Engine That Turns Waste Heat To Energy Raises $7M

Israeli technology that can capture heat generated from energy consumption and create zero-emission electricity has raised $7 million.

Luminescent has developed a small and low-cost engine that can capture, reuse, and store waste heat.

It does so by using a combination of liquid and pressurized air bubbles to transfer the heat, which causes the bubbles to expand, turn into kinetic energy, and operate a generator to create energy.

It can generate electricity from any source of waste heat at temperatures of 100 – 550 C (212 F to 1,022 F). The company says its engine doubles efficiency compared to other operations and provides up to 70 percent more power than existing heat engines. 

Heat is generated from any kind of energy consumption, be it from cooking, the engine of a car, or buildings in a city. 

But it is challenging to efficiently convert waste heat to energy, because existing engines operate on gasses or vapors – so no heat transfer takes place. Meaning, they are large in size, high in costs, and deliver poor efficiency, and are inaccessible to most power grids and generators. 

“This round is a major step forward towards accessible waste heat solutions that will allow us to scale rapidly to meet demand,” said Doron Tamir, CEO and Co-Founder of Luminescent.

“The best model for this business is one where everyone wins. With our solution, the industrial sector can finally afford efficient environmental solutions and open a new revenue stream while addressing the key issue of 75 percent of waste energy going unutilized. This is the first step in the path to deep decarbonization – and we are planning to provide more solutions in the future that will allow exactly that.”

The funding round was led by Grove Ventures. 

Luminescent was founded in 2020, and is based in Beit Yanai, an agricultural settlement in central Israel.