Brine Consulting helps clients design, assess, and optimize water treatment and Zero Liquid Discharge strategies for industrial, municipal, and infrastructure applications. Our work focuses on selecting the right treatment pathway for the actual water chemistry, discharge requirements, operating constraints, and business objectives of each project.
We support projects involving desalination, industrial wastewater, produced water, cooling tower blowdown, high-salinity effluents, landfill leachate, mining water, food and beverage wastewater, chemical streams, and other complex waters. Our approach is technology-neutral and grounded in process reality. We do not force a preferred solution; we evaluate what fits the chemistry, recovery target, energy profile, sludge burden, operating capability, and lifecycle cost.
For ZLD and MLD projects, we help clients understand the full treatment chain, including pretreatment, membranes, softening, evaporation, crystallization, solids handling, chemical consumption, scaling risks, and residual management. We also identify where full ZLD may be justified, where MLD is more sensible, and where reuse or partial recovery may deliver better value.
Typical outputs include treatment concept notes, technology screening, process flow diagrams, pre-feasibility studies, cost range estimates, risk reviews, recovery optimization, vendor evaluation, and technical support during pre-FEED or FEED development.
Who We Work With
We support the people responsible for industrial water decisions: plant and site managers accountable for compliance and cost, process and utilities engineers responsible for the treatment plant, and sustainability leads driving reuse and resource-recovery targets. Our deliverables are written to be useful to all three, connecting the engineering to the permit and to the business case.
We advise across sectors with saline or hard-to-treat effluent, including chemicals, food and beverage, power, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and metals, adapting the approach to each site’s chemistry and regulatory context rather than applying a fixed template.
Industrial and Regulatory Challenges in the Netherlands
Dutch and European industrial sites face a specific set of pressures that shape any water treatment decision:
- Tightening discharge limits. Industrial effluent is governed by Best Available Techniques under the European Industrial Emissions Directive, and permit conditions are reviewed and tightened over time. (Source: European Commission, Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EU)
- Water Framework Directive pressure. Surface water quality targets push regulators to reduce industrial contaminant loads to receiving waters. (Source: European Commission, Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC)
- Rising water and energy costs. ZLD and MLD are energy intensive, so technology selection has a direct and lasting effect on operating cost.
- Water availability and drought risk. Recent dry summers have increased scrutiny of industrial water abstraction, strengthening the case for reuse.
- Permit renewal and site expansion. New capacity or a permit renewal often triggers a requirement to demonstrate improved water performance before approval.
These realities mean a treatment decision is rarely just an engineering choice. It is a compliance and cost decision that has to survive audit, permit review, and years of operation.
ZLD and MLD advisory
We assess whether zero or minimum liquid discharge is the right target for your site, then define the treatment train to reach it. This includes recovery-rate targets, brine handling, evaporator and crystallizer sizing logic, and hybrid designs that reduce thermal load and cost.
Industrial wastewater treatment consulting
For sites that do not need full ZLD, we design or optimise conventional and advanced wastewater treatment: pretreatment, biological stages, membranes, and polishing. The goal is a permit-compliant, stable, and cost-controlled effluent stream.
- Treatment train design and review
- Debottlenecking of existing plants
- Effluent standard and load assessment
- Sludge handling and reduction strategy
Effluent treatment plant (ETP) design and advisory
We support new ETP projects and upgrades, from concept and process selection through specification and vendor evaluation, so the plant you build matches your actual load, not a generic template.
Technology selection and procurement support
Because we are vendor-neutral, we help you compare suppliers on equal terms, write clear technical specifications, and verify performance guarantees during commissioning.
IED 2.0: Water Becomes a Permit Condition
The revised Industrial Emissions Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/1785, turns water use into a permit condition. Where BAT conclusions set water performance levels, they are written into the permit as numeric conditions, and existing installations must have an environmental management system covering water in place by 1 July 2027. We help sites close the water balance, calculate their water performance the way the permit will, and compare reuse and treatment options before the authority sets the number. Read our guide to IED 2.0 water requirements.
How Our ZLD and Water Treatment Engagement Works
A vendor-neutral engagement follows a clear sequence, so decisions are made on evidence rather than assumption.
- Characterisation. We establish representative flow, water quality, and salinity data for the streams in question, because sound design starts with real numbers, not estimates.
- Feasibility. We assess whether zero liquid discharge, minimum liquid discharge, or improved conventional treatment is the right target, with a first view of capex and opex.
- Process design. We define the treatment train, recovery targets, and brine handling, and set the technical specification.
- Technology selection and procurement. Because we are independent, we help you compare suppliers on equal terms and write specifications that hold vendors to clear performance criteria.
- Verification. During commissioning we help confirm that the installed system meets its guarantees.
The value of this sequence is that the most expensive commitments, the equipment, come after the water balance and feasibility work, not before.
Independent Advice Versus a Turnkey Vendor
Question: Why use an independent consultant instead of going straight to a vendor? Because a vendor’s recommendation naturally favours a vendor’s equipment. An independent consultant defines what your site actually needs first, then helps you buy it well. On a decision as long-lived and energy-intensive as ZLD, that neutrality is where much of the value sits, since it prevents over-buying thermal capacity or committing to the wrong technology before the water balance is understood.
Want an independent view on your site? Request a consultation: we explain what any piece of work would cover before anything is agreed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Do you work alongside our existing engineering contractor or EPC? Answer: Yes. We often work alongside a site’s existing engineering contractor or EPC, providing independent water and ZLD expertise while they handle wider delivery. Our role is to make sure the water strategy and specifications are right, whoever executes them.
Question: Do I need full ZLD, or is minimum liquid discharge enough? Answer: Many sites do not need full zero liquid discharge. Minimum liquid discharge often reaches high water recovery at meaningfully lower energy cost. The right target depends on your discharge permit, water cost, and available disposal routes, which is exactly what a feasibility study establishes.
Question: How long does a ZLD feasibility study take? Answer: Timelines depend on data availability and site complexity. Once representative flow and water-quality data are available, a focused feasibility study is a matter of weeks, not months.
Question: Can you work with our existing equipment vendors? Answer: Yes. Because we are independent, we frequently review, specify, and verify vendor proposals on your behalf, and help you hold suppliers to their performance guarantees.
Question: Will a ZLD project help with our permit renewal? Answer: In many cases, demonstrating reduced or eliminated liquid discharge strengthens a permit position and can be a condition of expansion. We structure deliverables to support permit and compliance discussions.
Question: Do you serve sites outside the Netherlands? Answer: Yes. We are based to serve the Netherlands and also advise European and international industrial clients.
Question: What information do you need to start? Answer: Representative effluent flow rates, water quality and salinity data, your current discharge permit, and your objectives (compliance, reuse, or cost reduction). If data is incomplete, we can define a short characterisation step first.
Question: Are you a treatment equipment supplier? Answer: No. We are an independent advisory practice. We do not sell equipment, which keeps our technology recommendations neutral.
Comparing options before you commit? See how to compare ZLD consultants and providers on cost and ROI, or test your endpoint with the MLD vs ZLD Decision Screener.