Electrified Thermal’s Joule Hive™ Thermal Battery (JHTB) system, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, can store heat up to 1,700 °C using conductive fire bricks and renewable electricity. The technology has the potential to replace fossil fuel-based thermal energy currently used in steelmaking processes such as blast furnace hot stoves, pre-rolling plate heating, and annealing.
The company’s first commercial demonstration plant with a 1 MW/5 MWh capacity is under construction at the Southwest Research Institute in Texas, with commissioning planned for the second half of 2025.
ArcelorMittal and Electrified Thermal will also collaborate on technology validation tests at the GasLab facility in Asturias, Spain, and on pilot applications within ArcelorMittal’s production lines.
Irina Gorbounova, Chair of the XCarb Innovation Fund, stated: “Electrifying high-temperature heating processes in steel production and thereby reducing reliance on fossil fuels is a widely recognized challenge. Electrified Thermal’s patented technology stood out in the market for companies seeking to address this. They have made good progress in recent years, and we are investing in the company at an important time as they attempt to move to commercial-scale pilots. We are therefore pleased to make this investment and excited about our collaboration to further develop their technologies through testing and potential deployment in our industrial facilities.”
Joey Kabel, Co-Founder and CTO of Electrified Thermal Solutions, emphasized that the partnership with ArcelorMittal will accelerate the process: “Integrating our technology into existing infrastructure at low cost has the potential to accelerate decarbonization in steel production.”
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