 contaminant
TWE-c2 TWE Type 2 contaminant
SW-s/c1 SW Salinity/Type 1 contaminant When pre-diluted brine is discharged with a constant velocity, the
CW-s/c1 CW Salinity/Type 1 contaminant densimetric Froude number increases with the amount of pre-dilution
CW-c2 CW Type 2 contaminant despite the increase in D0 (Eq. (15)) due to the reduction in the reduced
gravity of the effluent. Thus, the dilution and the terminal rise height
also increase (if the water is sufficiently deep).

4Q0 4RQb
D0 = =
πu 0 πu 0 (15)
Increasing R also leads to an increase in D0 F0/ H as both D0 and F0
increase. The dilution in shallow water is proportional to H / D0 (Eq. (3))
and decreases as R increases, but the excess salinity and concentrations
of type 1 contaminants after dilution are still lower than in the case
without blending. Eqs. (16)–(21) show this for pre-dilution of brine
with TWE.

u0 π 1/4 u 05/4 R1/4

F0 = =⎛ ⎞ ∼
'
g0 D0 ⎝4⎠ ' 1/4
g0 R Qb 1/4 (|2− R|)1/2
(16)

D0 F0 R3/4
∼
H (|2−R|)1/2 (17)

R1/4
⎧ Si, deep = C1 (θ0 ) F0 ∼ if deep
(| 2 − R |)1/2
Si =
⎨ S H 1
i, shallow = C3 (θ0 ) D ∼ if shallow
Fig. 5. Effect of blending on dilution when discharging through an existing tee ⎩ 0 R (18)
diffuser with ports inclined at 30o (Qb = 1 m3/s , H = 4 m , D0 = 0.22 m ,
L = 40 m and N = 10 ). The transition between deep and shallow conditions is R3/4
yT = C2 (θ0 ) D0 F0 ∼
marked using an asterisk (*) and that between shallow and well-mixed condi- (|2−R|)1/2 (19)
tions is marked using a circle (o). The six runs shown are defined in Table 3.
(| 2 − R |) 3/2
|Δsi | 1 |Δs0 | 1 |2−R| ⎞ ⎧ R5/4 if deep
= = ⎛ ∼
dilution of salinity and type 1 contaminants increases for all cases. Δsb Si Δsb Si ⎝ R ⎠ ⎨ |2 − R| if shallow
For discharge of brine (with Qb = 1 m3/s ) without pre-dilution ⎩ R1/2 (20)
(R = 1), the effective dilution of salinity is equal to 12.2 and is less than 1/2
the desired effective dilution of 18. However, when brine is pre-diluted, Δc1i 1 Δc10 1 1 ⎧ (| 2 −5/4
R |)
if deep
R
the effective dilution of salinity quickly becomes greater than 18 (for = = ⎛ ⎞∼
Δc1b Si Δc1b Si ⎝ R ⎠ ⎨ 1
if shallow
R > 1.2 if pre-diluted with SW and CW and R > 1.1 if pre-diluted with ⎩ R1/2 (21)
TWE).
Fig. 6 shows the effect of blending on the effective dilution of var-
ious contaminants for discharge of 1 m3/s of reject brine in a water
5. Discharge using a new outfall depth of 10 m through a single jet with θ0 = 30o and u 0 = 2.5 m/s .
Without any pre-dilution, the densimetric Froude number of the dis-
If a new outfall is designed to discharge the blended effluent, outfall charge is 5.7, the ambient is deep (D0 F0/ H = 0.4 ), the impact point
design parameters (like D0 , N , l and θ0 ) can be optimized for a given dilution is 6.8 (Eq. (1)) and the terminal rise height is 4.8 m (Eq. (2)).
amount of pre-dilution such that the design criteria (for e.g., achieving As R increases, the terminal rise height also increases (Eq. (19)). The
desired effective dilutions for various contaminants) can be met. This transition between deep and shallow conditions happens at
design optimization can be complex (especially if the location has a R = 1.44, 1.97 and 2.14 for pre-dilution with TWE, CW and SW, re-
sloping bottom for which the water depth is also variable) and is not spectively. Once shallow conditions are achieved for all three pre-di-
considered here. Instead, we look at the effects of blending on con- lution effluents, the effective dilution is the same for runs TWE-c1, SW-
taminant concentrations when pre-diluted brine is discharged with a s/c1 and CW-s/c1. Thus, runs TWE-c1, SW-s/c1 and CW-s/c1 overlap
constant discharge velocity, i.e., using an outfall for which D0 is ad- for R > 2.14 . Runs TWE-c2 and CW-c2 overlap for R > 1.97 .
justed according to the value of R such that u 0 is constant. Other design Since the effective dilution of salinity when brine is discharged
variables (such as N and l ) are not changed. To the extent that pumping without pre-dilution is less than 18, a discharge velocity higher than
costs are proportional to the flow rate times the velocity head, this 2.5 m/s, which will lead to higher pumping costs, is needed in this case
ensures that the pumping cost remains the same if the blended effluent to dilute salinity to an excess of 2 ppt at the impact point. However, if
is discharged at the same velocity at which the individual streams were brine is pre-diluted, then an effective dilution equal to or greater than
being discharged separately. (If TWE and CW are not utilized for pre- 18 can be achieved with u 0 = 2.5 m/s for R > 2.2 if brine is pre-diluted
dilution, they are also usually discharged separately). with CW and SW and R > 1.3 if pre-diluted with TWE.
We start with the same outfall designs which were considered in If θ0 is also varied with R , dilution can be further increased. It can be
Section 4. These designs are used for the discharge of brine without pre- seen from Table 1 that smaller values of θ0 result in higher dilutions in
dilution (R = 1). As R increases, the diameter is increased (proportional shallow water. As the jet transitions towards shallow conditions with
to R ) to keep the discharge velocity constant at 2.5 m/s. For the single increasing R , the optimum value of θ0 also reduces. The effect of using

