The REFHYNE project will install and operate a 10MW electrolyser from ITM Power at a large refinery in Rhineland, Germany, which is operated by Shell Deutschland Oils. The electrolyser will provide bulk quantities of hydrogen to the refinery’s hydrogen pipeline system (currently supplied by two steam methane reformers). The electrolyser will be operated in a highly responsive mode, helping to balance the refinery’s internal electricity grid and also selling Primary Control Reserve service to the German Transmission System Operators. The combination of hydrogen sales to the refinery and balancing payments create a business case which justifies this installation. This business case will be evaluated in detail, in a 2 year campaign of techno-economic and environmental analysis. The REFHYNE business model is replicable in markets with a similar regulatory structure to Germany. However, to expand this market to a GW scale, new business models will be needed. These will include valuing green hydrogen as an input to industrial processes (to meet carbon policy targets) and also on sales to H2 mobility markets. The REFHYNE project will gather real world data on these models and will use this to simulate the bulk electrolyser model in a range of market conditions. This will be used to produce reports on the conditions under which the electrolyser business models become viable, in order to provide the evidence base required to justify changes in existing policies. A campaign of targeted dissemination will ensure the results of these studies reach decision makers in large industrial sites, financiers, utilities and policy makers. The REFHYNE electrolyser will be the largest in the world and has been designed as the building block for future electrolysers up to 100MW and beyond. REFHYNE includes a design study into the options for a 100MW electrolyser at the Rhineland refinery, which will help prepare the market for deployments at this scale.

CIRCULAR FLOORING aims to enable circular use of plasticized PVC (PVC-P) from waste flooring by developing recycling processes that eliminate plasticizers including hazardous phthalic acid esters (e.g. DEHP). We will demonstrate the project results via production of highquality recycled PVC at TRL 5-6, reprocessing of eliminated plasticizers to new phthalate-free plasticizers and re-use of recycled polymers and additives in new flooring applications. Waste flooring will be subjected to the CreaSolv® Process, which dissolves PVC-P from the material mix and eliminates undissolved matter as well as co-dissolved plasticizers in an extractive purification step (>99%). Pure PVC is recovered from the solution and solvents will be reused completely in the process. Using a controlled catalytic reaction, extracted phthalate ester plasticizers will be converted completely (> 99%) to harmless compounds with plasticizing properties. Together with tailor-made additives, both recovered products are integrated in novel PVC flooring designed for circularity. Chemical and mechanical product analysis, process simulation, LCA, SEA, and business modelling will support process development, upscale and product design. The approach addresses exactly the scope of the call because (i) innovative solutions are developed for removing undesirable substances from secondary raw materials, (ii) removed plasticizers and additives pose health or environmental risks and would adversely affect the quality of the recycled materials and (iii) the hazardous compounds are handled safely and destroyed completely. Addressing the 500.000 t PVC flooring market with recommendations on design for recycling and novel circular materials produced at TRL 5-6, the expected impact on the flooring value chain will be substantial. An interdisciplinary team of 4 RTO, 6 industrial partners (3 SME) and 1 non-profit company will finally implement the new circular economy approach into the PVC flooring industry.

The AFTER-BIOCHEM project aims to create multiple new value chains, from non-food biomass feedstock to multiple end-products, by combining anaerobic batch fermentation and esterification. In the fermentation process robust mixes of naturally occurring micro-organisms will produce organic acids such as propionic, butyric, isobutyric, valeric, isovaleric and caproic acids, with a mineral fertilizer sidestream. Based on the acids, a substantial number of derivatives may be produced, such as Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) and cellulose acetate. The esterification process will convert the acetic acid into ethyl acetate and the propionic acid into ethyl propionate to maximize product value and minimize waste and energy use. The feedstock of the fermentation process may be sugar production byproducts such as beet pulp and molasses, to increase the sustainability of sugar beet, a key European crop. The products will represent valuable renewable, bio-based, domestically-sourced alternatives to petrochemical products in numerous high-value applications such as flavorings and fragrances, hygiene products, pharmaceuticals, antimicrobials and polymers. The mineral fertilizer sidestream will contribute to the EU Action plan for the Circular Economy. The objective from 2020 to 2022 will be to commission the flagship biorefinery in France, which will then run at full capacity and integrate esterification from 2022 to 2024. Two further biorefineries should be initiated in Europe from 2024. The annual revenue generated by the three plants represents ca. €150 million, and at least 180 direct technical jobs and a commensurate number of indirect jobs would be created.

H2Haul will develop and demonstrate a total of 16 new heavy-duty (26–44t) hydrogen fuel cell trucks in real-world commercial operations. The project includes two major European truck manufacturers (IVECO and VDL), who will build on existing small-scale prototyping activities to develop new zero-emission trucks tailored to the needs of European customers, mainly in large supermarket fleets. The vehicles will be standardised as far as possible to help encourage the development of the European supply chain. New high-capacity hydrogen refuelling stations will be installed to provide reliable, low carbon hydrogen supplies to the trucks. Most of the stations will be publicly accessible and this project will thus support the uptake of a broader range of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles. The vehicles and infrastructure will be thoroughly tested via an extended trial with the high-profile end users over several years. The comprehensive data monitoring and analysis tasks will ensure that the technical, economic, and environmental performance of the hardware is assessed, and that the business case for further deployment of heavy-duty fuel cell trucks is developed. The scope and ambition of this innovative project will create a range of valuable information that will be disseminated widely amongst truck operators, representatives of the retail sector, policy makers, and the broader hydrogen industry. Hence, H2Haul will validate the ability of hydrogen fuel cell trucks to provide zero-emission mobility in heavy-duty applications and lay the foundations for commercialisation of this sector in Europe during the 2020s.

The overall aim of NewBusFuel is to resolve a significant knowledge gap around the technologies and engineering solutions required for the refuelling of a large number of buses at a single bus depot. Bus depot scale refuelling imposes significant new challenges which have not yet been tackled by the hydrogen refuelling sector: • Scale – throughputs in excess of 2,000kg/day (compared to 100kg/day for current passenger car stations) • Ultra-high reliability – to ensure close to 100% available supply for the public transport networks which will rely on hydrogen • Short refuelling window – buses need to be refuelled in a short overnight window, leading to rapid H2 throughput • Footprint – needs to be reduced to fit within busy urban bus depots • Volume of hydrogen storage – which can exceed 10 tonnes per depot and leads to new regulatory and safety constraints A large and pan-European consortium will develop solutions to these challenges. The consortium involves 10 of Europe’s leading hydrogen station providers. These partners will work with 12 bus operators in Europe, each of whom have demonstrated political support for the deployment of hydrogen bus fleets. In each location engineering studies will be produced, by collaborative design teams involving bus operators and industrial HRS experts, each defining the optimal design, hydrogen supply route, commercial arrangements and the practicalities for a hydrogen station capable of providing fuel to a fleet of fuel cell buses (75-260 buses). Public reports will be prepared based on an analysis across the studies, with an aim to provide design guidelines to bus operators considering deploying hydrogen buses, as well as to demonstrate the range of depot fuelling solutions which exist (and their economics) to a wider audience. These results will be disseminated widely to provide confidence to the whole bus sector that this potential barrier to commercialisation of hydrogen bus technology has been overcome.