Summary

• Seamoretech has secured €1.1 million in the first closing of its seed round, with participation from Rypples, 7Seas Capital, and Crédito Agrícola.
• Its containerised treatment technology uses forward osmosis to recover additional freshwater and minerals from concentrated desalination brine.
• The company is preparing for further industrial deployment and a Spanish market launch in 2027, while its claimed efficiency improvements await broader commercial validation.

Portuguese water technology company Seamoretech has secured €1.1 million to develop equipment that recovers freshwater and potentially valuable minerals from desalination waste, supporting its transition towards commercial deployment in European water markets.

The investment represents the first closing of the company’s seed round, with participation from Rypples, 7Seas Capital, and Crédito Agrícola. It brings total funding raised to approximately €3 million and will support industrialisation, further technology development, and preparations to enter the Spanish market in 2027.

Founded in 2021 by Sofia Delgado and Eva Sousa as a spinout from the University of Porto’s Faculty of Engineering, Seamoretech specialises in the treatment of brine, the highly concentrated saline stream produced during desalination. Its technology is intended to extract additional freshwater and recover dissolved materials, including magnesium, calcium, copper, and lithium.

The company is developing a containerised system that can operate alongside existing treatment facilities, using forward osmosis as part of its approach to water recovery. The funding follows demonstration activity in Spain, where the business is seeking to establish commercial applications for technology that could reduce the amount of residual material requiring disposal.

Recovering water from concentrated brine

Seawater desalination provides drinking water and industrial supplies in regions where conventional freshwater resources are limited. Reverse osmosis, one of the widely used approaches, applies pressure to move water through membranes that retain much of the dissolved salt and other constituents.

The process produces freshwater alongside a concentrated residual stream. Depending on the facility, the brine may be discharged into the marine environment or undergo further treatment, with operators required to manage its salinity, chemical composition, and potential environmental effects.

Seamoretech is targeting that residual stream rather than seeking to replace an entire desalination plant. By extracting more usable water from material that has already been concentrated, the company aims to improve resource recovery while reducing the burden associated with disposal.

Its technology uses forward osmosis, which relies on differences in osmotic pressure to move water through a selective membrane. Unlike conventional reverse osmosis, the movement of water does not principally depend on applying high hydraulic pressure across the same membrane stage.

Producing usable freshwater nevertheless requires the overall process to manage the solution used to draw water across the membrane. Separation, regeneration, pumping, and any further treatment all contribute to the energy and operating requirements of the completed system.

That distinction is important when comparing technologies. Lower energy consumption in one treatment stage does not necessarily establish lower consumption across an entire plant, particularly where additional processes are required to deliver water at the quality specified by an industrial or municipal customer.

Mineral recovery changes the economics

Seamoretech is also developing methods to recover minerals dissolved in concentrated brine, creating the possibility of obtaining commercially useful materials alongside additional water production.

Mineral recovery introduces a different set of technical and commercial requirements. The value of a recovered material depends on its concentration, the cost of separating it from other substances, the purity achieved, and whether suitable buyers exist.

Magnesium and calcium are present in seawater in considerably greater concentrations than lithium, making recovery economics dependent on the particular mineral being targeted. Trace constituents may be valuable per unit of weight while remaining expensive to extract from very large volumes of water.

The composition of the brine also changes with the original seawater, desalination process, and chemicals used during treatment. Equipment intended for multiple facilities must therefore accommodate different operating conditions or be configured for the characteristics of individual sites.

Seamoretech describes its approach as a route towards zero liquid discharge, in which water is recovered and the remaining dissolved materials are managed without requiring a liquid waste discharge. Achieving that outcome across a complete installation would require treatment and handling of residual materials after the initial recovery processes.

Its modular system is intended to connect with existing infrastructure, potentially allowing operators to investigate brine recovery without replacing their principal desalination equipment. The extent of required construction, integration, and operational changes will depend on the characteristics of the facility.

Performance claims face commercial testing

Seamoretech says its technology can double freshwater production yield, reduce energy consumption by 50% compared with reverse osmosis, and cut operating costs by 30%. It also claims potential carbon emissions reductions of up to 80% compared with conventional mineral extraction.

These comparisons are company-reported and do not constitute independently verified performance across commercial installations. The results would need to be assessed against defined operating conditions, representative brine chemistry, complete system energy use, and the quality of the recovered products.

For a water operator, the commercial decision involves more than the theoretical quantity of water that can be extracted. Electricity consumption, membrane maintenance, treatment chemicals, equipment availability, and the handling of remaining material influence the total cost of operation.

Recovering minerals could provide an additional revenue stream, although that depends on achieving specifications that industrial customers will accept. Product certification, transport, and the availability of buyers may influence whether extraction is commercially attractive at a particular site.

The possibility of generating water and mineral products from one process creates a more varied business model than conventional waste treatment. It also means that evaluating the technology requires separate measurements for water recovery, mineral output, residual waste, and the resources consumed in producing each.

Spanish expansion and industrial deployment

Seamoretech plans to enter the Spanish market in 2027, building on earlier demonstration activity and a developing pipeline of projects. It is also exploring opportunities in other markets, including Egypt, where desalination forms part of wider water infrastructure development.

Spain offers a relevant environment because desalination already contributes to water supplies in regions facing freshwater constraints. Existing facilities could provide opportunities for technologies that improve resource recovery, although installation would remain subject to technical feasibility, commercial terms, and applicable environmental requirements.

Moving from demonstrations to sustained industrial operations will require evidence about reliability over extended periods. Membrane fouling, variable feedwater composition, maintenance intervals, and changes in operating conditions can affect performance after initial technical testing.

Plant operators will also need to determine how additional treatment affects their permits and existing processes. Recovered water must meet the quality requirements of its intended use, while mineral extraction can create further handling, storage, and processing obligations.

Seamoretech is pursuing a further closing of its seed round to support its next development phase. The first €1.1 million provides resources for industrialisation, while the planned Spanish entry will require the company to translate its technical approach into equipment and service arrangements suitable for operating water facilities.

The combination of water recovery and mineral extraction gives the business potential applications across desalination and industrial resource management. Its forthcoming deployments will provide evidence of how the system performs outside demonstration conditions, including the costs and recovery yields that determine whether it can be adopted more widely.