Dear Readers,

Welcome to the third IS2H4C newsletter focused on Technology and Transformation. This edition highlights key steps in turning circular ambition into real-world progress: the launch of our Living Labs starting in Türkiye this December, new insights from carbon capture trials in the German Hub, and a first look at the DigitalH4C alpha platform designed to accelerate industrial symbiosis across regions. We also share recent project visibility and community-building moments across Europe, reinforcing that circular and climate-neutral industry depends on both innovative technologies and the enabling social, regulatory, and collaborative conditions around them.

In Focus: Technology and Transformation

Living Labs Set to Launch: Turkish Hub Kicks Off IS2H4C’s Co-Creation Journey

The IS2H4C Living Labs will begin in December, marking a new stage in the project’s co-creation work. The first to launch will be the Turkish Living Lab for Industrial Symbiosis, opening on 3 December 2025.

These Living Labs are central to building Hubs for Circularity: regional ecosystems where industrial, urban, and rural actors jointly design circular solutions. They focus not only on technology, but also on the non-technological factors that determine whether industrial transformation succeeds: regulatory clarity, governance, business models, social acceptance, and meaningful engagement with local communities.

The Turkish Living Lab will open the series with stakeholder workshops addressing the real-world challenges of implementing Industrial Symbiosis (IS) in the Izmir–Manisa region. As part of IS2H4C, it brings together actors from industry, academia, policy, and civil society to examine what it takes for Industrial Symbiosis to succeed beyond technology, tackling regulatory uncertainty, social acceptance barriers, economic constraints, and workforce skills gaps. The kickoff will introduce the regional agenda for 2026–2027 and set the foundation for collaborative solution-building.

The Turkish hub will be followed by the Dutch Hub in January and the German Hub in February 2026, with the Basque hub also launching its Living Labs shortly after.

Participation is by invitation only, gathering key national actors to help shape the future of the circular and climate-neutral industry in the respective regions.

Carbon Capture Trials in German Hub

As part of the IS2H4C initiative, a carbon capture pilot campaign was carried out at Industriepark Höchst to evaluate the feasibility of CO₂ separation from industrial flue gases under real operating conditions. The pilot plant was installed at the site’s sewage sludge incineration facility, a location chosen for several reasons. Sewage sludge combustion is a waste treatment process, meaning its CO₂ emissions cannot simply be avoided. In addition, the fuel burned in the sewage sludge incineration, a mixture of municipal and industrial sewage sludge, contains a significant biogenic fraction, which might be relevant for future utilisation pathways.

Before the campaign, the biogenic share of CO₂ was determined using the carbon-14 method. To prepare for the trials, a detailed carbon capture study was conducted in collaboration with company GEA, evaluating footprint, energy requirements, efficiency, and cost implications of an amine scrubbing system. Based on this, a three-month pilot campaign was planned.

In April 2025, GEAs’ modular pilot unit arrived at Industriepark Höchst, an amin-based carbon capture system housed in a 20-foot container with an additional column structure on top. During the testing phase, a small partial flow of flue gas was extracted from the chimney at the sewage sludge incineration plant and fed into the pilot plant. To separate the CO₂ using amines, the flue gas is brought into contact with an amine-water mixture, which absorbs the CO₂. In a second step, this liquid is heated, allowing the CO₂ to be released and thereby separated from the flue gas.

The test phase ran from May to August 2025, with continuous monitoring and data collection of various parameters. Both online and offline analyses were performed to assess the performance of the pilot plant. Key operating variables such as amin flow rate and desorber temperature were systematically varied to understand their impact on capture efficiency and energy consumption. Daily amine samples were taken to track solvent degradation and other chemical parameters. In contrast, gas samples were collected at the beginning and end of the campaign for detailed input/output analysis.

The primary objectives of the pilot were to assess the technical feasibility of amine-based CO₂ capture for this specific application of separating CO₂ from a waste incineration plant and to gain a deeper understanding of the advantages and limitations of the process under real operating conditions. The test campaign thus provided a demonstration of CO₂ separation in a sewage sludge incineration. Beyond evaluating capture efficiency, the campaign aimed to identify the requirements for pre- and post-treatment for the different gas streams, determine the operational complexity, as well as the workload for plant operators. One important aspect is to evaluate the energy requirements, efficiency and costs of a large-scale separation system at a waste incineration plant. These factors are critical for assessing whether carbon capture can be integrated into existing industrial infrastructure in a practical and economically viable way. Currently, all data collected during the three-month test phase is being analysed in detail. The insights gained will serve as a foundation for strategic decisions on future carbon capture projects within the industrial hub and will contribute to the development of solutions for reducing emissions.

A First Look Inside the DigitalH4C Alpha Version

Following the successful completion of the alpha version, Work Package 7 is advancing to the next development stage of the digital Hubs4Circularity platform, expanding its functionalities for data integration, user interaction, and decision-support to facilitate collaboration across industrial ecosystems.

The DigitalH4C alpha version now offers a structured environment designed to support circular collaboration across Europe. It combines standardised data, spatial intelligence, and collaboration tools to help organisations identify and develop industrial symbiosis opportunities more efficiently.

The core feature is the Opportunities Catalogue, where all supply and demand entries are harmonised through detailed fields such as material categories, quantities, pretreatments, pricing, seasonality, waste management methods (D1–D15, R1–R13), and EWC codes. Each entry is geolocated at the NUTS2 level and directly linked to the interactive map, allowing users to assess proximity, logistics, and regional clustering through seamless map–list navigation and distance-based filtering.

A guided onboarding flow ensures consistent information on organisations, including mission, sector, and location, with a distinction between administrator and standard user roles.

To support discovery, the platform includes two matching tools: QuickMatch for targeted filtering and DeepMatch for automated recommendations.

The alpha version also integrates WorkDeck-powered collaboration tools, enabling users to coordinate tasks, share specifications, plan meetings, and formalise synergy agreements within dedicated Workspaces. These private areas help partners or H4C clusters align objectives and manage multi-stakeholder initiatives.

Overall, the DigitalH4C brings together data, mapping, matchmaking, and collaboration into a single workflow reflecting the real stages of symbiosis development: identification, pre-assessment, implementation, monitoring, and post-assessment. Further refinement will continue based on user feedback as the platform evolves.

In Brief: Insights and Updates

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Thank you for being part of our journey!  

Don’t forget to follow us on social media, and visit our website to stay up to date with our progress! 

Warm regards, 
The IS2H4C Team 

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