During the Black Sea CMA Annual Stakeholder Conference 2025 in Constanța, Romania, several initiatives were recognised as examples of regional cooperation and innovation aimed at protecting the Black Sea’s ecosystems, biodiversity, and local communities. Among them, TRESOILPower2X stands out as a pioneering project, inspired by the urgent need to tackle the Black Sea region’s environmental challenge of unrecyclable plastic waste. This problem not only pollutes the marine ecosystem but also poses serious public health risks through harmful emissions from landfills. Faced with this reality, the TRESOILPower2X consortium saw an opportunity to turn an environmental burden into a clean energy resource.
The TRESOILPower2X solution
Funded by the European Union, TRESOILPower2X introduces an innovative approach to waste management. The project converts unrecyclable plastic waste into hydrogen energy, delivering a dual benefit: continuous electricity generation and clean hydrogen production. This technology offers a sustainable alternative to traditional waste disposal, reducing environmental hazards and mitigating health risks linked to landfill emissions.
Environmental challenges that must be tackled
The Black Sea faces severe environmental pressures: eutrophication from river inputs, climate change, marine litter, particularly plastics, which pollute fish stocks and degrade vital habitats such as the Danube Delta wetlands. These impacts have already caused a sharp decline in local fish catches over the past decade, threatening biodiversity and the livelihoods of millions.
TRESOILPower2X addresses this challenge by converting unrecyclable plastic waste into clean hydrogen and continuous electricity generation. This approach transforms a growing environmental burden into a sustainable energy resource, protecting the Black Sea and securing a healthier future for its communities.
What makes TRESOILPower2X innovative and unique
TRESOILPower2X is bringing a groundbreaking approach to "Plastic-to-Power" and "Plastic-to-Fuel”, turning unrecyclable plastic waste into clean energy. Instead of burning or simply recycling, this project uses advanced technology to convert plastic into electricity, hydrogen, and ammonia—three valuable green energy sources. It continuously produces power and fuel, and uses a compact and modular system, easy to install, flexible, scalable, with low energy and environmental impact.
The innovation is followed by two steps: 1) Digital Twin: Creating a virtual model to be tested, optimised, and validated, making it instantly replicable; and 2) Physical pilot unit, a small-scale lighthouse container-sized system in the Black Sea that shows how plastic waste can become clean electricity and hydrogen. This approach creates a circular energy solution, solving waste problems while providing sustainable power for communities.
Building partnerships for impact
Making TRESOILPower2X a reality required a strong partnership across different sectors. This project brought together entrepreneurs, researchers, businesses, and the coastal community, bridging gaps that traditionally separate these groups. The consortium builds on: digital architects and engineers, modular manufacturing partners, port and logistics authorities, and technology providers.
The implementation of TRESOILPower2X
The project has delivered transformative results, such as the digital twin testing, helping to optimise performance, predict needs, and reduce risks; the demonstration of the pilot unit and the deployment of containerised units that can be quickly replicated, reducing the timelines compared to traditional fixed-plants, and also the location of the pilot at a Danube River port tackles the main environmental challenges of riverine plastic pollution, providing a strategic hub for distributing clean energy products.
How Does This Strengthen a Sustainable, Resilient Black Sea?
TRESOILPower2X directly supports the CMA by tackling several key priorities. It helps create a cleaner Black Sea by intercepting plastic waste and turning it into energy, reducing pollution and improving marine health. The project also builds blue skills through training for fishers and students in circular economy practices, creating new job opportunities and a more resilient coastal workforce. By introducing advanced digital modelling and modular technology, it drives innovation that can be replicated across the region. Additionally, it empowers local communities, giving them an active role in environmental protection and transforming waste into value. These actions strengthen sustainability, resilience, and cooperation across the Black Sea basin.
Next steps and replicability
TRESOILPower2X sets a model for replication across the Black Sea and beyond. Energy investors, port authorities, and municipal waste managers can use the validated Digital Twin to plan and fund modular units in the region. Green hydrogen and ammonia users, such as shipping companies and industrial producers, can partner to secure clean fuel and advance decarbonisation goals. Policymakers can adopt the modular, containerised design as a standard for future green infrastructure, accelerating the transition to a distributed and resilient blue economy. The consortium also seeks partners to invest in local plastic processing units to close the loop and boost blue entrepreneurship. Marine researchers are invited to share litter data to strengthen our open-source Black Sea Litter Map, refining predictions and expanding impact. These actions will help protect ecosystems, biodiversity, and the communities that depend on them.