Cemex awarded EU Horizon grant for innovative waste to green hydrogen technology, as part of HYIELD consortium

The HYIELD project has been approved for funding in response to the Horizon Europe call “Waste to Hydrogen demonstration plant (HORIZON-JTI-CLEANH2-2023-01-05)”. The call is led by the Clean Hydrogen Partnership (Clean Hydrogen JU), the body that oversees EU funding and R&I activities related to hydrogen, with the objective of supporting the EU Green Deal and Hydrogen Strategy.

Europe currently produces 300 million tonnes of waste with the potential to produce over 30 million tons of green hydrogen. It is this potential that HYIELD aims to unlock. During the four-year project, novel technologies and processes will be integrated to efficiently and robustly convert biogenic waste streams into high purity green hydrogen at a very competitive cost, to demonstrate its application to help decarbonise different sectors, including shipping, aviation and energy intensive industry.

The demonstration scale waste-to-hydrogen plant will be trialled at Cemex’s Alcanar cement factory in Spain. During the project, the plant is expected to process over 2,000t of waste and produce nearly 400t of green hydrogen which will be proved for different industry uses such as clean fuels, fertilizers production and others.

Sergio Menendez, President of Cemex EMEA, commented: “As part of its drive to reaching net zero by 2050, Cemex is committed to partnering with like-minded organisations to explore the very latest innovations in more sustainable technology that can support the cement production process. We are proud to provide one of our cement plants in Spain as the location for the HYIELD trial and excited to see the outcomes from this R&D project.”

Alongside Cemex, the HYIELD project consortium is under the coordination of MAGTEL and made up of other two key portfolio companies; WtEnergy Advanced Solutions and Synhelion; Spanish partners H2SITE, VEOLIA, ENAGAS, EURECAT, CETAQUA, Inveniam Group, CISC and La Farga; along with other partners from across Europe; MINCATEC, SINTEF, ARISTENG and ArcelorMittal. 

Senior officials of HYIELD, said: “We are delighted to be a participant of this impactful R&D project that brings together a wide range of skills and experience from across research, tech, energy and heavy industry. We hope the project can open a new low-cost pathway for clean green hydrogen production in Europe, as well as creating new opportunities for waste valorisation and job creation”.

The consortium brings to the project experience in waste management, hydrogen production and thermo-chemical processes to address this challenge. The project will pave the way for commercial scale-up and replication of waste-to-hydrogen plants across Europe. 

CEMEX R&D, Innovation and Business Development projects are part of the global R&D collaboration network, headed by CEMEX Research Centers, based in Switzerland.

Notes to Editors: 

Cemex announced its Climate Action strategy; ‘Future in Action – Committed to Net Zero CO2’ in February 2020, along with updated targets in November 2022 and as part of this, by 2030 it plans:

• To be below 430kg of CO2 per ton of cementitious material, equivalent to a 47% reduction*.

• To reduce the carbon content per cubic meter of concrete to 150kg, equivalent to a 41% reduction.

• To reach 65% in clean electricity consumption by 2030.

• To reduce Scope 3 transport emissions by 30% by 2030.

• For Vertua lower-carbon to account for majority (50%+) of cement and concrete sales by 2025.

• To manage up to 40M tons of waste per year by 2030.

* According to our 1990 baseline

About Cemex:

Cemex is a global construction materials company that is building a better future through sustainable products and solutions. Cemex is committed to achieving carbon neutrality through relentless innovation and industry-leading research and development. Cemex is at the forefront of the circular economy in the construction value chain and is pioneering ways to increase the use of waste and residues as alternative raw materials and fuels in its operations with the use of new technologies.

Cemex offers cement, ready-mix concrete, aggregates, and urbanisation solutions in growing markets around the world, powered by a multinational workforce focused on providing a superior customer experience, enabled by digital technologies.

For more information please visit: www.cemex.com