The Basque Industrial Hub for Circularity is launched: an innovation hub for decarbonising Basque industry
- 10 Basque companies and organisations are joining forces to promote decarbonisation in different industries, by searching for and implementing energy synergies, using resources efficiently and technological innovation.
- The aim is to identify opportunities to reduce emissions through industrial synergies and technological validation in the industrial environment, with the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 20% and the consumption of material resources, water and energy of the participating companies by 10% in the coming years.
- It is part of a pioneering project in Europe, which involves creating three other hubs in Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey.
January 30, 2024. Calcinor, Sidenor, SBS Process, Lointek, Petronor Innovación, Smurfit Kappa, Nortegas, and the Bilbao Bizkaia Water Consortium, together with the Basque Energy Cluster and the Tecnalia research and technological development centre have joined forces to create the first business and technology cluster in the Basque Country aimed at decarbonising industry. The Basque Industrial Hub for Circularity (BIH4C), led by Tecnalia, aims to promote the transformation of existing industrial areas, by searching for and implementing energy synergies, using resources efficiently and technological innovation. To this end, it will encourage the deployment of synergies between different industrial sectors by developing and demonstrating innovative decarbonisation technologies in real operating environments. These include the oxy-combustion of hydrogen in the steel industry, potentially from oxygen and hydrogen produced by electrolysis in the refining sector, the capture of CO2 in the lime industry and its use to produce methane, synthetic fuels in the future in the refining sector, and the carbonation of steel slag using CO2 captured in the lime industry, to produce building materials in the cement industry. Other possible synergies will also be explored in the form of plans to expand the hub, e.g. the production of biofuels from industrial by-products such as paper waste and lignin. The aim is to identify opportunities to reduce emissions through industrial synergies and technological validation in the industrial environment, with the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 20% and the consumption of material resources, water and energy of the participating companies by 10% in the coming years. BIH4C will also develop a tool to identify circular synergies related to energy and resource use in Basque industry. This tool will make it possible to map and quantify the generation of and demand for multi-carriers such as O2, H2, CO2, methane and various waste and raw materials by industrial zones, and to assess the impact that circularity can have on using raw materials efficiently and decarbonising industry in the Basque Country.
Leading hub in Europe
The hub was created in the framework of the European IS2H4C project, “Sustainable Circular Economy Transition: from Industrial Symbiosis to Hubs for Circularity”, which is aimed at setting up new sustainable regional development models, paving the way for a cleaner and greener future. The consortium, which is made up of a total of 31 partners from 9 countries, of which 10 are Basque companies and organisations, will demonstrate this new model in 4 key industrial hubs in Europe, located in Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey, as well as the Basque Country. It is an unprecedented initiative on Europe's path towards a circular economy and is intended to have a far-reaching impact on industrial practices, environmental sustainability and social well-being. In the case of the Basque Country, the BIH4C is part of the Net-Zero Basque Industrial Super cluster (NZBISC) initiative, backed by the Basque Government-SPRI, Iberdrola and Petronor, with the support of the industrial clusters, the aim of which is to reduce emissions in Basque industry and, at the same time, promote new opportunities for the territory as a result of developing innovative decarbonisation technologies and services.
