Saudi Arabia Turns Brine Into a Strategic Asset

Turning waste into wealth, the kingdom is extracting valuable minerals from desalination’s salty byproduct

8 Dec 2024

For decades, desalination has quenched Saudi Arabia’s thirst while quietly producing a less welcome side effect: brine. This saline sludge, long treated as a costly nuisance, is now being repurposed as a potential goldmine. In a desert kingdom where water is more essential than oil, even the waste is being put to work.

At the heart of the effort is an emerging industry focused on extracting minerals such as magnesium, potassium, calcium, and bromine from the effluent of desalination plants. These elements are not merely table salt byproducts; they are inputs for fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, and batteries. In an era of electrification and soil degradation, demand is rising.

This mineral-harvesting push fits neatly into Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the crown prince’s scheme to diversify the economy away from hydrocarbons. If the country can transform desalination from an energy-intensive utility into a multi-output industrial hub, it will not only reduce waste but also boost the kingdom’s industrial self-reliance.

Technological innovation is helping. Energy Recovery, a California-based firm, notes a growing global appetite for systems that manage both water supply and brine disposal. “Future desalination plants will be value hubs,” the firm says, “not just utilities.” Saudi researchers are patenting extraction techniques and launching pilot schemes. What began as an environmental headache is now a research frontier.

Still, scale and economics remain hurdles. Brine contains valuable materials in only modest concentrations. Extracting them is complex and, at present, expensive. Legal ambiguities around mineral rights and regulatory frameworks add to the challenge. Yet the momentum, underwritten by state direction and deep coffers, appears durable.

If successful, Saudi Arabia’s strategy could become a template for other parched countries. Most desalination plants, particularly in water-scarce regions, discharge their brine back into the sea. Few have turned that waste into an economic asset. The Saudis are wagering that what once looked like pollution can now look like opportunity.

A desert economy finding wealth in saltwater waste may seem improbable. But then so did building a metropolis in the sand. As the kingdom reshapes its relationship with water, the rest of the world may have reason to follow its lead.