A step towards net-zero industry: electrified boilers

An electrified steam boiler aims to deliver carbon-neutral steam for industry

Spotted: Around 23 per cent of total carbon emissions come from industry – primarily from burning fossil fuels for energy. Around a third of this comes from boiling water to generate steam to power industrial processes ranging from food and beverage to chemical manufacturing. Aiming to decarbonise industrial steam, startup AtmosZero has developed a drop-in, air-source electrified steam generator designed to be cost-effective, scalable, and emissions-free.

Company co-founder and COO Ashwin Salvi told Springwise in an interview that today’s alternative decarbonised fuel steam boilers have two problems – they are expensive to operate and deploy. AtmosZero’s cost-effective system is designed to solve both of these issues with an all-in-one solution that can be used for almost any industrial operation application.

AtmosZero’s fully electric heat pump system, Boiler 2.0, is designed to produce steam at temperatures between 100 and 200 degrees Celsius, which make up much of the demand for industrial process heat. It does this by using a cascaded system, combining low- and high-temperature circuits. Overall, the company claims the system is twice as efficient as other electric boilers and uses just half the electricity to make 150 degrees Celsius steam from 15 degrees Celsius ambient air, meaning it also delivers lower costs than other decarbonisation solutions.

The company recently announced the close of a $21 million (around €19.3 million) series A funding round co-led by Engine Ventures and 2150. The company was also recently awarded a $3.2 million (around €2.9 million) grant from the US Department of Energy’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office as part of a programme to expedite the development of technologies to cut industrial GHG emissions.

Cutting industrial emissions is the focus of a number of recent innovations, including improving the sustainability of metal supply chains and using firebricks to efficiently store energy.

Written By: Lisa Magloff