Plenesys and the EIC Accelerator: Hydrogen From Plasma

Plenesys, registered in 2018 at Sophia Antipolis near Nice as a spin-off of Mines Paris, uses electric plasma torches to split methane or biomethane into hydrogen and solid carbon, so no CO2 is released. It was selected in the EIC Accelerator's March 2023 cut-off with blended finance for HyPlasma and received an EU grant of €2.50 million for a €4.71 million project that ran from December 2023 to November 2025, according to CORDIS. Local news site Sophianet reported in July 2023 that it would receive a grant of up to €2.5 million and "des prises de participation pouvant atteindre 15 M€", equity of up to €15 million, through the EIC Fund.

The project has ended, but CORDIS holds only the first periodic report, to November 2024. It says Plenesys completed engineering and assembly of a 100 kW atmospheric-pressure pilot and "run some preliminary tests", confirmed through an external laboratory that its carbon powder is commercial-grade carbon black, and validated a plasma torch working at up to 6 bar, according to the CORDIS reporting page. No hydrogen output, running hours or production cost from the pilot has been published.

Where Plenesys Stands Now

Plenesys is active in the French company register, which puts its workforce at 10 to 19 employees and names Sabri Takali as president and Ahmed Kacem as managing director, according to recherche-entreprises. Its accounts were last filed in April 2026, but no figures appear in the free data. The news page on its website has had no update since 2022. In 2026 it joined two Horizon Europe consortia, PYRAH2, with €2.29 million for Plenesys, and BHARAT-EU, with €612,650, to make hydrogen from biogenic waste and residues, according to CORDIS participant data.

The Technology: Cracking Methane With Electric Heat

Methane pyrolysis heats natural gas until it breaks into hydrogen and solid carbon. Plenesys supplies that heat with its own plasma torches, and says its process uses three to four times less electricity than electrolysis and costs around €3 per kilogram of hydrogen. Selling the carbon black is meant to cut the hydrogen price further. Using fossil natural gas as the input still depends on methane supply chains and their leaks, which the report does not discuss.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The award promised to bring to market a containerised unit producing clean hydrogen next to the user. At the halfway point there was an assembled pilot with preliminary tests. What happened in the second year, whether a containerised product exists and whether any customer has ordered a unit are not public. A 50 to 100 tonne-a-year demonstrator is listed on the French hydrogen association's project map, with its status visible only to members.

1. 100 kW pilotDeliveredAssembled, first report.
2. Carbon black qualityDeliveredExternal lab, per report.
3. Pilot performanceUnverifiedNo data published.
4. Market-ready unitNot shownNo final report.

The Money

The EU paid 53% of the project. Sophianet's report of up to €15 million of EIC equity was never followed by an announced investment, and official BODACC notices record no change to Plenesys's share capital since 2018, only accounts filings and two moves of its registered office. The two new Horizon Europe grants bring Plenesys's EU funding since 2023 to about €5.4 million.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

Europe needs low-carbon hydrogen at a price industry can pay. Methane pyrolysis sits between cheap but dirty steam reforming and clean but costly electrolysis. Plenesys has a working plasma torch and a pilot, and it keeps winning EU research money, but it has not published the numbers that would show its process works at the promised cost.

The Verdict

Plenesys and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.