Rondo Energy is commercializing systems that reduce the carbon footprint of industrial systems that rely on process heat, which can be anything from the heat needed to cook food to converting iron into steel. According to the US Department of Energy , industrial process heat is the use of thermal energy to produce, treat, or alter manufactured goods. It is the most significant source of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial sector, accounting for about 50% of all onsite energy use and 30% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Process heating systems are emissions-intensive because fossil fuel combustion provides 95% of industrial heat across the manufacturing sector. Process heating systems raise or maintain the temperature of materials involved in the manufacturing process, such as the melting of scrap in electric arc furnaces to make steel, separating components of crude oil in petroleum refining, drying paint in automobile manufacturing, or processing food for safe consumption. Application temperatures range from 80°C to pasteurize milk and cream to over 1000°C to make cement.
Companies like Rondo Energy use renewable energy when it is abundant and therefore inexpensive to heat rocks, bricks, or molten metals to red hot temperatures. That heat can be called up later to replace fossil fuels for a wide range of hard to decarbonize industries. In so doing, it can provide renewable energy that is available at any time of the day or night.
Joule is another company .
