Dissemination of the final results of the Sea4Value project – extraction of minerals and metals from sea brines – at the ECOMONDO fair

• The H2020 Sea4Value project ends successfully, with the presentation of its results at the ECOMONDO fair, a benchmark in circular economy and green technologies in the Mediterranean.
• Eurecat (coordinators), Aqualia, UPC and CWP and 12 other European partners have participated in the development of 10 disruptive technologies to recover valuable metals and minerals from brines from offshore desalination plants.

After more than 4 years of research and development, the H2020 Sea4Value project  comes to an end with the participation in the ECOMONDO fair  (Rimini, Italy), an international meeting point for technologies, services and industrial solutions in the green sector and the circular economy in the Mediterranean region.  

The project, coordinated by Eurecat and with the participation of Aqualia, the UPC and the Catalan Water Partnership (CWP), as well as 12 other partners from all over Europe, has designed and tested the feasibility of a total of 10 disruptive technologies (including advanced concentration, crystallisation and selective separation technologies) to recover minerals and metals (Mg, B, Sc, In,  V, Ga, Li, Rb, Mo) of brines from offshore desalination plants. These technologies have been implemented and tested in a mobile laboratory or “moving lab” installed in Tenerife and managed by Aqualia. Sea4value has taken an important step towards the goal of turning desalination plants into the third source of valuable resources for the European Union. 

Image 1. Mobile laboratory installed in Tenerife to validate the 10 disruptive technologies for separating, concentrating and crystallizing minerals and metals from seawater brines.

The CWP, responsible for ensuring the contact and transfer of the results to the potential stakeholders of the project – stakeholder engagement, has participated as an exhibitor at the ECOMONDO fair (5 – 9 November) at stand 504 of pavilion B5 shared with ACCIÓ  and other Catalan companies to ensure the dissemination of the Sea4Value project to all potential stakeholders of the fair. The CWP held specific meetings with industrial companies as well as with other clusters and delegations from Europe and Canada.  

On November 6, within the framework of the fair, the last day of the Sea4Value project was held  where the results achieved in the recovery of minerals and metals from sea brines were presented. The conference was initiated and moderated by Aina Amengual, R&D Project Manager of the CWP, and continued with the presentation of David Sanchez, researcher in the area of sustainability at Eurecat, who presented an overview of the project and the main achievements. Sanchez explained that thanks to the project, it has been possible  to create an exhaustive map with the characterization of more than 100 brines from around the world and also a standardized document on best practices for sustainable brine mining based on the execution of the CEN Workshop Agreement.  

Image 2. Presentation of the session “Novel technologies in seawater desalination plants to extract minerals and metals from seawater brines” by Aina Amengual from the CWP and David Sanchez from Eurecat

Next, 4 of the technologies developed in the Sea4Value project were presented:

• Advanced nanofiltration membranes for brine pretreatment, by Arto Pihlajamäki, associate professor at the LUT School of Engineering in Finland.  
• Advanced evaporator completely polymer-based, by Heike Glade, Head of the Research Department at the University of Bremen.   
• Advanced evaporator with integrated vacuum steam heat supply system, by Panagiotis Pappas, Technology Development Leader of SEALEAU B.V.   
• Electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBP) for the selective recovery of boron (B) by Mariana Figueira, researcher at Eurecat.  

Finally, the session featured a presentation by Naiara Hernández, Project Manager of Aqualia’s R&D department, who presented the results of the implementation of disruptive technologies in  the moving lab, as well as the main results obtained. The technologies have been tested and validated with 3 real brines from the Atlantic Ocean (Tenerife) and the Mediterranean Sea (Israel and Spain).  

The session aroused great interest among the more than 30 participants who attended the fair in person. In addition, the session was broadcast online and will be available on the Youtube channel of the Sea4value project for new interested parties.

It is worth mentioning that on November 7, Lucia Gusmaroli, European Projects Area Manager of the CWP, also made a pitch presenting the Sea4Value project  during an exchange event between Catalonia and Emilia-Romagna around green technologies organized by ACCIÓ  within the framework of the ECOMONDO fair.  

Image 3. Presentation of Sea4Value by Lucia Gusmaroli of CWP during the event on green technologies promoted by Acció.

The ECOMONDO fair has made it possible to successfully close the Sea4Value project, disseminating the final results to an industrial and international audience with a great interest in the project. The technologies developed and tested during the project now need to be scaled up to larger pilots to continue on the path to commercialization and full-scale implementation in several desalination plants around the world.