Aqualia is leading this initiative, in which Norvento Enerxia, Repsol, Naturgy, Redexis, Perseo, Técnicas Reunidas and Reganosa are also participating, together with the city of Algeciras (Cádiz).
Its objective is to produce green hydrogen, from vegetable waste and wastewater, in sufficient quantity to cover the energy needs of the entire national railway network. Zeppelin is financed by NextGenerationEU funds.
The Zeppelin project aims to produce up to 135,000 tons of green hydrogen using waste from different sectors, such as agri-food, and to promote the circular economy, as well as helping to create skilled jobs in rural areas threatened by depopulation.
These 135,000 tons of clean hydrogen would be enough to exceed the target set for 2030 by the Spanish Hydrogen Roadmap and to meet the energy needs of the entire Spanish railway network. In addition, they will contribute to advancing the circular economy by revalorizing more than 99 million tons of waste and 50 million tons of municipal wastewater.
As part of the project, Norvento Enerxía will research dark fermentation technologies (obtaining biohydrogen from organic waste in the absence of light and by the action of anaerobic bacteria) and hydrogen purification processes, and will make its knowledge in this field available to the consortium.
In the words of Javier Taibo, head of Biogas Business of Norvento, “we are pleased to participate in a project as ambitious as necessary to transform our economy and move towards a climate-neutral production model. From Norvento Enerxía, we are pleased to be able to contribute our knowledge and technology to an innovative project that is committed to the reuse of organic waste to obtain energy and, therefore, that will promote new economic opportunities in rural areas”.
The Zeppelin project has been subsidized by the Center for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) within the framework of the 2021 call of the Science and Innovation Missions Program (Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan) and is supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation. The initiative has obtained a grant of 4.23 million euros through the NextGenerationEU Fund.
Last February, the Government approved the Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation (Perte) for renewable energies, renewable hydrogen and storage, which will mobilize an investment of more than 16.3 billion euros.
