Development and validation of innovative approaches, catalysts, electrolytes and components for electrolysis technologies based on low-quality water
Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
The Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking or Clean Hydrogen Partnership is a unique public-private partnership supporting research and innovation (R&I) activities in hydrogen technologies in Europe. It builds upon the success of its predecessor, the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
Proposals should aim to realise a breakthrough water electrolysis technology that can produce hydrogen from low-quality water, i.e. beyond tap water and from various sources (excluding saline and seawater) operating at low energy consumption levels.
The project should demonstrate a stable electrolyser cell unit incorporating innovative solutions at the material, component, cell architecture level, and alternative half-cell reactions to overcome the challenges in the electrolysis of low-quality water.
In line with EU sustainability and CRM strategies and the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA KPIs for the selected water electrolysis technology, the prototype cell should also minimise the use of PFAS and/or CRM. The target is to validate the innovative technology at TRL 4, assessing its potential for circularity, sustainability, and economic viability.
Detailed Call Description
The innovative electrolyte chemistry technology should overcome the limitations of low-quality water electrolysis addressing, amongst others, the stabilisation of pH, suspended solids, inorganic, organic and biological contaminants, material corrosion, low activity, selectivity, and durability of electrocatalysts. Special attention needs to be paid to in-depth experimental, computational, and theoretical insights into the mechanistic pathways of the degradation processes by understanding the impact of water impurities on performance and durability and the potential mitigation strategies. The project should propose innovative approaches, electrodes structures and compositions, membrane/ionomer when needed, and electrochemical reactor cells to reach effective high-performing and contaminant-resistant low-quality water electrolysis materials.
The proposal should consider the following elements:
- Determine the Critical Maximum Concentration (CMC) of the identified water impurities (i.e. inorganic, biological, organic) that will allow the electrolyser cell to operate efficiently while ensuring durability and performance;
- Identify deactivation and degradation mechanisms due to contaminants;
- Investigate the role of low-grade water impurities in the degradation processes of catalysts, membranes and components considering as basis those impurities generated from the self-degradation of stack/BoP materials;
- Develop and validate suitable materials (catalysts, membranes/electrolytes, coatings) and their tolerance threshold to impurities;
- Perform experimental and modelling studies to evaluate and define optimal operating conditions to maximise hydrogen yield while minimising material degradation and system inefficiencies;
- Implement and validate innovative monitoring techniques for establishing recovery, mitigation and maintenance strategies to remove/minimise the impact of impurities over the electrolysis cell lifetime;
- Validate the KPIs of the novel water electrolysis solutions at a relevant scale (>2kW) for at least 2000 hours at relevant operating conditions associated with the selected scenario and the chosen low-quality water;
- Identify application cases (case of study) by selecting potential wastewater sources such as treated industrial and urban wastewater for hydrogen production in circular economy streams;
- Considering sector-coupling (i.e. integration of wastewater treatment with hydrogen production systems), compare and contrast the metrics (economic, social, environmental and circularity analysis) of the proposed low-quality water electrolysis technology against the conventional established water electrolysis technologies considering the operational, maintenance, and energy costs associated with water treatment and electrolysis;
- Evaluate lifecycle, circularity and techno-economic feasibility of the innovative technology, including integration of water conditioning units in comparison with conventional ultra-pure water electrolysis technologies.
Consortia are expected to build further on the findings of previous projects funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder Challenge 2021 (e.g. ANEMEL) and explore synergies with relevant ongoing JU projects on direct seawater electrolysis (Sea4Volt, HySEas, SWEETHY and ASTERISK).
For activities developing test protocols and procedures for the performance and durability assessment of water electrolysers fed with low-quality water proposals should foresee a collaboration mechanism with JRC (see section 2.2.4.3 “Collaboration with JRC”), in order to support EU-wide harmonisation. Test activities should adopt the already published EU harmonised testing protocols106 to benchmark performance and quantify progress at programme level.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
Expected EU contribution per project: €3.00 million.
Thematic Categories
- Energy
- Environment and Climate Change
- Information and Communication Technologies
- Processing
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Small-Medium Enterprises and Competitiveness
- Water - Management of Water Resources
Eligibility for Participation
- Associations
- Businesses
- Central Government
- Educational Institutions
- Large Enterprises
- Legal Entities
- NGOs
- Non Profit Organisations
- Other Beneficiaries
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- State-owned Enterprises
Eligibility For Participation Notes
Additional eligibility condition: Maximum contribution per topic
For some topics, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, an additional eligibility criterion has been introduced to limit the Clean Hydrogen JU requested contribution mostly for actions performed at high TRL level, including demonstration in real operational environment and with important involvement from industrial stakeholders and/or end users such as public authorities. Such actions are expected to leverage co-funding as commitment from stakeholders. It is of added value that such leverage is shown through the private investment in these specific topics. Therefore, proposals requesting contributions above the amounts specified per each topic below will not be evaluated
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-03-03: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 5.00 million
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-04-02: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 8.00 million
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-01: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 17.00 million
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-02: The maximum Clean Hydrogen JU contribution that may be requested is EUR 8.00 million
Additional eligibility condition: Membership to Hydrogen Europe / Hydrogen Europe Research
For the topics listed below, in line with the Clean Hydrogen JU SRIA, an additional an additional eligibility criterion has been introduced to ensure that one partner in the consortium is a member of either Hydrogen Europe or Hydrogen Europe Research. This concerns topics targeting actions for large-scale demonstrations, flagship projects and strategic research actions, where the industrial and research partners of the Clean Hydrogen JU are considered to play a key role in accelerating the commercialisation of hydrogen technologies by being closely linked to the Clean Hydrogen JU constituency, which could further ensure full alignment with the SRIA of the JU. This approach shall also ensure the continuity of the work performed within projects funded through the H2020 and FP7, by building up on their experience and consolidating the EU value-chain. In the Call 2026 this applies to: development and demonstration of flexible and standardised hydrogen storage systems and demonstration and operation of reversible solid oxide cell systems operation for local grid-connected hydrogen production and utilisation. This will also apply to the Hydrogen Valleys (flagship) topics as they are considered of strategic importance for the European Union ambitions to double the number of Hydrogen Valleys by 2025 as well as to the more recent European Commission’s inspirational target to have at least 50 Hydrogen Valleys under construction or operational by 2030 across the entire EU. For the Hydrogen Valleys topics a large amount of co-investment/co-funding of project participants/beneficiaries including national and regional programmes is expected.
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-03-03
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-04-02
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-01
- HORIZON-JU-CLEANH2-2026-06-02