The Sea4Value project is presented at IFAT Munich and the European Cluster Conference 2024

The Sea4Value European project funded by the European Horizon 2020 program aims to recover high-value metals and minerals from the brines generated in seawater desalination plants, with the aim of turning them into a source of raw materials, in line with the circular economy. The results of the project seek to generate new business opportunities for desalination plant operators and also create a new local source of resources for European countries, helping the industry to decrease its dependence on imports and increasing the sustainability of the processes obtaining raw materials.

The project coordinated by the Eurecat Technology Center has the participation of the Catalan Water Partnership, Aqualia and a consortium that represents the entire value chain, and has studied and tested the feasibility of new generation technologies of crystallization, separation and concentration for the recovery of Mg, B, Sc, In, V, Ga, Li, Rb and Mo, and has established the basis for their assimilation in current and future treatment plants. In addition, one of the objectives of the project is to validate the study of these technologies in a relevant environment and in serial operation. Therefore, Aqualia has led the implementation of the technologies in a mobile laboratory in Tenerife where they are being tested with different real brines.

Last May 13 to 17, the Catalan Water Partnership, together with Eurecat, attended the IFAT fair (Munich, Germany) where it had the opportunity to connect with different stakeholders interested in the project at an international level. In addition, the CWP offered a talk under the title “Clusters as open innovation hubs to foster circular economy: the case of Sea4Value”, where the role of the cluster as an innovative entity to bring innovative technology to promote the circular economy was highlighted in the market.

It should be added that two final events are planned as part of the Sea4value project, the first of which will be organized in Tenerife at the end of September and the second in the city of Brussels at the beginning of November. With this intention, and coinciding with the participation in the European Cluster Conference 2024 in the European city, the CWP team made the project known to different clusters and entities participating in the conferences, to involve stakeholders in the final stretch of the project and also for their participation in the final events. It should be noted that the project and its technologies are still in the study phase, but with the involvement of stakeholders it is sought to find out what the needs of the European market are in the use of minerals and metals recovered from the brine, encouraging this way the circular economy