Month: August 2025

Presenting the Partners: PNO Innovation – A Trusted Partner for Innovation in Europe

PNO Innovation supports innovative organisations and leading scientists in navigating the European and national funding ecosystems. All photos: PNO Innovation

As a key enabler of effective project execution, PNO Innovation GmbH supports the Plastics2Olefins project with expert guidance in grant administration, compliance, and strategic coordination. With decades of experience in European R&I funding, the consulting company helps ensure that the project meets the highest standards of quality, accountability, and impact.

PNO Innovation Germany (formerly ARTTIC Innovation) is a one-stop-shop consultancy based in Germany, specializing in public funding, research and innovation (R&I) project management, communication, and stakeholder engagement.

The company has supported innovative organisations and leading scientists for more than 40 years in navigating the European and national funding ecosystems. According to their own website, PNO Innovation is the reliable partner to work towards improving global health, promoting energy efficiency, safe and clean mobility and aviation, in making societies more resilient, secure, and inclusive and European defence capabilities stronger.

Within the Plastics2Olefins project, PNO Innovation ensures that the administrative and financial foundations are strong.

As an integral part of the PNO Group, the company is fully committed to their research clients and partners:

“We are passionate about their ambitions and help them to innovate and tackle global societal challenges. What unites us all is the desire and ability to innovate sustainably.”

Strategic Backbone for Management and Compliance

Within the Plastics2Olefins project, PNO Innovation brings strategic expertise in grant administration, financial supervision, and supporting project management services.

“Our role includes assisting the project coordinator with accurate budget and effort monitoring, ensuring compliance with funding requirements, and maintaining high standards in periodic and final reporting and reviews towards the European Commission,” explains Raquel Moreno, Expert Consultant at PNO Innovation.

By delivering robust quality assurance assistance throughout the project lifecycle, her company helps strengthen the integrity and efficiency of all administrative and financial processes.

Raquel Moreno is Expert Consultant at PNO Innovation.

“Our services and guidance are designed to support the consortium in achieving high-quality results, fostering synergies that contribute to the project’s success and long-term sustainability,” ensures Moreno.

Delivering Results: Reporting and Reviews

The Plastics2Olefins project recently passed a significant milestone: the submission of its second periodic report. With the dedicated coordination support of PNO Innovation, all project partners were able to submit high-quality technical documentation and reporting, indicating their accomplishments in accordance with the European Commission’s reporting standards.

“Our guidance ensures compliance with formal requirements and helps position the consortium for continued success in the upcoming phases of the project,” says Moreno.

PNO Innovation also played a key role in supporting the preparation of the consortium for the successful second review meeting, conducted by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) at the end of June.

“The review evaluated the progress made to date and the mid-term results, with particular attention to technical advancements and alignment with the project’s strategic objectives,” summarises Moreno.

As the project advances toward its next stages, PNO Innovation continues to ensure that the administrative and financial foundations remain strong.

Presenting the Partners: PreZero – Environmental solutions for a cleaner future

PreZero sees a better world in which companies work in harmony with the world around us. The company strives to reshape the future into a functioning circular economy by taking responsibility for the waste they produce and protecting our valuable resources. To achieve this, PreZero promotes sustainable innovations and rapidly grows them into industry-scale solutions.

PreZero is the environmental division of the Schwarz Group, which includes the trading companies Lidl and Kaufland, with international presence in 10 countries.

In Spain and Portugal, PreZero is one of the leading companies in the environmental services sector, offering the latest advanced solutions in essential urban services, waste treatment and circular economy, both for public and private clients.

“We are present in more than 1,000 municipalities providing urban cleaning and waste collection services to 12 million citizens and operating more than 130 treatment and recycling plants, including sorting, composting, anaerobic digestion, biomethane production, and landfills, explains María Teresa Martín Martín, Innovation Coordinator at PreZero.

María Teresa Martín Martín is Innovation Coordinator at PreZero.

She adds: “We process more than 7.5 million tons of waste and recover more than 702,000 tons of waste per year.”

How PreZero contributes to Plastics2Olefins

In the Plastics2Olefins project, PreZero is mainly involved in Work Package 2 (WP2) as plastic waste feedstock provider. Different streams of the mechanical treatment plant of municipal solid waste and light packaging plastic waste are being analysed in order to assess its feasibility as raw materials for the pyrolysis process under development in the project.

A complete characterization of these fractions allows to evaluate if materials meet the requirements for pyrolysis as well as to define those that will maximize the olefins production.

“Once analysed and tested in the pyrolysis pilot plant, those which show the best behaviour and higher olefin yields will be selected to feed the demo plant in Puertollano,” notes Martín.

Mechanical treatment plant in Toledo.

Impact from Plastics2Olefins

Successful results of the project will provide a new alternative for waste management aligned with the circular economy concept.

Plastic film from municipal solid waste (MSW) tested in Plastics2Olefins pilot plant.

“This innovative solution will allow us to handle complex and hard-to-recycle plastics that would otherwise end up in landfills due to a lack of technological and economical feasible solutions. By breaking down plastic waste into its basic chemical components as olefins, this technology enables the production of new, high-quality materials, reducing the overall volume of waste and promoting a more circular economy,” says Martín.

This new concept not only contributes to a circular economy model, extending the life cycle of plastics, but also reduces disposal costs and extends the life of landfills helping to meet environmental regulations and sustainability goals creating more efficient and sustainable waste management practices.