TECNALIA has launched Revalheat, a start-up capable of reusing heat that is currently wasted in production processes, thereby reducing fossil fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions
Derio, 2 November 2026. TECNALIA continues to work towards decarbonising industry and, to this end, has developed a technology capable of harnessing waste heat from production processes and turning it into reusable energy. This technology is the basis of the Revalheat start-up, which focuses on developing solutions to recover and reuse low-temperature industrial waste heat that is currently being wasted.
Its technology will be unveiled tomorrow, 3 November, at DS Industry 2026, at the Bilbao Exhibition Centre,, where companies will be able to learn about its potential for improving energy efficiency and speeding up industrial decarbonisation.
The company was founded with the aim of converting this waste heat into useful energy for its own industrial processes, thereby helping to improve the energy efficiency of its facilities, reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and make progress in decarbonising energy-intensive sectors.
“REVALHEAT was set up to tackle a very specific challenge: to make use of low-temperature waste heat which, until now, had been difficult to recover. Our technology raises the temperature of this waste heat and feeds it back into the industrial process, thereby reducing energy consumption and associated emissions.”, explained Jesús Isoird, Director of Renewable Energy and Thermal Efficiency at TECNALIA.
The new start-up is based on the absorption heat transformer (AHT), also known as a type II absorption heat pump. This thermodynamic technology uses residual heat as its main source of energy, raises its temperature and makes it possible to feed it back into the production process at a usable temperature. In this way, Revalheat is able to turn a resource that is currently wasted into an energy and financial asset for industry.
A new approach to industrial decarbonisation
A significant proportion of the energy consumed by industry ends up being released in the form of heat. However, when this residual heat is at a low temperature, it is difficult or virtually impossible to make use of it using conventional methods.
- The absorption heat exchanger developed by Revalheat recovers this waste heat at in-flow temperatures of between 70 and 110°C and raises its temperature to between 120 and 150°C to meet the thermal requirements of the industrial process in question or the demand for low-pressure steam. This recovery reduces the amount of external energy required and, as a result, lowers fossil fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions.
- The technology is based on an absorption cycle that uses water and lithium bromide as working fluids. The system consumes very little electricity to raise the temperature, as it uses the residual heat available at the plant as its primary source and the exothermic nature of the absorption process itself. The device has a thermal coefficient of performance (COP) of approximately 0.5, and recovers around half of the incoming waste heat, raising its temperature by 30–50 K without the need for additional energy.
- Revalheat also works on optimising the control systems of both the transformer’s own operation and its integration into production processes. This control is essential for adapting the equipment’s response to operational and energy variations at each industrial plant.
- The scalable design of the technology makes it possible to develop solutions ranging from approximately 200 kW in capacity up to larger-scale industrial projects.
Its feasibility has already been demonstrated in real-world industrial environments as part of various European projects, which have improvements in energy efficiency, reductions in emissions and savings in operating costs, with return on investment periods of between 2 and 4 years. This allows industrial companies to anticipate new regulatory requirements, reduce the climate impact of their processes and improve the environmental performance of their facilities without compromising operational efficiency.
TECNALIA is using this launch to introduce a new solution designed to tackle one of the industry’s main energy challenges: harnessing low-temperature waste heat and reducing the amount of external energy required to maintain its production processes. The aim of REVALHEAT is to carry out technical and economic studies, and to manufacture and install absorption heat exchangers.
About TECNALIA
TECNALIA is the largest applied research and technological development centre in Spain, a European benchmark and member of the Basque Research and Technology Alliance. It works with companies and institutions to improve their competitiveness, people's quality of life and achieve sustainable growth, thanks to a team of more than 1,500 people committed to building a better world through technological research and innovation. Its main areas of action are: smart manufacturing, digital transformation, energy transition, sustainable mobility, health and food, urban ecosystem and circular economy.
TECNALIA’s mission is to transform technological research into prosperity while its vision is to anticipate the future as the leading actors of transformation in companies and society, adapting them to the challenges of an ever-faster evolving world. This is why TECNALIA's research has a real impact on society and generates benefits in the form of quality of life and progress. In the latest brand awareness and positioning study carried out by the European Research Survey (ERS) in 2025, TECNALIA tops the list regarding R&D and Innovation brand awareness.