A stealth heat pump startup is tapping into a powerful and unlikely source to disrupt the industrial boiler industry.
Karman Industries is taking cues from the turbomachinery of SpaceX's Raptor engines to take on fossil fuel competitors, as TechCrunch reported.
Co-founder and CEO David Tearse told TechCrunch that the heat pump's tech "is much more akin to a Raptor engine in terms of speed, pressure, and temperature." Turbomachinery pumps fuels in rockets, and Karman aims to use it to make their compressors pack an extra punch.
The turbomachinery's speed is a game-changer for heat pumps trying to compete against traditional competitors for the business of companies like breweries, paper mills, and chemical manufacturers. Conventional heat pumps similarly use compressors but at a much more modest speed.
Fossil fuels are well-positioned to resist competitors in this space. While the harm to the environment from transporting and burning dirty energy is undeniable, you can't argue that they're effective at heating things up.
Karman is the latest in the clean energy space to pose a challenge, and they're banking on the tech to shrink the gap — literally.
It enables Karman's biggest compressor to fit in an 8-foot wide frame with a 6-foot diameter. That is comparable to the size of other heat pump compressors but with significantly more heating capability.
While other heat pumps need to add more and more compressors to reach the desired heat, Karman will just need one. Adding more compressors raises costs and complications while requiring more stages to the heating process.
The turbomachinery's velocity will theoretically allow the heat pump to reach the necessary high levels of heat in only one or two stages as opposed to the five or six of other competitors, per Tearse.
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This isn't the first foray for heat pumps in the industrial boiler space, as New Belgium Brewing announced plans to install one in their Colorado plant last year.
Notably, Karman's device also doesn't require oil, unlike the majority of heat pumps. That simplifies its design and maintenance, according to TechCrunch.
If heat pumps can make a big dent in the industrial boiler space, that could be a huge win in the fight against fossil fuels. Heat pumps — as well as heat pump water heaters — are much more energy-efficient, cut down on the major air pollution caused by burning dirty energy, and can help slow the dangerous warming of the planet.
The company is aiming to have its first SpaceX rocket-inspired model, Thermal01, ready to go by the first half of 2026. Tearse told TechCrunch he is confident it will be price competitive with natural gas in select regions and for select processes by then.
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