#CleanTech
RIFT’s mission is to decarbonise the energy intensive industries by providing Iron Fuel Technology – a clean technology for district heating, industrial processes and electricity plants. Iron fuel enables companies to produce clean energy in the form of hot water, steam or air. This circular fuel is a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Iron powder is used as a medium to store energy, when this is combusted, heat is created and the residual powder, iron-oxide (aka rust), is regenerated into iron fuel which can be used to create heat again (and again and again). RIFT is developing industrial-scale boilers which will directly replace gas-fueled boilers and save thousands of tons of CO2 emissions per year.
RIFT’s mission is to decarbonise the energy intensive industries by providing Iron Fuel Technology – a clean technology for district heating, industrial processes and electricity plants. Iron fuel enables companies to produce clean energy in the form of hot water, steam or air.
The energy intensive industries are responsible for more than 40% of the global CO2 emissions worldwide – industrial heating alone is 10% of global emissions. For 45% of industrial parties there is no feasible alternative to fossil fuels. The main challenge is the high power and high temperature heat required. There is an urgent need for low-emission alternatives in order to decarbonize industrial heating and energy intensive industries. Current alternatives are: electricity, biomass or hydrogen, however costs, technical development, high emissions (for biomass) and low feasibility of large-scale implementation limit the applicability of these options.
Ultimately the output is on a clean energy produced level, however due to the early stage we initially look at the technology development to create the output at commercial scale. The future output is the number of boilers sold and operational [amount of MW installed], replacing gas-powered boilers and clean energy produced with the systems installed [MWh].
Iron fuel has no direct emissions from combustion thus the outcome is a significant reduction in CO2 emissions per MWh of energy produced by iron powder. Iron fuel’s indirect footprint will depend on system specific characteristics which include: energy source used in own production process, cyclicity of iron powder, transportation type & distance, length of storage. RIFT expects to achieve 126-72kg CO2/ MWh of energy provided. This is significantly better than gas at 288kg CO2/MWh and other technologies.
Companies that utilize the technology as they have a solution for their problem and therefore have safeguarded continuity, and society as a whole as RIFT facilitates a clean energy future
Without this solution a part of the energy intensive industry cannot decarbonize their production processes and therefore the transition towards a clean energy system will take longer, risking more extreme climate change.
Technology Readiness Level (TRL), which proves the technology works and can be scaled up to achieve impact.
RIFT’s direct + indirect CO2 footprint per MWh of iron fuel energy produced. This considers the footprint of: transportation, initial iron powder production, circularity of the iron powder, type of hydrogen used, and the energy use and efficiency of RIFT’s processes. As these are mainly external parameters, they differ per business case. This target will be for an average operational business case.
RIFT has the potential to transform the fossil-fuel reliant energy intensive industry and provide an efficient and circular new clean energy source. Besides being used as fuel, iron powder can be used to easily and cost-efficiently store and transport energy which is important in our transition to a clean energy future.
We relate RIFTS’s impact to SDG 7 (Affordable and clean energy) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production)
