The Eurecat technology centre is taking part in the European HYIELD project, which has been awarded a €10 million EU grant to build a demonstration plant to generate hydrogen from waste on an industrial scale and for which it will design an AI-based digital twin. The plant will be in Alcanar and involve total investment coming to €15.5 million.
It is estimated that Europe produces 300 million tons of waste which has the potential to generate more than 30 million tons of renewable hydrogen. The HYIELD project will integrate new technologies and processes to efficiently convert flows of biogenic waste streams into high-purity green hydrogen, helping to decarbonise several sectors such as shipping, aviation and energy-intensive industries.
Over the four-year term of the project, the plant is expected to process more than 2,000 tons of waste and produce around 400 tons of green hydrogen. This production will be tested for various industrial uses such as clean fuels.
As part of its implementation, Eurecat is to design an artificial intelligence-based digital twin of the plant with the purpose of “providing estimates of operating costs and making production forecasts derived from various configurations,” says Maddi Etxegarai, a researcher in the technology centre’s Applied Artificial Intelligence Unit and leader of one of the HYIELD project’s work packages.
The demonstration plant will harness WtEnergy Advanced Solutions’ CleanTech gasification technology and H2Site’s separation membrane system and will be set up in one of CEMEX’s cement plants.
Together with Eurecat, the HYIELD consortium is coordinated by MAGTEL Operaciones and is partnered by WtEnergy Advanced Solutions, H2SITE, CEMEX España, VEOLIA, ENAGÀS, CETAQUA, Inveniam Group and CSIC from Spain, along with MINCATEC Energy (France), SINTEF (Norway), ARISTENG (Luxembourg), ArcelorMittal Bremen (Germany) and Synhelion (Switzerland).
The project is co-financed by the Horizon Europe programme. The call is led by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership (Clean Hydrogen JU), the body that oversees EU funding and hydrogen-related R&D activities, to support the EU Green Deal and Hydrogen Strategy.
