EIP Water News September 2015: GReen Desalination - good news from Greece

Brine – ever heard of it or thought about it?

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