6
I. Shrivastava, E.E. Adams
Fig. 6. Effect of blending on dilution when discharging through a submerged jet
inclined at 30o (Qb = 1 m3/s , H = 10 m ) with u 0 = 2.5 m/s . The transition be-
tween deep and shallow conditions is marked using an asterisk (*). The six runs
shown are defined in Table 3.
variable θ0 is shown in Fig. 7 for discharge using a single jet in a water
depth of 10 m. Without any pre-dilution, D0 F0/ H is equal to 0.4 and
θ0 = 60o gives the highest dilution. The terminal rise height (9.1 m) is
less than the water depth and corresponds to deep ambient. The impact
point dilution is 9.7. As R increases, the effective dilutions of salinity
and type 1 contaminants increase in the same way as shown in Fig. 6.
The transition from deep to shallow conditions occurs at R = 1.07, 1.12
and 1.13 for pre-dilution with TWE, CW and SW, respectively. As R is
increased further, the dilution of a 30o jet becomes higher than that of a
60o jet at a certain value of R . At this value of R , θ0 is lowered to 30o for
which yT reduces and the water depth is “deep” again. In Fig. 7, this
transition can be observed at R = 1.35 (for runs TWE-s, TWE-c1 and
TWE-c2), R = 1.81 (for run SW-s/c1) and R = 1.70 (for runs CW-s/c1
and CW-c2). As R is increased further, the water depth becomes
shallow. Again, for a particular value of R , θ0 can be lowered to 15o to
increase dilution further. This can be seen in Fig. 7 at R = 1.71 (for runs
TWE-s, TWE-c1 and TWE-c2), R = 3.91 (for run SW-s/c1) and R = 3.15
(for runs CW-s/c1 and CW-c2). The ranges of R for which a given port
angle is optimum are given in Table 4.
Even when θ0 is allowed to vary, the range of values of R for which
the effective dilution of salinity is equal to or greater than 18 is the
same as that for a jet with θ0 = 30o . Thus, an effective dilution of sali-
nity equal to or greater than 18 can be achieved with u 0 = 2. 5 m/s for
R > 2.2 if brine is pre-diluted with CW and SW and R > 1.3 if pre-di-
luted with TWE.
5.2. Multiport outfall
Fig. 8 illustrates the effect of blending on the effective dilution of
contaminants when a tee diffuser is used to discharge pre-diluted brine.
For the example in Fig. 8, the following values are used: Qb = 1 m3/s ,
H = 4 m , u 0 = 2. 5 m/s , L = 40 m , N = 10 and θ0 = 30o . The densi-
metric Froude number without any pre-dilution is equal to 10.1 and the
impact point dilution is equal to 12.2.
Fig. 8 shows similar trends as shown in Fig. 6. Run TWE-c1 shows a
slightly different trend as the effective dilution of a type 1 contaminant
reduces with R in the range 1.7–1.9. This is because, for R between 1.7
and 1.9, the physical dilution in shallow water decreases with R (be-
cause of the reduction in the contraction coefficient) faster than pre-
dilution increases. However, once well-mixed conditions are achieved,
the effective dilution increases again.
For discharge of brine (with Qb = 1 m3/s ) without pre-dilution
7
Journal of Hydro-environment Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
(R = 1), the effective dilution of salinity is equal to 12.2 and is less than
the desired effective dilution of 18. Thus, a higher discharge velocity is
needed if brine is discharged without blending. However, an effective
dilution equal to or greater than 18 can be achieved with u 0 = 2.5 m/s if
brine is pre-diluted for R > 1.4 (if pre-diluted with CW and SW) and
R > 1.1 (if pre-diluted with TWE).
The results in Figs. 6–8 show that pre-dilution of brine can help
increase the effective dilution of contaminants present in brine such
that the effluent can be discharged using a relatively simple outfall
(e.g., a single port outfall with small discharge velocity).
The results in Sections 4 and 5 (Figs. 4–8) are based on the impact
point dilution and terminal rise height results reviewed in Section 2, the
coefficients for which are summarized in Table 1. Examination of the
data from studies for dense jets (e.g., Abessi and Roberts, 2015a) shows
an uncertainty of about 5% in coefficients C1, C2 and C3 . (Comparison of
coefficients suggested in different studies shows a larger variation as
discussed by Jiang et al., 2014.) Thus, the dilution results in Figs. 4–8
also have an uncertainty of about 5% due to the uncertainty in the
impact point dilution coefficients (C1 and C3 ). The uncertainty in C2 can
affect the transition between deep, shallow and well-mixed conditions
(3–5% in the value of R at which the transition occurs), and thus can
result in an additional uncertainty of 4–6% in effective dilution results.
6. Summary and conclusions
We have looked at the effect of pre-dilution of brine on the effective
dilutions of different contaminants of concern. Three different pre-di-
lution sources – condenser cooling water, treated wastewater effluent
and seawater are considered. Pre-dilution of brine leads to a reduction
in the density difference with respect to ambient seawater (by lowering
the discharge salinity) and an increase in the discharge flow rate. As a
result, the discharge of pre-diluted brine is more likely to encounter
shallow or well-mixed conditions.
Pre-dilution leads to an increase in the densimetric Froude number
(F0 ) of the discharge, and thus increases the outfall dilution in deep
water. Even in shallow and well-mixed conditions, for which the outfall
dilution does not have a significant dependence on F0 (independent of
F0 for a single port outfall and a multiport outfall in well-mixed con-
ditions, and proportional to F0−0.15 for a multiport outfall in shallow
water), the effective dilutions of contaminants present in brine increase
with increase in the blending ratio (R ) due to the reduction in discharge
Fig. 7. Effect of blending on dilution when discharging through a submerged jet
with u 0 = 2.5 m/s : optimizing θ0 for best dilution (Qb = 1 m3/s , H = 10 m ). The
transition from θ0 = 60o to 30o is marked using a plus (+) and that from
θ0 = 30o to 15o is marked using a cross (× ). The six runs shown are defined in
Table 3.
I. Shrivastava, E.E. Adams Journal of Hydro-environment Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 4 and might not be available for pre-dilution.

