Piloting RotoDynamic Technology: Shaping the Future of Electrification
To develop our technology and broaden our partner network, we are operating a RotoDynamic Technology pilot plant at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen, the Netherlands, in the heart of the petrochemical industry.
Coolbrook pilot demonstrates the massive potential of the revolutionary new electrification technology to heavy industries, technology providers and policy makers.
Pilot: high-temperature heating electrification
RDH – RotoDynamic Heater – Electrification of high-temperature process heat in the production of cement, steel, iron and chemicals
RotoDynamic HeaterTM (RDHTM) is the only technology in the world able to reach high-temperature heat, up to 1700°C, powered by electricity and without burning fossil fuels. This enables it to replace fossil-fired furnaces and kilns with electrification of industrial processes. Learn more about our innovative approaches to decarbonize the hard-to-abate industries, like steel industry and cement industry.
In 2023, the successfully completed RotoDynamic Technology pilot’s first phase demonstrated RDH technology’s capabilities for industrial use in high-temperature process heating, enabling the technology to move forward to industrial scale projects at customer sites.
Targets of the RDH industrial process heating pilot
- Validate modelling and design parameters for industrial process heating applications.
- Demonstrate RDH applicability as a reliable source of industrial process heat.
- Tests to be conducted with inert gases (air, steam and methane) and petrochemical feedstocks (naphtha, ethane, propane, butane).
- First air tests with the reactor were conducted in 2021. Tests at the Pilot site, to be conducted for approximately 24 months, were started in December 2022.
Industrial heating pilot progress
- In 2023, the successfully completed first test phase demonstrated RDH’s capabilities for industrial use in high-temperature process heating.
- The testing exceeded the temperature of 1000°C, which is above the range of conventional resistive heaters by several hundred degrees. (Read the full press release about the successful pilot for industrial electrification and decarbonization of high-temperature industrial heating.)
- The tests validated Coolbrook’s technical pathway up to 1700°C, covering more than 95% of the temperature range required to cover the EUR 1 trillion industrial heating market.
Pilot: electrification of steam cracking
RotoDynamic Reactor – electrification of steam cracking in production of petrochemicals
RotoDynamic ReactorTM (RDRTM), using electrification powered by renewable energy, is the only technology in the world capable of eliminating 100% of the CO2 emissions created in the steam cracking process, the first and most polluting step in the production of petrochemicals.
In 2023, Coolbrook successfully cracked naphtha in its large-scale pilot plant leading the way to zero-carbon steam cracking and validating the potential of the technology to replace traditional fossil fuel-based cracker furnaces with electric RDR units in the petrochemical industry. Read the full press release about successful electric cracking pilot.
Targets and progress of the RDR steam cracking pilot
- Optimize the cracking process inside the reactor and validate modelling results.
- Test yields and conversion with different feeds, understand the effect of RDR’s process conditions on coking.
Electric steam cracking pilot progress:
- In 2023, successful cracking of naphtha and demonstration of electric steam cracking of naphtha.
- Tests validated the potential of RotoDynamic ReactorTM (RDR) Technology to replace traditional fossil fuel-based cracker furnaces with electric RDR units in the petrochemical industry.
RotoDynamic Technology pilot layout
The pilot unit covers a number of buildings on the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen, the Netherlands.
Located at the Brightlands Chemelot Campus in Geleen, Netherlands
The Brightlands Chemelot Campus boosts innovation and business growth by giving tenants access to talent knowledge and infrastructure and entrepreneurship.
With over 3,300 of the world’s leading experts in engineering, modelling, operations and maintenance, the Chemelot Campus is the best possible place to test and develop our RotoDynamic technology and collaborate with our partner network.
OUR Rotodynamic TECHNOLOGY CAN CUT OVER 30% OF THE WORLD’S INDUSTRIAL CO2 EMISSIONS ANNUALLY
500
Mt
estimated reduction potential in chemicals & petrochemicals industries
600
Mt
estimated reduction potential in iron & steel industries
1000
Mt
estimated reduction potential in cement industries
300
Mt
estimated reduction potential in other industries
Timeline to production
Future of electrification – Ready for commercial launch at scale in 2025
This game-changing technology already exists today and a large and growing number of global industrial players and governments have expressed great interest in using it to cut CO2 emissions and meet crucial climate targets. Our RotoDynamic Heater and RotoDynamic Reactor technologies are currently being piloted. The electrification technology can be retrofitted to existing production plants and will be ready for large-scale use in 2024.
2021 – 2023
- Demonstrate RotoDynamic technology and engage customers in petrochemicals and other key industrial sectors
- Partnering with industrial actors, EPC partners and universities for successful piloting
- Ramp-up of organization
2023 – 2025
- Commercial scale units installed at customer sites:
- RDR connected to ethylene plant
- RDH in selected applications (e.g. steel and cement industry)
- Engage technology suppliers to include RDR and RDH in their offering
- Network of partners to secure successful commercial launch
- Strengthen organization and validate key assumptions for commercial launch
2025 →
- Commercial deliveries to customers
- RDR and RDH part of technology offering of key suppliers and EPC companies
- World class organization and capabilities to deliver value for all stakeholders
- Continued value-adding partnerships within network of globally leading industry players and decarbonization actors in different sectors
Coolbrook has set out to build a committed and comprehensive ecosystem around RDR and RDH technology to commercialize it as soon as possible. Together with our partners in industry, academia, the public sector and key decision-makers, we can roll out this revolutionary technology and achieve significant emission reductions in the most energy and CO2 intensive industrial processes, which until now have been considered impossible to electrify.
Ilpo Kuokkanen
Founder, Member of the Board of Directors, Coolbrook
Press releases
JSW and Coolbrook ink strategic cooperation agreement for industrial electrification technology to drive decarbonisation
Coolbrook successfully cracks naphtha in its large-scale pilot plant leading the way to zero-carbon steam cracking
