Technology showcase · Industrial heat pumps up to 550°C
Airthium
Very-high-temperature industrial heating using a heat pump.
Active member since April 2023
Understand the technology
Key fact Up to 550°C
01 — Understand
Airthium technology, in three points
Airthium supplies complete clean industrial-heating solutions, enabling customers to meet their decarbonisation targets and ESG commitments cost-effectively. Its high-temperature heat pump is designed to make industrial heat decarbonisation economically viable across a range from 160°C to 550°C.
01 The solution
Very-high-temperature industrial heating using a heat pump.
02 Technology principle
A helium-based heat pump upgrades waste or ambient heat to deliver useful heat at temperatures of up to 550°C.
03 Applications
- Food processing
- Paper
- Automotive
- Mining
Airthium offers a groundbreaking route to low-cost, carbon-free industrial heat. It addresses a major market: more than 20% of global CO₂ emissions come from burning fossil fuels for industrial heat. Industries as varied as food processing, paper, automotive and mining require large amounts of thermal energy for melting, drying and sterilisation.
To meet this challenge, Airthium develops reliable, economical and clean solutions that supply industrial heat at temperatures of up to 550°C. Its first-of-a-kind very-high-temperature heat pump can power boilers and dryers tailored to the needs of these industries.
A major advance in the underlying thermodynamics gives Airthium’s product unique capabilities. The result is a new generation of very-high-temperature heat pumps designed to be reliable, robust, efficient and cost-effective.
Airthium heat pumps
Airthium delivers turnkey clean industrial-heating solutions that help customers meet their decarbonisation and environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets cost-effectively.
Airthium’s high-temperature heat pump (HTHP) works on the same principle as a conventional heat pump but can deliver heat at much higher sink temperatures. Commercial HTHPs typically provide heat between 100°C and 160°C; Airthium’s technology reaches 550°C, making it a genuinely disruptive solution.
The heat pump uses helium (R704) as its working gas and different heat-transfer fluids depending on source and sink temperatures. The difference between these temperatures—the “lift”—is central to its performance. Airthium can upgrade waste heat available at any temperature up to 500°C, or ambient heat down to -50°C, into useful heat at up to 550°C. Whereas existing HTHPs generally offer a maximum lift of around 80°C, Airthium’s can reach 500°C.
Depending on source and sink temperatures, efficiency can reach 86% of Carnot efficiency, compared with around 60% for today’s best high-temperature heat pumps, with coefficients of performance (COP) of up to 3.5.
The system is flexible enough for intermittent processes and for demand whose temperature varies substantially over time. Its exceptionally simple mechanical design reduces maintenance and downtime, notably by eliminating sliding or rotating seals at high temperature.
Heat-transfer-fluid combinations are selected for each source and sink temperature, from water and thermal oil to molten salts such as HITEC or nitrate, covering a broad operating range.
