VIKING HEAT ENGINES AS

Their core work

Viking Heat Engines AS is a Norwegian SME that develops and commercialises high-temperature industrial heat pump systems, with particular focus on mechanical vapour recompression technology. Their hardware operates with advanced low-GWP refrigerants — specifically HFO-1336mzz-z and R718 (water) — enabling heat recovery at the elevated temperatures required by industrial drying, dehydration, and sterilisation processes. In EU projects they act as a technology supplier, contributing proven thermal machinery to large innovation consortia rather than leading research programmes. Their commercial angle is converting waste heat — a cost and an emissions liability — into a usable energy asset for industrial facilities.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their earliest H2020 work (DryFiciency, 2016) was tightly focused on hardware: specific refrigerants, mechanical vapour recompression cycles, and heat pump performance in drying and sterilisation contexts. By 2018, BAMBOO shifted the frame toward energy systems thinking — waste heat valorisation within a broader industrial flexibility and energy management context. This suggests Viking Heat Engines is following a natural commercial maturation path: having built the machine, they are now positioning it as part of an integrated energy strategy rather than a standalone product.

Viking Heat Engines is moving from component supplier toward energy systems integrator — future collaborations are likely to combine their heat pump hardware with digital monitoring and process optimisation layers.

How they like to work

Viking Heat Engines has participated exclusively as a consortium partner, never as coordinator, across both H2020 projects. Despite having only two projects, they accumulated 38 unique partners across 11 countries, which means they joined large, multi-partner Innovation Action consortia — typical for SMEs bringing commercial technology into scale-up demonstrations. This pattern suggests they are sought-after as a specialist technology provider rather than a project driver, and that working with them means access to their heat pump IP within a structured consortium framework.

Despite only two projects, Viking Heat Engines has built a surprisingly wide network of 38 consortium partners spanning 11 countries across Europe. Their Norwegian base combined with pan-European project exposure positions them well as a Nordic industrial technology partner.

What sets them apart

Viking Heat Engines occupies a narrow but commercially valuable niche: high-temperature heat pumps designed for the specific thermal demands of industrial drying, dehydration, and sterilisation — applications where standard heat pumps cannot reach the required temperatures. Their use of HFO-1336mzz-z and R718 as working fluids reflects both environmental compliance and engineering specialisation that most generic heat pump suppliers do not offer. For a consortium needing a credible hardware partner to demonstrate waste heat recovery in a hard-to-decarbonise industrial sector, they bring a real product, not just research intent.

Highlights from their portfolio

• DryFiciency
  Their earliest and most technically specific project, directly demonstrating high-temperature heat pump and mechanical vapour recompression technology in industrial drying and sterilisation — the clearest evidence of their core product capability.
• BAMBOO
  Marks Viking Heat Engines' expansion into broader industrial energy flexibility and waste stream valorisation, showing strategic positioning beyond single-technology demonstrations.