AUTONOMOUS AND CIRCULAR HOSPITAL: HAFFNER ENERGY THERMOLYSIS AT THE SERVICE OF HEALTH RESILIENCE (French version - FR)

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Strategic and Economic Note — EJS

1. The French Hospital: A Structural Energy Vulnerability

The French hospital sector shows a cumulative deficit of €3 billion in 2024. In this context of extreme budgetary tension, the energy bill is one of the heaviest and least controllable expense items for healthcare facilities — entirely subject to fluctuations in global gas and electricity markets.

At the same time, the French Hospital Federation (FHF) has published “50 proposals for the ecological transition of hospitals” and decarbonization obligations (BACS decree, CSRD for concerned establishments) are intensifying. Hospitals are therefore forced to invest in decarbonization while absorbing a growing structural deficit. There is a way to solve both problems simultaneously.

2. The Haffner Energy Module: The Hospital Produces Its Own Energy

Haffner Energy’s C-iC H6 thermolysis module transforms organic waste and residual biomass into green hydrogen, heat, and biochar through a controlled thermochemical process — without combustion, without fine particle emissions, and with no significant need for grid electricity.

A hospital continuously generates two types of raw materials for this module:

• Non-hazardous organic waste: cafeteria leftovers, green waste from outdoor spaces, cardboard, wood
• Urban biowaste from the surrounding area, collected in partnership with the local authority

These materials, currently considered a disposal burden (treatment, transport, and incineration costs), become the raw material for local sovereign energy production.

3. What the H6 Module Produces for the Hospital

From one tonne of biomass per hour, the H6 module (public data) simultaneously produces:

Electrical and Thermal Energy

• 60 kg of H₂/h feeding a fuel cell for electricity in operating theatres
• Recovered waste heat for building heating via absorption machines
• Cold produced by the same absorption systems for the storage of medicines, vaccines, and the operation of morgues

Staff Mobility

• Integrated hydrogen station supplying SAMU vehicles, ambulances, and service vehicles at approximately €1.40/100 km (vs €10 in combustion engines)

Valuable Co-product

• 200 kg of biochar per tonne of biomass, monetizable as CORC carbon credits (€275–420/t) — an additional revenue stream for the establishment

The process is autothermal: it generates the energy needed for its own operation. No dependence on the national electricity grid. In the event of a power outage or crisis, the hospital continues to operate.

4. Health Security: Ending the Handling of Infectious Waste

High-temperature thermolysis treatment (700–900°C) completely destroys pathogens present in hospital organic waste. Unlike conventional incineration, it produces neither dioxins nor furans, nor fine particles — eliminating a major source of local air pollution affecting residents and healthcare staff.

The collection and sorting of waste can be entrusted to automated systems (autonomous carts, robotic sorting), protecting healthcare personnel from the risks of handling infectious materials.

5. The Economic Model: The Burden Becomes an Asset

By integrating all flows (energy produced, savings on waste treatment, biochar credits, fleet fuel savings), the H6 module aims for a net hydrogen production cost that can become negative — meaning the installation pays for itself through its own value streams, without subsidies.

The CAPEX (€2 to 5 million depending on configuration) can be financed through industrial leasing — a model already offered by Haffner Energy — which avoids heavy initial cash mobilization for the establishment.

6. A Call to the FHF and Hospital Management

The French Hospital Federation has made the diagnosis with its “50 proposals for the ecological transition.”
Haffner Energy decentralized thermolysis provides an operational response to several of these proposals simultaneously: on-site energy production, waste valorization, emission reduction, and resilience in crisis situations.

We call on the FHF and hospital directors to examine the deployment of pilot modules on voluntary hospital sites, in partnership with local authorities, within the framework of the proposed Regulatory Fast-Track for Territorial Energy Sovereignty.

A pilot energy-autonomous hospital with negative net cost would be a national demonstration of the model’s feasibility.

7. Conclusion

Hospitals do not have to choose between decarbonization and financial balance. Haffner Energy decentralized thermolysis solves both simultaneously by transforming constraints (waste, energy dependence, fuel costs) into productive assets.

A second module (H4/S-iC) currently under development should further multiply production capacities — its detailed figures have not yet been disclosed to the market, but the H6 module trajectory suggests a convergence toward an overall production cost close to zero.

Caring for patients and caring for the planet is not a trade-off: it is the same action, carried out with the same technology.

Independent Strategic Note — EJS — June 2026.
The author is an individual shareholder and does not act on behalf of the company mentioned.
This text does not constitute investment advice.