Workshop: Seawater sourcing for renewable hydrogen and chemicals

In a joint workshop, the EU Commission’s European Innovation Council and Directorate-General Research and Innovation, the EU project ANEMEL, the Clean Hydrogen Partnership, the EuroTech Universities Alliance and Hydrogen Europe Research want to deep-dive into the pressing question of minimising water impact for the future large-scale production of RFNBOs (renewable fuels of non-biological origin) and valuable minerals in all regions.

The production of RFNBOs or the sustainable supply of valuable minerals is a highly promising pathway to climate mitigation. However, most of the conversion or extraction technologies necessitate fresh or highly pure drinking water as feedstock that, due to regular aridness, is becoming a scarce worldwide resource.

The goal of this workshop is to explore the use of seawater sources with a multidisciplinary expert group from industry, academia and policy. Desalination methods will be discussed, as well as highly innovative techniques where seawater serves as direct feedstock for water electrolysis or as a source for valuable minerals. Circular concepts will be explored, where water is co-captured from the air, together with carbon dioxide, and where the necessary energy is provided by the subsequent production of certain e-fuels. Exploiting desalination concentrate, so-called brine, for minerals recovery or using seawater and carbon dioxide for co-electrolysis will be discussed as well.

The workshop will contribute to a white paper and an ambitious agenda on low-impact water sourcing for RFNBOs and chemicals to inspire future funding topics and set up data-driven policies.