INDUSTRIAS LOPEZ SORIANO SA

Their core work

INDUSTRIAS LOPEZ SORIANO SA is a Spanish industrial manufacturer based in Zaragoza that has built a focused niche at the intersection of automotive manufacturing and end-of-life processing. Their H2020 participation reveals a company with hands-on industrial expertise in how vehicles — and the high-value materials inside them — are handled when they reach the end of their working life. They have contributed operational and industrial knowledge to European consortia tackling both hydrogen/fuel cell component recycling (HYTECHCYCLING) and the broader transformation of the automotive supply chain toward circular economy principles (TREASURE). As a non-SME private company, they bring the scale and process infrastructure of an established industrial actor, not just research capacity.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ILSSA's earliest H2020 engagement (2016-2019) focused on a narrow but technically advanced problem: how to responsibly recycle fuel cell and hydrogen components, which require specialized handling due to their materials (platinum group metals, membranes). By 2021-2024, their focus broadened significantly — from niche hydrogen recycling to the full scope of automotive supply chain circularity, including circular design principles, end-of-life vehicle policy, and car electronics recovery. The trajectory is clear: they entered EU research through a specialist technical door and have expanded into the strategic and systemic dimensions of the automotive circular economy. This suggests a company that has used EU project participation to scale up its thinking alongside its industrial operations.

ILSSA is moving from reactive end-of-life processing toward proactive circular design — a shift that positions them as an industrial partner for projects tackling how vehicles are designed to be dismantled, recovered, and re-entered into production loops.

How they like to work

ILSSA has participated in every H2020 project as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with an industrial company that contributes operational expertise and real-world testing infrastructure rather than leading research agendas. They have accumulated 19 distinct consortium partners across just 2 projects, suggesting they join large, multi-stakeholder consortia typical of industrial transition projects. This profile makes them a reliable industry-side partner for research consortia that need a manufacturer's perspective on feasibility, process integration, or industrial validation.

ILSSA has worked with 19 unique partners spanning 8 countries across two projects — a notably broad network for an organization with only 2 H2020 participations, reflecting their involvement in large pan-European consortia. Their geographic spread is European, with no indication of a specific regional cluster beyond their Spanish base in Zaragoza.

What sets them apart

ILSSA occupies a rare position as a non-SME Spanish industrial manufacturer that has engaged with both the hydrogen/clean energy recycling space and the automotive circular economy — two areas that are converging as electric and fuel-cell vehicles reach their first end-of-life cycles in the late 2020s. Most organizations in this space are either research institutes or small specialist firms; ILSSA brings the industrial scale to make circular processes commercially viable. For a consortium needing an industry partner who understands both the physical reality of dismantling vehicles and the emerging policy and design frameworks around circularity, ILSSA offers a credible and practically grounded presence.

Highlights from their portfolio

• TREASURE
  The largest of ILSSA's two projects by funding (EUR 119,190) and scope, targeting the full transition of Europe's automotive supply chain toward circularity — a strategically central challenge as EV and fuel-cell vehicle fleets age.
• HYTECHCYCLING
  An early-mover position in hydrogen component recycling (2016-2019) under the FCH2 Joint Undertaking, demonstrating that ILSSA was engaged with green hydrogen infrastructure before it became mainstream EU policy priority.