Brine  Excellence Centres

Five BECs (Brine Excellence Centres) have been developed over the course of the years. They serve a key role for the bench-scale testing and suggesting a technically and economically feasible solution for different brine owners.


The Centres

At the Delft University of Technology

At the University of Palermo

At Eurecat

At the Silesian University of Technology

At the National Technical University of Athens


NETHERLANDS BEC


At the Delft University of Technology

The core research activities at the NL BEC focus on developing a process for the separation and recovery of salts, minerals, and clean water from brines. The BEC is equipped with bench-scale and industrial pilot scale technologies that operate as part of a process train or independently, more specifically, Eutectic Freeze Crystallization, Nanofiltration, Ion exchange, and Reverse Osmosis Filtration. In addition to technologies, NL BEC is equipped with analytical and measuring instruments to assess the physical, chemical, and microbial characteristics of brine solutions.


ITALY BEC


At the University of Palermo

The core research activities at the UNIPA BEC focus on developing novel technologies for the recovery of Magnesium Hydroxide from exhausted brines. Achieving this is done through a multi-disciplinary approach that includes researching crystallization kinetics, developing advanced multi-scale modelling tools for investigating reactive crystallization systems, constructing and testing lab-scale units of different reactive crystallization technologies, and developing fully operational pilot systems for demonstration activities.


SPAIN BEC


At Eurecat

The core research activities at the Eurecat BEC focus on developing innovative processes for the recovery of valuable compounds from exhausted brines. This work is carried out through a multi-disciplinary approach that includes chemical modelling, constructing and testing lab-scale units of different technologies, and developing operational pilot systems for demonstration purposes. The main expertise of Eurecat BEC is related to membrane technologies and crystallization including pressure-driven membrane processes: microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), forward osmosis (FO) and regenerated membranes; thermal membrane separation processes: membrane distillation (MD) and membrane contactors; electrodialysis (ED): ED metathesis, ED bipolar membranes, ED reversal; and Eutectic Freeze crystallization (EFC).


POLAND BEC


At the Silesian University of Technology

The core research activities at the SUT BEC focus on developing novel technologies for desalination and recovery of raw materials from saline industrial waste waters. The BEC is focused on the electrodialysis (ED); pressure-driven membrane processes: nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO); and the precipitation of magnesium hydroxide. Since the onset of ZERO BRINE project, the SUT BEC conducted bench-scale tests of ED, NF, and RO, which allowed for the establishment of models describing brine treatment processes used for the design of a pilot plant in the coal mine case study. The UNIPA crystallizer (CrIEM) from Italian BEC was temporarily moved to SUT BEC and used for testing magnesium recovery from the brines produced by the pilot plant. The precipitation of magnesium hydroxide was also tested using SUT BEC equipment.


GREECE BEC


At the National Technical University of Athens

The core research activities at the NTUA’s BEC focus on developing a process for the recovery of salts and other useful minerals from brines of high salinity. The BEC is equipped with technologies that operate as part of a train process or independently. More specifically, the MED- evaporator (now located at the Netherlands BEC) has been modified to use waste heat, while the crystallizer can effectively concentrate brine from different types of industries. In addition, the BEC is also equipped with an aerobic and anerobic MBR that treats sludge from industries of high organic load.

Laboratory for experimenting with membranes and water treatment processes, CTM facilities relevant for the Spanish BEC

BEC CTM

Laboratory for experimenting with membranes and water treatment processes, CTM facilities relevant for the Spanish BEC

Brine Excellence Centres

Over the course of ZERO BRINE, five Brine Excellence Centres (BECs) have been developed. The central BEC facility is in the Netherlands (Technical University DELFT/LENNTECH), while four satellite BECs are hosted in Poland at the Silesian University of Technology (SUT), in Spain at the Technology Centre of Catalonia (EURECAT), in Greece at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) and in Italy at the University of Palermo (UNIPA). These facilities altogether comprise a fully-equipped set of bench- and pilot-scale systems covering both innovative and enabling brine treatment technologies where companies will be able to test the equipment with their real wastewater and get customised, validated brine treatment solutions.

The Brine Excellence Centres serve a key role for the bench-scale testing and suggesting a technically and economically feasible solution for different end-users (brine owners). Simulation tools are used for determining key parameters such as CAPEX, OPEX and thus produce an outline business case.


Common Mission

The central BEC facility is in the Netherlands and four satellite BECs are hosted in Poland, Spain, Greece and. These facilities altogether comprise a fully-equipped set of bench- and pilot-scale systems covering both innovative and enabling brine treatment technologies where companies will be able to test the equipment with their real wastewater and get customized, validated brine treatment solutions. Simulation tools are used for determining key parameters such as CAPEX, OPEX and thus produce an outline business case.