Cement industry decarbonization
The RotoDynamic Heater™ (RDH) replaces fossil fuels in cement production with clean electricity – from alternative fuel drying and precombustion, slag grinding and primary air heating, and later clay calcination, the precalciner and the kiln. Our first commercial unit is in delivery to Adani Cement.
First commercial RotoDynamic Heater: Adani Cement
Coolbrook’s first commercial RotoDynamic Heater™ is in delivery to Adani Cement’s Boyareddypalli plant in India – delivery agreement signed in November 2025. The RDH will dry alternative fuels with electric heat, replacing fossil-fuel-fired hot gas generation – see Alternative fuel drying and precombustion use case below. The project is in its industrial delivery phase with commissioning in 2027.
The Solution
Electrifying cement production
Cement production accounts for around a quarter of industrial CO₂ emissions. Part of that comes from the limestone itself, but a large share comes from burning fossil fuels for heat. RDH replaces that combustion with clean electricity: it heats air, nitrogen, steam or CO₂, and the hot gas is used in the dryer, mill, calciner or kiln in place of fuel firing. RotoDynamic Technology can cut up to 1,000 Mt of CO₂ a year in cement production at full deployment.
Key benefits
- No combustion emissions: no CO₂, NOx or SOx from fuel firing; zero CO₂ with renewable electricity
- Lower carbon and fuel costs: avoids fuel purchases and carbon-emission costs, and can use low-priced renewable power
- Efficient: 90–95% of the electricity becomes process heat; exhaust heat can often be recovered
- Available today in multi-megawatt scale with a path to scale to 50+ MW
- Compact: fits into new plants or retrofits into existing ones
The process
Where RDH fits in a cement plant
Available now
Alternative fuel drying & precombustion
Alternative fuels cost less than coal or petcoke, but wet fuel and slow burnout limit how much a plant can use. RDH dries the fuel with hot inert gas instead of a fossil-fired generator, and supplies hot air for precombustion, so the fuel ignites faster and burns out better.
- Temperature: Ambient → up to 900 °C
- Benefits: a higher share of cheaper alternative fuels – lower fuel costs and CO₂.
- The application of the first commercial RDH, in delivery to Adani Cement.
Slag grinding
Granulated blast-furnace slag and cement are dried while they are ground, usually with heat from a fossil-fired hot gas generator. RDH supplies the hot gas to the slag or cement mill with electricity instead.
- Temperature: Ambient → up to 700 °C
- Benefits: CO₂-free drying in the mill, supporting slag cements that already cut clinker use
Primary air heating
RDH heats the combustion air fed to the kiln burner, so less fuel is needed to reach the flame temperature, allowing higher production capacity.
- Temperature: Ambient → up to 900 °C
- Benefits: lower fuel use and CO₂ per tonne, and the option to raise production capacity
Available later
Precalciner electrification
The precalciner is the largest fuel consumer in a modern cement plant. RDH provides heated air to replace part of the fuel fired there, at temperatures the next-generation RDH is being developed for.
- Temperature: Elevated → 1,200+ °C
- Benefits: increased production capacity and decarbonization of the largest emitting single step in cement production
Main kiln electrification
RDH supplies very hot air at the clinker outlet of the kiln to replace part of the fuel fired in the main burner – the path to electrifying the kiln itself and, combined with CO₂ capture, to near-zero-emission clinker.
- Temperature: Elevated → 1,500+ °C
- Benefits: Combustion CO₂-free cement kiln
Clay calcination
Calcined clay is a key low-carbon substitute for clinker. RDH provides hot air to the clay calciner, replacing the fossil fuel used to activate the clay at 700–900 °C.
- Temperature: Ambient → up to 1,100 °C
- Benefits: Fossil-free calcined clay, so the low-carbon clinker substitute is produced without fuel-combustion CO₂
Roadmap
Path to decarbonizing cement processes
2026–2027
First applications
- Pre-heating of raw materials
- Slag grinding
- Alternative fuel drying and precombustion
CO2 reduction -10%–20%
Temperatures 500–1,000 °C
2029–2030
Precalciner and higher temperature use cases
- Precalciner electrification
- Lime kiln electrification
- Clay calcination
CO2 reduction -20%–30%
Temperatures 1,100 °C
2030+
Kiln electrification and CO2 capture
- Main burner fuel electrification, combined with CO₂ capture
- Re-circulation of CO₂
CO2 reduction -90%
Temperatures 1,400+ °C
Contact us
Hear from Coolbrook cement customers and partners
The electrification of the production process is an important step towards fully decarbonising our cement operations. We are constantly looking for the best technologies and relationships to meet our Net Zero CO2 target. Our cooperation with Coolbrook will support us in achieving this ambition.
Roberto Ponguta
CEMEX Vice-president of Global Operations, Technical and Energy
JSW Group has set ambitious sustainability targets of reducing its specific CO2 emissions, aligning with the Sustainable Development Scenario of the International Energy Agency and India’s Nationally Determined Contributions. Deployment of RDH™ Technology is expected to have a sizeable impact on the decarbonisation of the Group’s manufacturing process. We are happy to onboard Coolbrook as a partner on our journey to reduce CO2 emissions and achieve our climate targets.
PK Murugan, President
JSW Steel Vijayanagar & Salem Works
As a founding member of the GCCA, we are committed to the sectoral aspiration of delivering Net Zero concrete by 2050. Towards this end, we are continuously striving to innovate at every stage of the whole life of concrete. Coolbrook’s RDH technology represents an exciting technological pathway that we believe has the potential to exponentially accelerate our progress towards full decarbonisation. Every megawatt of clean energy we add to our mix makes a big difference.
K C Jhanwar
Managing Director, UltraTech Cement Limited
Coolbrook and cement industry in media
Cement industry decarbonization related press releases
Coolbrook and ABB Partnership Advances to Industrial Delivery Phase of RotoDynamic Heater technology to Adani Cement
Doncasters enters the Cleantech sector with Coolbrook in a first-of-its-kind cooperation
