Superheated bricks could be the next big thing in energy storage: New technology from US-based start-up Rondo Energy could help industries cut emissions by using superheated bricks as a low-cost and zero-emission means to store industrial heat and power to high-emitting industries, according to a statement.

How it works: The Rondo Heat Battery — which is often described as a brick toaster — uses electric heating elements like those found in a toaster or oven to transform available power into high-temperature heat, according to the startup’s website. It captures intermittent electricity from wind and solar and stores it at very high temperatures in brick materials to help supply industrial heat on demand. It based its new technology on materials widely used in heating and heat storage: brick and iron wire. It says that energy stored under the system comes at half the cost of other technologies like green hydrogen and chemical batteries.

Superheated indeed: Air flowing up through the brick stack is superheated up to 1.5k degrees celsius, with the delivery rate adjusted easily by altering air flow. Automated AI patented controls help ensure that heat at the outlet is delivered at desired temperatures and pressure to meet industrial facility demands, it says. A recycling mechanism also occurs, with exhausted air recycled back through the system to help lower heat loss and boost efficiency.

Your household items operate on the same concept: There’s nothing special about the tech, your blow dryer does the same thing. “We developed a new combination of materials for the storage. You can then deliver heat continually by circulating air into the stack of that material and getting superheated air out,” CEO John O'Donnell told TechCrunch. This heat is then turned into steam in a conventional boiler or delivered in high-temperatures for heavy industrial use, he said. O’Donnell says such technology operates at a small fraction of the cost of any electrochemical battery and half the cost of any hydrogen system.

And Rondo has big backing: The rollout of the technology could be accelerated further after the company recently raised USD 60 mn in new financing from industry leaders, including Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund and Saudi Arabia’s leading petrochemicals firm Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) and Aramco Ventures, the statement notes. The funding will help Rondo expand overseas operations and develop and establish storage facilities globally.

And that’s not all: The US startup started operations this year at its firstcommercial unit to help bring down the carbon intensity of biofuel produced by Calgren Renewable fuels. The project is the US’ first commercially operating electric thermal energy storage system and the highest efficiency and temperature energy storage of its kind globally. It also announced a current Heat Battery storage production capacity of 2.4GWh/year with Siam Cement Group (SCG). It aims to ramp up storage production capacity to reach 90GWh/year.

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