Heat lost, electricity gained: Aix-based Entent unveils its first industrial machine

After eight years of research, the start-up co-founded by Mathias Fonlupt is testing its Pulse 50 at a Michelin site. The aim: to turn the heat released by factories into electricity.

Four metres tall, ten tonnes, and a promise: to generate electricity from the heat that factories let escape. Entent has presented its Pulse 50, its first industrial-scale machine, now being tested at a Michelin site in Auvergne, L'Usine Nouvelle reports. It is due to produce 50 kilowatts of electricity there before being permanently installed at an industrial joinery in Vendée.

The start-up, based at the Europôle de l'Arbois in Aix-en-Provence, is tackling low-temperature “waste” heat (chaleur fatale), between 60°C and 150°C, which industry releases without using it. Its technology is based on a piston-driven thermodynamic cycle, with no mechanical pump. According to the company, one unit can handle up to one megawatt of heat and produce between 100 and 650 kilowatts of electricity.

Entent was founded in January 2018 by two engineers from Polytech Marseille, Mathias Fonlupt, who chairs it, and Stefan Ré. Clément Schambel is chief executive. The company raised around €1m in 2021, notably from Business Angels des Grandes Écoles, then in 2022 won the i-Nov innovation competition run by Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, and Ademe, the French ecological transition agency, which came with a €600,000 grant.

The move into industry accelerated this year. In January, the start-up raised €2.4m from Team for the Planet, CAAP Création, the Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence fund, and the Sowefund platform, a few months after opening its capital to the general public through crowdfunding. According to Les Nouvelles Publications, it is preparing a new €3.8m funding round to launch series production.

The stakes are considerable for manufacturers: waste heat recovery is among the levers identified for cutting factories' energy consumption, provided that cost-effective machines are available for low temperatures, which have long been neglected.