Application Of Remote Sensing Technologies On Industrial Outfalls

Abstract

Industrial effluents are a byproduct of various industries. They may contain harmful and toxic substances of organic or inorganic origin, such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, hydrocarbons, detergents, and oils. In addition, industrial effluent can also come from thermal power plants in the coastal area, which use seawater for cooling, which they return to the environment after the process. Hence, the zone near the outlet has increased temperature, affecting the mortality and reduction of certain types of fish and algae, variations in the number of phytoplankton, and other ecological problems (Zhao et al., 2015). Nowadays, an increasing amount of industrial wastewater from desalination processes is brine, which is considered a minor risk to public health but has a more significant impact on the environment (Lattemann and Amy, 2013). Due to the increase in population, the demand for drinking water has increased, especially on the islands and coastal areas. With the desalination process, drinking water is produced from sea or brackish water by removing suspended matter and dissolved minerals, mainly salt, and the effluent, i.e., brine, is discharged back into the coastal area. An increased amount of salt can potentially negatively affect the marine ecosystem, leading to the dehydration of cells and possible death of organisms (Missimer and Maliva, 2018). In addition, the brine may have a higher temperature than the environment and contain heavy metals and residues of hazardous chemicals applied in the process, such as anti-scale agents, flocculation agents, and coagulants (Panagopoulos and Haralambous, 2020.). The increasing hydrogen generation from renewable sources requires more freshwater. Consequently, a significant increase in this type of effluent is expected in the future.

Therefore, analysis and monitoring of the operation of industrial outfalls is essential to preserve the marine environment and public health. Previous research (Law and Tang 2016) proposes long-term monitoring after the outfall has been commissioned to study environmental effects. Historically, monitoring of wastewater outfalls was mainly obtained by in situ sampling methods to ensure water quality in coastal areas (Gierach et al., 2017). Such practices have temporal and spatial limitations with high costs; hence, they are impractical for analyzing a larger coastal area. Therefore, in this research, we propose using remote sensing technologies for monitoring industrial outfalls.