Heliosand Aims to Decarbonize Industry with Its Solar Furnaces

The Lyon-based startup has developed a technology that uses solar heat to decarbonize industrial processes. With a first application that transforms minerals into sand more efficient than the natural resource, Heliosand has just secured a construction contract in Dubai.

Based on the principle that the sun is an inexhaustible source of heat, Heliosand has succeeded in concentrating this energy using a system of mirrors to generate extremely high temperatures. “Up to 1,400 degrees, and soon double that,” assures Rafik Kheffache.

The founder of the Lyon-based startup, who is about to file two patents to protect his innovation, is convinced it opens the door to “a whole range of applications.”