Evaluating natural degassing in a river to create a baseline for comparison to technical degassing methods.

Abstract

In Norway, a recent project used a risk matrix to identify about 200 hydropower plants ( 11 % of the total number) of being in high risk of producing air-supersaturated water. The combined installed capacity of these hydropower plants amounts to more than 45 % of Norway’s total installed hydropower capacity. Total dissolved gas (TDG) supersaturation in water is, dependent on the actual saturation value and the duration of the occurrence, lethal to certain types of fish and aquatic invertebrates. Natural degassing is highly dependent on the morphology of the downstream water system, but tends to be insufficiently slow with regard to lethality of TDG supersaturation. The Brokke power plant in southern Norway is known to create TDG supersaturation. Since 2012, continuous monitoring of the TDG level happens at the power plant outlet and several positions in the Otra river downstream. Measurement data has been evaluated and a method has been developed to calculate the liquid-gas mass transfer coefficient kLa as an indicator for the natural degassing efficiency within certain stretches of the river using assumptions for the river’s geometry. The results are in agreement with former evaluation of the measurements. At the Waterpower Laboratory at NTNU in Trondheim, Norway, a test rig has been designed and instrumented to prove the effectiveness of degassing methods. An in-house pressure system is used to produce air-supersaturated water, which is then channeled through an open flume. At the flume’s inlet, the degassing mechanism is installed. The TDG levels are monitored both upstream and at downstream the degassing device. The kLa will be used to compare natural degassing in the river downstream Brokke power plant to the experimental degassing methods in the Waterpower Laboratory.