Stack emissions from desalination plants: a parametric sensitivity analysis for exposure assessment

The desalination market has been continuously growing to augment conventional water resources in arid and semi-arid regions that are experiencing population growth, improvements in life-style, increased economic activity and increased contamination of existing water supplies. The introduction of desalination plants is inevitably associated with several potential environmental impacts including potential air pollution. The present study focuses on qualifying air emissions resulting from desalination plants and their potential impacts using a case study approach for an existing combined power generation and water distillation plant. The Industrial Source Complex (ISC) air dispersion model was adopted to assess sulfur dioxide concentrations at sensitive receptors under worst case meteorological conditions and full load operation for both plants. A parametric sensitivity analysis showed that receptors are exposed to concentrations exceeding international standards under most scenarios necessitating mitigation measures which were defined.