Rondo commercializes heat battery for cement, steel production

Sources: Rondo Energy, Oakland, Calif.; CM2 staff

Industrial heat battery developer Rondo Energy has unveiled two charter models, the RHB100 and RHB 300, equipped to capture intermittent electricity from renewable power sources and store it at high temperatures for hours or days. Rondo Heat Batteries store more than 1 MWh per square meter, far denser than any other energy storage technology, and preserve critical plant area. They maintain continuous output power (95 percent annual capacity factor) while operating on input power as low as 15 percent capacity factor (four hours a day).

Built principally of brick and iron materials and equal to 1,500°C streams, the Rondo Heat Battery holds potential for cement kiln and steel furnace integration. High temperature processing requirements contribute to high carbon footprints typically associated with portland cement, concrete rebar and structural steel. Under normal operating loads, a single RHB300 can eliminate more than 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions that would be generated from fossil fuel power sources; those savings in turn can be reflected in concrete or steel structures’ embodied carbon measurements. 

“Our mission is simple: lower cost heat and energy for large industrial processes,” says Rondo Senior Vice President Jeremy Keller. “We’re finding that deep emission reductions are now both practical and affordable for many of the world’s most energy-intensive facilities. Our studies of customer facilities are showing 50 percent to 90 percent reductions in emissions and reductions in operating costs of 30 percent or more.”

“The Rondo Heat Battery could prove critical to eliminating emissions, and its commercial availability will help companies turn to its zero carbon heat for their processes,” adds Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Rondo Energy lead investor. “The Rondo Heat Battery will help companies in industries such as cement to begin leveraging the falling costs of renewables without modifying their facilities.”