Water exchange and circulation of the Arabian Gulf - Preliminary study of suitability for seawater scrubber discharges

Abstract

This report assesses the water exchange in the Arabian Gulf in relation to water demands for Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) plants based on available information from literature. The assessments are made for the whole Arabian Gulf, but also consider differences between the northwestern and southeastern parts of the Gulf and between specific areas on the coast of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Rough estimates based on available data and simple calculations indicate that accumulation of discharges from 10 plants distributed over the length of the coast from Kuwait to Qatar might at times give a background recirculation of between 1 and 3 %. If the plants are located closer together, i.e. within about 50-100 km, the high accumulation may at times amount to 5-10 % in the coastal waters around the plants. The local accumulation for a single plant on top of this may be important if the discharge and intake is placed too close to each other. Based on the model calculations of near zone concentrations we recommend discharges to be located at least 2 km downstream of the water intake, in the direction of the mean residual surface current, i.e. towards the southeast. This should ensure that accumulation levels not exceed 10 %. It is important that sites considered for FGD plants are explored with regard to local topographical features and currents patterns under shifting conditions, as this may be vital for planning the intake and discharge to minimize the risk of water recirculation from the discharge into the intake.