Project Profile: Salt-Mine
Beyond freshwater generation: Mineral extraction from seawater desalination brine and seawater greenhouse farming
Who?
| Principal Investigators: | Kuria Ndungu, Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Norway |
| Partners: | Murat Van Ardelan, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Luke Chimuka, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Anita Hill, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia Joseph Kamau, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, Kenya John Livingstone, Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa Somaliland, Somalia R. Mbithi Mulwa, The Environment for Development (EfD) Initiative, University of Nairobi, Kenay Brent Newman, The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, South Africa |
| Sponsors: | Oceans and Atmosphere, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia The Research Council of Norway, Norway National Research Foundation, South Africa Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sweden/African countries |
What?
| Full Project Title: | Beyond freshwater generation: Mineral extraction from seawater desalination brine and seawater greenhouse farming |
| Full Call Title: | Oceans2018 |
| Website: |
Why?
| Project Objective: | About 4 billion people currently live in conditions of severe water scarcity for at least a month per year. Additionally, food production in dry coastal areas of least developed countries (LDC) like Somalia and Kenya is severely limited by lack of affordable irrigation water. Oceans and their resources are crucial in alleviating poverty and enabling coastal communities in LDC achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development). Desalinated water is expected to play a key role in narrowing the water demand-supply gap. However, management of ca. 142 million m3/day of brine (hyper-saline concentrate produced during desalination) is a major environmental and economic challenge associated with desalination technologies. Concurrently, the ongoing shift to electric vehicles is fueling a demand for lithium and other battery materials creating opportunity to solve these challenges simultaneously. The SALT-MINE explores the opportunity by aiming to develop sustainable management options for seawater desalination brine including: i) Development of better materials (e.g. membranes) and affordable chemistry for extraction of valuable minerals (e.g. Li) from desalination brine combined with environmentally better brine disposal methods ii) Development and piloting of effective seawater greenhouses enabling high-value crops cultivation in arid coastal LDC iii) Assess the impact of seawater intake and brine discharge, on pelagic and benthic marine organisms, to limit ecological disturbance iv) Analyse the socio-economic aspects upon the coastal communities of these technologies to evaluate their potential for attainment of SDGs with emphasis on coastal job creation, food security, and business development for value-generation The consortium brings together partners from Norway, South Africa, Australia, Somalia and Kenya. SALT-MINE will connect with Coast-LaB project, part of Norway-South Africa CRA on ocean sustainability, also studying the impact of land-based activities on the coastal environment. |
| Call Objective: | This CRA call aims to contribute to the overall challenge of ocean sustainability, using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #14 (Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development) as the overall framework. This call encourages global partnerships of academics and non-academics to address one or more of the following topics: 1) Pathways toward a sustainable and equitable use of oceans, 2) accounting for and minimizing impacts of global change. |
Where?
| Regions: | |
| Countries: | Australia, Kenya, Norway, Somalia, South Africa |
When?
| Duration: | 36 |
| Call Date: | 29 October 2018 |
| Project Award Date: | 12 February 2020 |
