(Credit: Pixabay)Electrified Thermal Solutions has closed on its initial $4.5 million financing as it grows its renewable heat offerings for the industrial sector.
The company’s flagship technology is called Joule Hive, which Electrified Thermal says can store gigawatt-hours of reliable thermal energy which can serve as a replacement for fossil-fueled based heat sources. The technology can produce temperatures required for the hottest industrial processes, according to Electrified Thermal.
The round of financing was led by Clean Energy Ventures, a venture capital firm that funds new climate technology innovations, and Starlight Ventures. The Grantham Foundation and Clean Energy Venture group participating in the financing.
According to the International Energy Agency, heat is the world’s largest energy end-use and accounts for nearly half of the total consumption. Industrial processes make up nearly 51% of the energy consumed by heat, according to the IEA.
Those heat sources contributed more than 40% of the world’s energy-related carbon emissions in 2020, the IEA says, and most of that still relies significantly on fossil fuels. Less than a quarter came from renewable resources.
The EPA says 24% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States are from heavy industry. The agency says renewable heat, which is produced by renewable sources of energy, provides a cost-effective energy source, can be more reliable than fossil fuels and traditional electricity, and helps lower emissions.
Process heating for cement, steel, and chemicals produce some of the highest emissions and use a significant amount of heat at near “flame temperatures” for their operations, according to Electrified Thermal. Most electric heat and storage options rely on materials that oxidize and burn out in the air, which requires frequent replacement or to be kept in an inert environment to remain usable, the company says.
Its technology helps tackle those concerns and uses a process that creates electric heating of oxide bricks, and can reach temperatures of more than 3,000 degrees. Electrified Thermal says it can offer several gigawatts of heat to industrial platforms and can be stored for several days.
Joule Hive was developed after seven years of research at MIT. Electrified Thermal will use the funding in part to build a laboratory prototype, followed by a multi-megawatt demonstration plant, the company says.
