ECOLE NATIONALE D'INGENIEURS DE GABES

Their core work

ENIG is a Tunisian engineering school whose research group works on the chemistry and processing of saline water systems — specifically desalination and the recovery of valuable minerals from brines. In MIDES, they contributed to microbial desalination technology for low-energy drinking water production. In SEArcularMINE, they shifted toward recovering critical raw materials (lithium, magnesium, rare earths, transition metals) from seawater saltwork brines using membrane separation and pH-swing adsorption techniques. Their practical value lies at the intersection of water treatment and mineral process engineering, with hands-on expertise in selective separation at laboratory and pilot scale.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (MIDES, 2016–2020), ENIG worked on biological desalination — using microbial systems to reduce the energy cost of producing drinking water, a priority aligned with North Africa's water scarcity context. By their second project (SEArcularMINE, 2020–2024), the focus had moved decisively toward circular economy and critical raw material recovery, with a technically more demanding toolkit: membrane electrochemistry, reactive crystallisation, and selective ion adsorption. The shift reflects a broader European policy push toward securing domestic supplies of battery-critical minerals (lithium, magnesium), and ENIG appears to have repositioned its saline-water expertise to serve that agenda.

ENIG is moving deeper into critical raw material recovery from brines — a field with strong EU funding momentum driven by battery supply chain security — suggesting their next projects will likely sit at the energy-materials-water nexus.

How they like to work

ENIG has always joined projects as a participant, never as coordinator, which positions them as a specialist technical contributor rather than a project driver. Their two projects brought 24 distinct partners across 12 countries — unusually broad networks for such a small portfolio, suggesting they are plugged into large, multi-partner Innovation and Research Actions rather than bilateral or niche consortia. This pattern means working with them is straightforward: they deliver defined technical tasks within larger programmes and are experienced operating in international, multi-institution environments.

Despite only two projects, ENIG has built connections with 24 partners spread across 12 countries, indicating participation in large European consortia rather than regional clusters. As a Tunisian institution in H2020, their network spans EU member states and likely includes other Mediterranean and North African associated partners.

What sets them apart

ENIG occupies a rare position as a North African engineering school with verified H2020 experience in both water desalination and critical mineral recovery from brines — two fields that rarely appear in the same institution's portfolio. For a consortium targeting Mediterranean or MENA deployment of water or mineral recovery technology, ENIG brings both the technical expertise and the regional legitimacy that European partners alone cannot provide. Their Gabès location is also notable: the Gulf of Gabès is one of the Mediterranean's most chemically rich coastal zones, giving them access to real-world brine streams as a research environment.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SEArcularMINE
  The larger and more technically complex of the two projects (EUR 236,750), it targets recovery of battery-critical minerals — lithium, magnesium, rare earths — from saltwork brines, placing ENIG at the frontier of European circular economy and raw material security research.
• MIDES
  As ENIG's entry into H2020, MIDES demonstrated their ability to contribute to multi-partner Innovation Actions on low-energy desalination, establishing their credentials in saline-water process engineering.