AIMPLAS, the Plastics Technology Centre, is leading IRION, a European research and innovation project aimed at building a more sustainable and resilient green hydrogen value chain. As hydrogen technologies expand across Europe, the growing reliance on critical raw materials poses environmental, economic and supply chain challenges. IRION addresses this challenge by promoting a circular approach that enables the recovery, reuse and reintegration of valuable materials into new technologies.
Image Credit: AIMPLAS
The project focuses particularly on improving the sustainability of proton exchange membrane water electrolysers (PEMWE) – devices that separate hydrogen from water using electricity – a key technology for green hydrogen production, with a special focus on scarce materials such as iridium and fluorinated ionomers, compounds that are essential for the functioning of these membranes.
By combining technological innovation, sustainability assessment and cross-sectoral collaboration, IRION aims to create solutions that are viable from both an environmental and economic perspective, in line with the priorities of the European Green Deal and the Critical Raw Materials Act.
The initiative officially kicked off following its kick-off meeting, held on 20 and 21 January 2026 at the AIMPLAS facilities in Valencia, where the partners discussed the technical and organizational aspects of the project and planned the activities for its first phase.
The consortium brings together ten partners from seven European countries – Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Cyprus – with complementary expertise spanning polymer chemistry, materials science, engineering, modelling, environmental assessment and sustainable design approaches. These include AIMPLAS, the Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems (Germany), the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague (Czech Republic), Strategem Energy (Cyprus), Safina (Czech Republic), Saint-Gobain Recherche (France), the National Institute of Chemistry NIC (Slovenia), RINA Consulting (Italy) and H2Greem (Spain).
AIMPLAS contributes its expertise in polymeric materials, recycling technologies and process optimisation, supporting the development and validation of sustainable recycling pathways for catalyst-coated membranes.
“With IRION, we aim to close the loop on critical materials in hydrogen technologies, promoting a truly circular model that combines sustainability and economic viability whilst strengthening European autonomy,” says Javier Castillo, a researcher in Chemical Recycling at AIMPLAS.
IRION is funded by the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking under the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme (HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2025-05-01), pursuant to Grant Agreement No. 101251635.