The large‑scale deployment of low‑carbon hydrogen systems is expected to intensify interactions between renewable electricity, hydrogen production, and carbon management strategies. In this context, carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) is increasingly discussed as a pathway for carbon recycling and, in the longer term, as a potential component of hydrogen‑integrated energy systems. However, most CCU experimental infrastructures remain site‑specific and operate under relatively stable and idealised conditions, limiting their ability to capture the spatial and temporal variability that characterises real industrial environments.

This talk presents a project focused on the design and deployment of mobile CCU pilot plants conceived as versatile experimental. Set in Catalonia—home to one of the largest industrial hubs in southern Europe and currently undergoing a transition towards industrial electrification and circular resource use—the project aims to support energy‑intensive industries facing urgent CO₂ reduction challenges on the path to climate neutrality by 2050. The mobile pilots, with a capture capacity of approximately 250 kg CO₂ per day, will enable on‑site testing across heterogeneous industrial emission sources.

By operating the same pilot units across multiple locations, the project will allow systematic investigation of how real‑world CO₂ variability—such as fluctuating flow rates, changing impurity profiles, and transient operating conditions—affects CO₂ capture, separation, and utilisation performance. Four different CCU technologies are integrated into the mobile platforms, providing a common experimental basis to assess innovative materials, catalysts, and process configurations at an advanced pre‑industrial stage. The resulting datasets are intended to inform kinetic modelling, reactor design, techno‑economic assessment, and life‑cycle analysis, while supporting the progression of capture technologies from TRL 4–5 to TRL 6–7.

Beyond its technological objectives, the project implements an open, modular innovation model that fosters public‑private partnerships, promotes social engagement, and helps bridge the technological valley of death. In the longer term, such experimental infrastructures may also enable systematic studies of CCU integration with low‑carbon hydrogen systems, supporting more robust system‑level assessments of future industrial decarbonisation pathways.