NextChem awarded EUR194 mn grant for Italy’s waste-to-hydrogen project
Italy’s Maire Tecnimont says that its subsidiary NextChem has been assigned a EUR194 million grant for the development of a waste-to-hydrogen plant as part of the “IPCEI Hy2Use” EU project in Italy. The project will involve the setting up of the Hydrogen Valley in Rome, the first industrial-scale technological hub for the development of the national supply chain for the production, transport, storage and use of hydrogen for the decarbonisation of industrial processes and for sustainable mobility.
The grant will be disbursed during the construction phases of the plant. The next steps concern the start of the project activities and all the necessary permits, in order to ensure the plant start-up in the first half of 2027, in compliance with the funding. In the initial phase a production of 1,500 tonnes/year of hydrogen and 55,000 tonnes/year of ethanol is expected.
The production of hydrogen will grow according to its demand, up to 20,000 tonnes/year, proportionally reducing the volumes of ethanol. Thanks to NextChem’s proprietary technology, developed by its subsidiary MyRechemical, the plant will use 200,000 tonnes/year of non-recyclable solid waste as raw material, thus also contributing to optimising the waste treatment cycle in Rome through a conversion process significantly reducing total CO2 emissions.
The European project also includes a contribution of approximately EUR4 million for additional R&D activities in waste-to-hydrogen technology, leveraging scientific partners such as Enea, Fondazione Bruno Kessler and La Sapienza University of Rome.
