IS2H4C aims to drive the transformation of existing industrial areas by searching for and implementing energy synergies, the efficient use of resources and technological innovation, thereby setting up new sustainable regional development models and paving the way for a cleaner, greener future.

Among other things, the project covers the development of decarbonisation technologies, the use of modelling tools to identify circular synergies in energy and the use of resources in industry, and the design of new business models associated with “hubs for circularity”.

This pioneering initiative in Europe also involves the creation of four demo hubs in the Basque Country, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey, where innovative technologies will be implemented and this new model will be demonstrated. The Basque Industrial Hub for Circularity (BIH4C) is led by Tecnalia and promoted by the Basque Energy Cluster, with the participation of the companies Calcinor, Sidenor, SBS Process, Lointek, Petronor Innovación, Smurfit Kappa, Nortegas, and the Consorcio de Aguas Bilbao Bizkaia.

The synergies and technologies to be demonstrated in real BIH4C operating environments 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 project will run for the next 4 years and is expected to end in December 2027.