Last month, Coolbrook conducted the first live pilot of its RotoDynamic technology to electrify high-temperature industrial processes.
Hosted at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Gelleen, Netherlands, the demonstration marked the technology’s debut activation in an industrially relevant environment setting the scene for a new clean industrial era.
The large-scale pilot plant will demonstrate the performance of the RotoDynamic technology for steam cracking in petrochemicals (RotoDynamic Reactor, RDR) as well as high-temperature process heating across various industry sectors, including cement (RotoDynamic Heater, RDH).
The plant is designed to generate process temperatures of around 1,000 degrees with 100% renewable electric power, marking a major milestone toward CO2-free manufacturing in heavy industries. Once implemented at scale, the RotoDynamic technology has the potential to reach temperatures of 1,700 degrees and cut over 2 billion tons of annual CO2 emissions when applied to heavy industry.
“It was an honor to be able to show our technology in action after a decade of development,” said Ilpo Kuokkanen, executive chairman of Coolbrook. “We made history by proving that electrification can deliver the temperatures that industrial manufacturers need to achieve CO2-free production. Sharing this moment with our commercial and academic partners was a pivotal moment in our goal of full commercial production by 2024.”
“This pilot was a fantastic preview of what we can expect when we incorporate Coolbrook’s equipment at our plants, and watching it run in person has proved that we are on the path to decarbonizing our cement production. Seeing the electrification technology we have invested in progress from theory to reality supports our Future in Action program, aimed to build a more sustainable, circular future, with the primary objective of becoming a net-zero CO2 company,” said Roberto Ponguta, vice president of operations, CEMEX. “We are looking forward to continuing our successful cooperation and deploying the Coolbrook technology at our production sites.”
The next milestone for Coolbrook’s RotoDynamic technology is to deploy it in commercial demonstration projects at customer sites aimed to be operational in 2024. Full commercial deployment of the technology is expected to start by 2025.
