#132: Turning Rust into Renewable Energy with RIFT — Earthlings 2.0 Podcast

In this episode of Earthlings 2.0, we speak with Mark Verhagen, CEO and co-founder of Renewable Iron Fuel Technologies (RIFT), a company turning rust into a clean heat source for heavy industry. You see, industrial heat, from cement kilns to steel plants, accounts for roughly 20% of global emissions, yet most facilities can’t electrify or switch to hydrogen because of grid and infrastructure limits. RIFT’s answer? Burn iron powder instead of fossil fuels, then recycle the “ash” (iron oxide) back into reusable fuel. We unpack how this closed-loop system works, the company’s 1 MW demo plant in the Netherlands, lessons learned as they scale, and why a grid-independent fuel could be the missing piece for decarbonizing the world’s hardest-to-abate sectors.

Key Points:

Industrial heat’s blind spot – Roughly 80% of industrial sites can’t electrify or adopt hydrogen today due to grid and infrastructure constraints.
Iron fuel explained – Iron powder burns like coal dust, generating up to 2,000 °C heat with zero CO₂ and ultra-low NOₓ/SOₓ emissions.
Circular chemistry – The by-product iron oxide is reduced back into metallic iron using hydrogen, creating a closed, recyclable fuel loop.

Mark Verhagen, CEO and co-founder of RIFT
LinkedIn
YouTube
Luis de Leon, Earthlings 2.0 Guest Host, Sr. Public Relations Account Executive at Technica Communications

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Q3 End Credits

Greenlane, Ampion, Tigo, USBI, 247 Solar