Author(s): Mohamed K. Elkamash; Mahad S. Baawain

Linked Author(s):

Keywords: Jellyfish ingress; Inlet screen; Power plants; Desalination plants; Coastal intakes

Abstract: It has been reported that jellyfish ingress have swarmed the intake bays of reasonable large number of power and desalination plants in the world. The ingress causes a significant head loss at the intakes of plants which affects the pumping of seawater needed for cooling purposes dramatically. Moreover, many alternative strategies for controlling jellyfish ingress were proposed. Each alternative is a case sensitive that applies for specific location. Even though such solutions improve the problem of jellyfish ingress at a local scale, general satisfactory and efficient solutions are not achieved. In this paper, we propose the installation of a screen at the breakwater heads just at the entrance of the intake bay of any plant. The proposed screen will act as an early barrier for the jellyfish or big coral reefs. Having the screen at the entrance of the intake bay will make the screen oriented parallel to the dominant sea current. Consequently, the sea current tends sweep off any objects that caught by the screen and push them back into the sea. Although the proposed screen filter might be relatively costly, it will be reliable and feasible for power and desalination plants on a long term operational basis without major interruptions.

DOI:

Year: 2010