Range of R for which a given θ0 is optimum (Qb = 1 m3/s , H = 10 m and
u 0 = 2.5 m/s ).
• For type 1 contaminants, pre-dilution with TWE results in higher
effective dilution than pre-dilution with CW or SW in deep water.
θ0 = 60o θ0 = 30o θ0 = 15o But, the effective dilution can be lower for the case of blending with
TWE (than for blending with CW or SW) in shallow and well-mixed
Deep Shallow Deep Shallow Deep Shallow conditions if the blended effluent is discharged using a multiport
outfall. If a single port outfall is used, then the effective dilution is
Blending with 1−1.07 1.07−1.35 1.35−1.44 1.44−1.71 1.71−1.72 >1.72
TWE the same for pre-dilution with TWE, CW and SW in shallow and
Blending with 1−1.13 1.13−1.81 1.81−2.14 2.14−3.91 3.91−4.04 >4.04 well-mixed conditions.
SW
Blending with 1−1.12 1.12−1.70 1.70−1.96 1.96−3.15 3.15−3.22 >3.22
• Whereas the effective dilution of type 1 contaminants increases with
increase in the blending ratio, the effective dilution of type 2 con-
CW
taminants decreases. Therefore, type 2 contaminants are likely to be
the constraining contaminants for high blending ratio.

Use of a new or an existing outfall is considered to discharge pre-

diluted brine. Design parameters such as port diameter and the vertical
angle of discharge can be chosen to maximize dilution if a new outfall is
constructed. For example, lowering the inclination angle results in
higher dilution for high blending ratio. For the design of a new outfall,
the discharge velocity can be chosen such that there is no significant
increase in the pumping cost for the blended discharge, relative to se-
parate discharges. On the other hand, the cost of constructing a new
outfall can be avoided if an existing outfall is available for use. The
design parameters are fixed for discharge using an existing outfall and
the discharge velocity increases with the amount of pre-dilution which
leads to an increase in the pumping cost.

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by Kuwait-MIT Center for Natural

Fig. 8. Effect of blending on dilution when discharging through a tee diffuser
with u 0 = 2.5 m/s (Qb = 1 m3/s , H = 4 m , θ0 = 30o , L = 40 m and N = 10 ). The
transition between deep and shallow conditions is marked using an asterisk (*)
and that between shallow and well-mixed conditions is marked using a circle
(o). The six runs shown are defined in Table 3.
concentrations. Thus, pre-dilution can help in achieving target dilutions
and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements with small
discharge velocities (and thus lower pumping costs) and even using
outfalls with a single port.
The following inferences can be made regarding the effective dilu-
tions of various contaminants for the discharge of pre-diluted brine:
Resources and the Environment (CNRE), which was funded by Kuwait
Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS).
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• Due to the salinity deficit of TWE, pre-dilution with TWE results in
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(for R < 2 ). Thus, if salinity is the most constraining contaminant
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dilution stream is recommended. However, TWE could be re-used