Coolbrook Secures Business Finland Funding to Accelerate Electrification for the Global Steel Industry

Coolbrook, a transformational technology company dedicated to decarbonising heavy industry and industrial processes, has been awarded research and development funding by Business Finland to accelerate the decarbonisation of steel production. The grant supports Coolbrook’s participation in the FutSteel project, a core component of the Sustainable World through Steels ecosystem led by SSAB. Within the broader FutSteel project, Coolbrook’s project scope amounts to €5 million, of which €2.5 million is covered by grant funding awarded to Coolbrook.

The funding will enable Coolbrook to further accelerate and develop its next-generation RotoDynamic Heater™ (RDH™) technology, specifically tailored for high-temperature steel industry applications. The project focuses on integrating RDH™ technology into critical stages of the steel production chain, including blast furnace processes, electrified reheating, hot-stove air pre-heating, hybrid-heating concepts, decarbonised Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) production, and hydrogen-based steel production.

Following the successful commercial-scale deployment of its RDH™ technology in the cement industry with Ambuja Cement, part of the Adani Group, Coolbrook is now extending this proven engineering to address the hard-to-abate challenges of steel manufacturing. Traditional methods rely on burning fossil fuels to reach the extreme temperatures required for steelmaking, Coolbrook’s RDH™ uses renewable electricity to achieve temperatures up to 1700°C with zero operational CO2 emissions.

Joonas Rauramo, CEO, Coolbrook, said: "This funding from Business Finland is a significant endorsement of our RotoDynamic technology and its role in clean energy transition. Having already demonstrated the commercial viability of our electrification technology in the cement sector, we are now focused on delivering the same transformative impact for steel. Collaborating with SSAB and the wider FutSteel ecosystem allows us to fast-track the deployment of our technology in one of the world’s most carbon intensive industries."

Jarmo Lilja, Process Development Manager, SSAB, said: "We see great potential in Coolbrook’s RotoDynamic Heater technology to support the electrification of high-temperature steelmaking processes. Advancing innovative solutions like RDH™ is essential to accelerating the steel industry’s transition toward lower-emission production, and our collaborations within the FutSteel ecosystem help bring promising technologies closer to industrial deployment."

This funding will enable advanced process modelling, equipment, and IPR activities to support the accelerated development of RDH™ technology.

The initiative supports Business Finland’s goal of strengthening Finland’s industrial competitiveness by helping develop leading ecosystems for exporting green technologies.

About Coolbrook: Hailed as the key technology for industrial decarbonisation globally, Coolbrook is a transformational technology and engineering company on a mission to decarbonise major industrial sectors like petrochemicals and chemicals, iron and steel, and cement. Coolbrook’s revolutionary rotating technology combines space science, turbomachinery and chemical engineering to replace the burning of fossil fuels across all major industrial sectors. The technology has two main applications: RotoDynamic Reactor™ (RDR™) to reach 100% CO2 free olefin production, and RotoDynamic Heater™ (RDH™) to provide carbon-free process heating to iron and steel, cement and chemicals production. Once implemented at scale, the RotoDynamic Technology has the potential to reach temperatures of 1700°C and cut 2.4 billion tonnes (30%) of annual CO2 emissions in heavy industry.

For more information, please visit www.coolbrook.com

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