New desalination project strives to tackle global drinking water challenges

Over the next four years the new European Commission-funded REvivED water pilot project will contribute to addressing the world’s drinking water challenges by establishing electrodialysis as the preferred process for desalination of seawater, in order to provide a source of safe, affordable, and cost-competitive drinking water.

The balance between drinking water demand and water availability has reached a critical level in many regions of the world. Factors such as climate change are causing more frequent and severe droughts which exacerbate these adverse conditions. With seawater making up 97.5% of the world’s water resources, low energy desalination solutions will be crucial in providing sufficient levels of good quality drinking water for a growing global population.

Electrodialysis (ED) refers to movement of ions from one solution to another via a semi permeable membrane, while applying an electric potential. REvivED water, with a budget of €9.8 million, will focus on several different applications:

• Off-grid brackish water ED desalination in developing countries
• ED-based tap-water softening in Europe
• Industrial scale seawater ED desalination
• Industrial scale seawater desalination based on integration of ED with RED (Reverse ED) to reduce the energy consumption
• Industrial scale seawater reverse osmosis desalination combined with ED/RED for initial market introduction

Pilot testing will take place in real environments to demonstrate achievements regarding energy consumption, water quality and cost price, among others.

This ambitious project was officially launched on 1 May 2016 and is due to run until April 2020. Representatives from all 10 European partner organisations met at the project kick-off meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on 8–9 June 2016 to discuss activities to be undertaken during the project’s lifetime.

The REvivED water website will be coming soon at www.revivedwater.eu

For REvivED water Project Information, please contact: Dr. Natalie Tiggelman, Project Coordinator ([e-mail]), www.fujifilmmembranes.com

For press queries or to receive regular project updates, please contact: Alberto Vallejo, AquaTT Project Officer ([e-mail]), or Miriam Balaban, European Desalination Society (EDS) ([e-mail])

Notes for Editors

REvivED water (Low energy solutions for drinking water production by a REvival of ElectroDialysis systems) is funded by the EU's Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, Grant Agreement No. 685579. FUJIFILM Manufacturing Europe B.V. is coordinating the project. AquaTT and EDS are project dissemination partners.

The REvivED water consortium is industry driven and covers the whole knowledge spectrum required for the success of the REvivED water project with experts on ED/Reverse ED technology (Wetsus European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Deukum, REDstack, FUJIFILM Manufacturing Europe, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Ghent University), desalination and purification technology (Abengoa Research), contaminant removal (Ghent University), off-grid applications in developing countries (Phaesun), knowledge transfer and dissemination (AquaTT) as well as the best institute for networking in the desalination field (EDS).

Keywords

desalination, electrodialysis, drinking water

Countries

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom