Brine clarity maintenance in salinity-gradient solar ponds

Brine transparency is an important part of the maintenance of a salinity-gradient solar pond as it affects the amount of solar radiation reaching the storage zone and hence has an influence on the thermal performance. There is a wide range of factors that can hinder the transmission of light in a solar pond. Algal and microbial growths are the most common problems encountered in working solar ponds and control of their densities is essential to maintain transparency. Two different chemical treatment methods for algae growth prevention are described in this paper: chlorine and a novel chemical product – copper ethylamine complex. The latter method has never been implemented previously in a working pond. This paper discusses the theory of the algae control methods used and presents the experimental results of the chemical treatments. The results showed that Cupricide is more effective than chlorine and is therefore the recommended chemical for algae control in solar ponds; it improves the water transparency especially in the upper convective zone and lower convective zone with all measurement values less than 1 NTU. Chlorine was found to be more corrosive than Cupricide due to the acidic effect it has on the pH. The preliminary cost analysis showed that granular chlorine is the cheapest chemical. A more detailed financial analysis is nevertheless required to refine these costs.