Technology for the reuse of brines from reverse osmosis
USEFUL WASTES is a new company that has developed an innovative technology that allows the complete reutilization of brines from reverse osmosis process in food industry, transforming this waste into different valuable byproducts.

Reverse osmosis is widely used to treat water in food industry due to the water quality requirements when it is used to clean, freeze or cook food, obtaining 75% of high quality water and 25% of brine that is discarded.

With the aim of reducing this waste of water USEFUL WASTES was founded in 2016, and its main strengths are:

- Improvement in water production, from the current 75% to 95-97%;
- Circular economy: the remaining 1% is transformed into different valuable byproducts, such as bleach, salts or hydrogen gas;
- Bleach self-production: this product is massively used in the food industry for cleaning and disinfection. Its production as a byproduct will allow the company not only to reduce costs but also to not be dependent on bleach suppliers.

But most of all, the main advantage of USEFUL WASTES that guarantees its success is that it is profitable. Operating costs are smaller than the cost associated to bleach purchase (estimated savings are 4c€ per litre), without taking into account the savings obtained in water supply (22-24% of water that was being discarded is now transformed into fresh and soft water).

Regarding the main competitors, brine management sector is completely dedicated to solving the problem caused by desalination plants’ brines, potentially dangerous for the marine ecosystems where they are discharged due to its high content in nitrates, so there are no solutions in the market targeting food industry.

During phase 1, USEFUL WASTES will elaborate a detailed business plan which will set the strategy to commercialize successfully
its innovation all over Europe.