Seabed gallery intake technical feasibility for SWRO facilities at Shuqaiq, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Surficial drainage features that allow periodic flash-flood discharges to the shallow marine environment cause operational problems for seawater reverse osmosis water treatment plants at Shuqaiq, Saudi Arabia. The facility at Shuqaiq was designed to produce 212,000,m³/day of fresh water and it has experienced operational difficulties. An investigation was conducted to assess the technical feasibility of developing a subsurface intake system that would improve the feedwater quality to this and other facilities. A seabed gallery system was found to be technically feasible to supply the required 530,000 m³/day inflow. The design contains nine cells, each yielding 66,250 m³/day with an infiltration rate of 10 m/day. The filter would have a hydraulic retention time of 7 h. Each cell contains five layers with the total filter bed thickness of 5 m. Design of the filter under-drain system was optimized to maintain an equal flow rate at the top of the filter.

Keywords:

• desalination
• seawater reverse osmosis
• membrane fouling
• environmental impacts

Acknowledgements

Field assistance was coordinated by Samir Al-Mashharawi. Access to the facility was facilitated by Dr Nabil Nada and on-site support was provided by the plant manager Mr Vajay Kumar.

funding

Funding for this research was provided by the Water Desalination and Reuse Center and from faculty discretionary funding by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

Notes on contributors

David Mantilla completed his MS in environmental engineering at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. This research was conducted for his MS thesis work. He is currently working on his Ph.D. at KAUST in environmental science and engineering.

Thomas Missimer is a visiting professor at KAUST. He is a hydrogeologist and the author of 8 books and over 350 publications in journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters. He was the MS thesis advisor for David Mantilla.