Heavy industries in Europe, such as cement, paper, and chemicals, are under increasing pressure to reduce emissions and handle waste that would otherwise go to landfills or incinerators.
WtEnergy, based in Barcelona, addresses these problems with gasification technology that converts industrial waste and biomass into clean syngas. This process replaces fossil fuels and produces low-carbon products such as hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel.
Today, WtEnergy secured €10 million in funding, led by SC Net Zero Ventures and Suma Capital‘s Climate Tech fund, with Shell Ventures and Cemex Ventures also joining.
The money will help roll out projects, standardise plants, grow the team, develop new uses for syngas, and expand across Europe. This builds on a €4.4 million EU grant awarded to Cemex in 2023.
Turn waste into a valuable energy source for factories
Andrés Ponce founded WtEnergy in 2017 after working in energy technology and becoming frustrated with the industry’s reliance on fossil fuels as waste regulations became stricter. Antonio Crous joined as a co-founder in 2019 to help grow the business and bring the technology to sectors such as cement and ceramics.
WtEnergy’s main technology uses atmospheric gasification in bubbling fluidised-bed reactors to convert solid waste and biomass into clean syngas via autothermal reduction. It then removes contaminants using its own reforming process.
Modular plants ranging from 5 to 50 MW can be added to factories for power or heat, helping lower CO₂ emissions and energy costs while supporting circular economy goals.
Key advantages include factory integration, small-scale modular design that avoids large new builds, syngas that can be used for power, hydrogen, methanol, and SAF, and quick returns through waste recovery.
Unlike Enerkem or Sierra Energy, WtEnergy targets energy-intensive industries in the EU and has already shown results.
What’s next?
The €10 million will speed up work on the 2026 project pipeline, beginning with Spain’s cement and ceramics sectors before expanding across the EU. In the short term, the company plans to standardise plants over 20MW, start syngas-to-SAF pilot projects with Shell, and double its team.
In the long term, WtEnergy aims to reach 100MW of operational capacity by 2028, expand into chemicals and paper, and copy the Cemex Alicante model across Europe to help industries reach net-zero.
