The International Desalination Association, in partnership with the Desalination Technology Research Institute (DTRI) and Saline Water Conversion Corporation (SWCC), announced new dates for the three-day Specialty Conference on Ocean Brine Mining for Desalination. Held on 21-23 Mar 2022, the event will be held at the Intercontinental al Jubail Resort, in Jubail, Saudi Arabia.
Jointly organised by the IDA and DTRI of SWCC, under the patronage of the Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, this specialty conference is a forum for technical professionals, scientists, applied researchers, practitioners, and innovators. The aim is to share their latest technologies and experience in brine concentration extraction of valuable minerals. Brine mining is trailblazing a new desalination industry path of Zero Discharge & Cost (ZD&C) desalination.
This event aims to capture a new industry trend of turning brine generated by desalination plants from a waste product into a sustainable and valuable alternative source of minerals currently obtained by terrestrial mining.
“Our vision for the future of the desalination industry is to harness the value contained in seawater brine and to use it for subsidizing the production of desalinated water, thereby transforming desalination into the lowest cost freshwater production technology in the world,” said H.E. Abdullah Al-Abdul Kareem, Governor of Saline Water Conversion Corporation.
The conference will provide a forum to professionals and innovators in this new and promising field to share their knowledge and experience on leading-edge technologies that convert cost-effectively brine into mineral products and extract rare metals of strategic importance for advanced industries, including lithium, cesium, rubidium, barium.
The conference’s Day 1 Program is entitled Technologies for Brine Concentration and Zero Liquid Discharge. It explores themes such as the art of thermal brine concentration, brine concentration for harvesting of minerals, and the future of brine concentration – next generation technologies.
Day 2, Technologies for Mining of Minerals and Metals from Brine, will focus on brine extraction technologies. Day 3 has a session on Case Studies for Desalination Brine Mining showcasing projects for successful brine mining, a forum on Brine Mining Challenges and Solutions, and a visit to the SWCC Brine Mining Research Facility in Jubail and the 320,000 m3/day Ras Al Khair desalination plant.
“The question of Ocean Brine Concentrate Mining continues to be key in developing a sustainable future, and the IDA applauds the Saline Water Conversion Corporation for taking a lead role on this important subject,” said Shannon McCarthy, IDA Secretary General.
