Greece: GReen Desalination

Brine is the wastewater effluent from current desalination technologies which causes serious environmental damage. At the same time, brine contains highly valuable “materials that are leaking from our economies today", fitting well in the EU concept for the circular economy. While desalination is the most promising solution to address and help overcome the competing and increasing demands for water globally, brine is one of its, if not the most negative side effect. 

Meet Dimitris Xevgenos, the man behind GReen Desalination, a start-up company which addresses this challenge and estimates the economic value of one cubic metre of brine at 7€. GReen Desalination B.V. comprises a Clean Tech start-up company that can close the loop of desalination wastewater and thus create significant value. The company has recently been invited to participate in the EIP Water Action Group "Renewable Energy Desalination" as well as in the WssTP Working  Groups "Water & Industry" and "Resource Recovery".

GReen Desalination has a proven track record and a combined experience of over five years in resource recovery and brine management. Its breakthrough technology has been demonstrated by a Pilot brine treatment system on Tinos Island in Greece in a project called SOL-BRINE, which had received LIFE+ funding (LIFE09 ENV/GR/000299). Dimitris is currently developing a business plan within the SME phase I project of GReen Desalination; having been selected out of 15,000 innovative start-up’s, GReen Desalination B.V. has recently moved from Greece to the Netherlands, where it is being accelerated in the world-class accelerator STARTUPBOOTCAMP in the High Tech XL Campus in Eindhoven. With the support of EIP Water, the company participated in the event “Access to Finance for Circular Economy projects” on 16 September in Brussels. 

Dimitris Xevgenos can be contacted here

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SOL-BRINE is a Life + Environmental Policy and Governance Project co-funded by the European Community. The duration of the project is 39 months (Start date: 01/10/2010 - End date: 31/12/2013). The project is implemented in Tinos, Greece under the coordination of the municipality of Tinos and the cooperation of the associated beneficiaries National Technical University of Athens and Culligan Hellas SA.

The project aims at developing an energy autonomous brine treatment system for total elimination of brine, according to Zero Liquid Discharge principle (ZLD), being produced from Tinos seawater desalination plant. The project will result to high water recovery (>90%) and production of dry salt with market prospects, adding one more valuable output to the entire system.

The implementation of the project involves the design, development, testing, demonstration, optimization and evaluation of a pilot scale brine treatment system, contributing significantly to the development of full-scale brine elimination systems.

Total Project Budget: 1.209.689,00€
EC Funding: 604.844,00€ (50% of Total Project Budget)
Project duration: 01/10/2010-31/12/2013
With the support of the LIFE+ financial instrument of the European Union