MAREMAG LIFE

NEW MAREMAG LIFE project fiche

The MareMag LIFE project, co-financed by the LIFE Programme, aims to reduce the environmental impact of one of the most carbon-intensive materials in modern industry: magnesium minerals, which are widely used in construction, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, and food. Current production methods consume large amounts of energy, emit significant greenhouse gases, and rely heavily on fossil fuels, creating major environmental pressures.

Europe depends almost entirely on imported magnesium, much of which is produced using fossil-fuel-based methods. This dependency poses both environmental and strategic risks for key value chains. For these reasons, Europe must develop cleaner and more sustainable production routes to meet its climate and resource-efficiency goals.

To address this challenge, ResourSEAs, an Italian engineering and R&D company and project member, created a new company, MareMag srl. MareMag proposes an innovative, low-carbon production process that uses residual brines from Mediterranean saltworks as a sustainable feedstock. This approach significantly reduces energy demand and emissions while also strengthening Europe’s industrial autonomy.

The project involves several key partners: the University of Palermo; Nuova Sima, an Italian producer of magnesium-based industrial fillers; Sosalt, a major Sicilian sea-salt operator supplying large volumes of residual brine; and Hellenic Saltworks, Greece’s leading sea-salt producer with extensive Mediterranean salt pans providing additional brine feedstock. Together, these partners demonstrate a viable and scalable alternative to conventional magnesium production.

MAREMAG LIFE Objectives

• Demonstrate a sustainable, circular process to produce magnesium hydroxide using only renewable energy.
• Replace mining and fossil-fuel-based methods with a low-impact process that reuses existing natural resources.
• Reduce Europe’s carbon footprint and strengthen its industrial autonomy in critical raw materials.
• Validate the technical and economic viability through a pilot plant in Italy and replication in Greece.

Expected Results

During the LIFE project, the MareMag pilot plant will validate several key features of the approach, paving the way for industrial scale-up after the project ends:

• 100 tonnes per year of magnesium hydroxide produced at the pilot plant, in both powder and slurry form.
• 52 m³ of freshwater saved annually compared with traditional magnesium production.
• Approx. 39 tonnes of CO₂ reduced per year thanks to the project’s circular, zero-emission process.
• Around 11 tonnes per year reduction in the use of harmful chemicals such as brominated flame retardants, improving human and environmental safety.
• Generation of useful by-products such as hydrochloric acid and sodium sulphate, which can be reused in industries like detergent manufacturing, reducing waste.

• Replacement of roughly 85 tonnes of lime per year in environmental applications including water treatment and flue-gas desulfurization.

   

Quote from the Coordinating Beneficiary

Fabrizio Vicari, MareMag CEO

“It is fascinating how the Close-to-Market support has given us a view similar to what we have in technology development, but in the field of business development. We now have letters of intent and quotation requests from potential buyers, which make our business plan stronger than before.”