Using Marine Outfall Wastewater Discharge Systems for Electricity Generation

Marine outfall is a pipeline system used to discharge industrial or municipal wastewater from wastewater treatment plant to the sea. It is generally discharged under the sea surface. This system uses excess pressure to discharge wastewater offshore, which is a regulation that governs the discharge of any substance to the marine environment. The operation of marine outfall systems makes sense on an environmental perspective, although observing this system in an engineering perspective, significant energy is wasted, as the energy is solely used to discharging water offshore.The focus of this research is to propose an engineering solution to recover the lost kinetic energy and convert it into useful electrical energy. Therefore, the paper starts by presenting a literature review on marine outfall and focuses on the opportunity of using marine outfall systems identified in South Africa where hydropower technology can be used for energy recovery. A proper methodology to conduct the study as well as a system layout have been suggested. The ultimate purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of this innovative technology given the availability of the resource in South African context.