The Effect of Zeolite Application on Evaporation Rate in Evaporation Ponds

One of the brine waste disposal options used by developed countries is “evaporation ponds”. In order to increase the efficiency of evaporation ponds in terms of increasing the amount of evaporation and consequently, decreasing the amount of required area for ponds, this subject has been paid more attention by researchers. As, the evaporation rate from ponds is the most important component, the possibility of saving solar energy and releasing the stored heat by Zeolite was studied in this research to increase the evaporation potential of the pond. For this purpose different amounts and types of Zeolite were examined and the Zeolite 13x was chosen. The experiments have been carried out on the platform of Karaj Meteorological Station using two evaporation pans; a test pan including the setup used in this research, and a synoptic available pan as the control pan. The results showed by using different mass of Zeolite (43.8 to 525.1 g/m2), the evaporation rate increases 4 to 22% as compared to the control pan. Also, the effect of Zeolite on evaporation rate from saline water was investigated. The results showed that the evaporation rate decreases as compared to the one from Zeolite pond with fresh water. Also, a linear relationship was established between different percentages of salinity and evaporation rates. The results of this study showed by considering saline drainage water, the price of Zeolite and land for construction of evaporation ponds, it is possible to increase the amount of evaporation rate from evaporation ponds and consequently reduce the dimensions of these ponds for economical purposes. Therefore, it is possible to prevent agricultural drainage disposal into rivers.