Ebb Partners with Saudi Water Authority to Transform Desalination Brine into Megaton-Scale CO₂ Removal

Ebb, a pioneering water technology company, has partnered with the Saudi Water Authority (SWA), the government entity regulating the Kingdom's water sector, to decarbonize desalination at an unprecedented scale. With Saudi Arabia accounting for 22% of global desalination capacity, the partnership targets megaton-level CO₂ removal within the next decade while improving freshwater recovery and overall plant efficiency.

By integrating Ebb’s electrochemical system with Saudi Arabia’s desalination facilities, the partnership aims to transform desalination brine into a valuable resource that supports sustainable growth, water security, and decarbonization.

The initial deployment will take place at SWA’s state-of-the-art research and development facility in Jubail, one of the world’s foremost centers for next-generation desalination technology. This milestone project will lay the foundation for scaling across SWA’s national desalination network, to advance the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 priorities of environmental sustainability, economic diversification, and technological innovation.

Ebb enters this partnership with extensive validation from multiple U.S. pilots, including multi-year demonstrations with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Project Macoma in Washington state.

Desalination is vital for securing freshwater in arid regions such as Saudi Arabia, where demand continues to grow, fueled by economic growth. Traditionally, the brine left behind after freshwater extraction has held no value and has been treated as a waste product. Integrating Ebb’s modular electrochemical technology into desalination systems can achieve high-quality, low-cost carbon removal at scale—while providing direct benefits to desalination operators in the form of added freshwater recovery, plant efficiency, and more sustainable industrial products.

Ebb’s electrochemical system converts desalination brine into three valuable products: caustic soda, hydrochloric acid, and a low-salinity brine that can be recycled back into the desalination process to extract additional freshwater. Both the caustic soda and acid can be reused within desalination plants or supplied to nearby industries—including aluminum refining and other industrial processes. The caustic soda can also be used to enhance seawater alkalinity, accelerating a natural process that permanently removes CO₂ from the atmosphere.

When paired with Ebb’s technology, SWA’s desalination plants can enable up to 85 megatonnes of CO₂ removal annually. Beyond carbon removal, the process also helps restore ocean chemistry by lowering acidity levels caused by excess atmospheric carbon—benefiting marine ecosystems in the Arabian Gulf. These outcomes build on scientific studies conducted in the United States, which demonstrated measurable improvements in ocean chemistry when Ebb’s process is deployed.

“This partnership represents a transformative moment for both desalination and carbon removal. By integrating Ebb’s technology with SWA’s desalination infrastructure, we’re proving that addressing water scarcity and climate change aren’t competing priorities—they’re mutually amplifying solutions,” said Ben Tarbell, Ebb’s CEO and Co-founder.

“This groundbreaking partnership demonstrates how Saudi Arabia is leveraging its position as the world's largest desalinated water producer to create entirely new industries,” said Tariq Alghaffari, SWA Vice President for Research & Promising Technologies. “The technology can be manufactured locally, creating jobs and reducing our reliance on imported chemicals, while our deployment establishes a model for the broader GCC region and water-scarce nations worldwide.”

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About Ebb

Ebb is pioneering electrochemical water technology that tackles two of the world’s most urgent challenges: the growing demand for freshwater and the need to remove gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. By leveraging global desalination infrastructure, Ebb’s approach can unlock billions of tons of CO₂ removal potential annually while simultaneously increasing freshwater production. Ebb was founded in 2021 by leading scientists, engineers, and seasoned climate tech entrepreneurs with more than six decades of combined experience developing and scaling breakthrough clean technologies at SolarCity, Tesla, and Google X.

About SWA

The Saudi Water Authority is the competent authority in the Kingdom for all water system affairs at the supervisory and regulatory level and strategic support for the sector through regulatory oversight and supervision, sustainable water management, improving services, enhancing capabilities and economic growth, innovation and technology, and environmental protection.