Seawater desalination plants produce large amounts of brine, a concentrated salt solution often discarded as waste. However, this brine contains valuable raw materials like lithium, magnesium, and other essential minerals, which have largely gone untapped until now. The EU-funded Sea4Value project has been a pioneer in the field of brine valorisation. Since June 2020, 16 project partners from eight European countries have developed innovative methods for extracting raw materials from desalination brines, culminating in the creation of the first CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) on brine valorisation in collaboration with global experts.

A multi-step process for raw material extraction

The Sea4Value project introduces a multi-step process for extracting valuable raw materials from brine, making them available for applications across various high-impact industries, including battery manufacturing, agriculture, and chemicals. By recovering these materials, brine valorisation addresses resource scarcity while contributing to a more sustainable, circular economy.

Collaboration and development of the CEN agreement

To foster the industrial adoption of brine valorisation technologies, the Sea4Value project partner DECHEMA e.V. initiated the development of the first CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) on this topic. The CWA was developed over 10 months in collaboration with international experts from industry, academia, and society, with UNI serving as the standardisation body. The document, titled “Brine Valorisation – Recovery of Minerals and Metals from Brines of Seawater Desalination Plants” (CWA 18153:2024 (E)), is now published and freely accessible.

Guiding the global adoption of brine valorisation technologies

The CWA provides a crucial framework to ensure consistent, efficient, and scalable processes for brine valorisation that can be adopted worldwide. It includes guidelines on best practices for recovering minerals and metals from seawater desalination brines and covers a range of technologies for pre-treatment, concentration, recovery, and purification. The agreement also emphasizes sustainability, circularity, and environmental considerations, while providing strategies to enable the market entry of recovered minerals and metals.

This milestone in standardisation offers a much-needed solution for overcoming implementation barriers in brine valorisation, ensuring that the valuable resources found in seawater desalination brines are effectively recovered and used to meet global demand.