By Lauren Brown

Crane graduate is co-inventor of technology that could revolutionize the HVAC industry and provide access to clean water

Turning air into water. It sounds like something from a fairy tale that might involve a genie, or a little man named Rumpelstiltskin. However, turning air into water is something one of Harney County’s own is actually doing with an invention poised to revolutionize the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry as well as provide a clean water source in places where water is scarce. The system is called AirJoule and is also the namesake of the company, which is co-owned by Montana Technologies and General Electric Vernova.   

Jeromy Jenks, also known as JJ, is a mechanical engineer who serves as the Vice President of Technology with Montana Technologies. He is a Crane High School graduate and currently lives in Harney County working from his home just outside of Burns while also traveling for Montana Technologies. He graduated from Oregon State University in 2005 and obtained his Masters in 2007. Jenks and Pete McGrail, a former Lab Fellow with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), invented the AirJoule system, which pulls water vapor out of the air and turns it into liquid water. “We’re doing everything we can to ultimately have the most efficient machine on the planet,” Jenks said.

Jenks and McGrail first started working together more than a decade ago at PNNL. Jenks was involved in a number of different projects, which included nuclear remediation and fluids experiments. From there, he got more heavily involved with advanced power systems. When McGrail learned that Jenks was interested in thermodynamics, heat transfer and fluid dynamics, they started collaborating on different systems that generate power from low-grade heat sources, from high-grade heat sources (such as nuclear), and turning saltwater into fresh water. They eventually focused their attention on the idea of turning water vapor in the atmosphere into liquid water. This idea ultimately became AirJoule. They patented the concept and it generated interest from Montana Technologies. They both left PNNL and started working for Montana Technologies, and for the last two and half years, have been working to perfect the AirJoule system. Over the course of two years, they performed tests on various prototypes in the garage of Montana Technologies founder and Chief Executive Officer Matt Jore prior to eventually moving into a larger building located in Polson, Mont.

“I was a scientist at Pacific Northwest National Lab for 39 years before joining Montana Technologies in 2022,” said McGrail, Montana Technologies Chief Technology Officer and former Laboratory Fellow at PNNL. “In my 39 years of scientific discovery and innovation, I’ve only had scientific achievements like AirJoule happen a few times. The first time all the AirJoule components were integrated together as originally conceived and seeing water pour out of the unit was extraordinarily gratifying and will one day be remembered, I believe, as an historical moment in scientific achievement.”

The key to their system lies in the metal organic framework coating on the heat exchangers. For example, conventional cooling systems rely on a 119-year-old compressor/refrigerant design that requires an external heat source to release water vapor to make the system work. The AirJoule system harnesses heat from the adsorption process, which saves energy and allows the chambers to release the water vapor. No refrigerant is necessary, and it works in both humid and arid environments.

The applications for the AirJoule proprietary technology are numerous. “This invention harvests energy and water from air, so it has a huge impact on air conditioning, energy consumption and on water scarcity,” said Jore. In addition to cooling indoor living spaces and providing clean water, the AirJoule technology can produce dry air or dehumidification, which is something that is needed in food processing.

In terms of the HVAC industry, AirJoule can be used to reduce the amount of electrical power needed by up to 75 percent. “Ten percent is good. Twenty percent is really good. Fifty percent is outstanding,” said Jenks. “Seventy-five percent is a step change in technology. It’s very disruptive, and ultimately, it’s the reason we were able to raise money to try to execute and disseminate this technology out into the wider world.”

A press release from the Department of Energy (DOE) and Montana Technologies highlighted the importance of this breakthrough in technology. “Leveraging the power and reach of the private sector to bring DOE clean energy technologies to market is a core objective of our department, and AirJoule represents a best-in-class manifestation of this goal,” said Dr. Vanessa Z. Chan, Chief Commercialization Officer, DOE, and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions. “We are excited to see the many important ways this powerful new approach is applied around the world.”

The water harvesting aspect of the technology could be used in places where water scarcity is an issue. For example, the Department of Defense could use this technology to provide water for the military in drought-stricken parts of the world. “It is a huge opportunity because the military spends about $20 billion a year on fuel and water to get water to the troops,” Jore said.

Another major application for the AirJoule technology could be data centers. With the rise in artificial intelligence, data centers are consuming much more energy than they did previously. “Over the next 30 years, some people are estimating that more power will be drained by data centers than all of the power we consume today,” Jore said. “In order to keep that growth for artificial intelligence and just the general information sector, the world has to have a better and more efficient way to cool its buildings and to reproduce it or recapture water,” Jore said. “We’re going to take everything that we’re doing for the HVAC and everything we’re doing for the water harvesting and apply it to data centers.”

Jore said in the last three years, Montana Technologies has been developing the technology and making it commercially viable. “We’ve established some huge partnerships with multinational companies, who vetted the technology and who joined in with us,” Jore said. Companies such as BASF Chemistry, which supplies the material for the AirJoule technology. Montana Technologies has joint venture manufacturing partnerships with GE Vernova and CATL Battery as well. On the demand side, they have partnered with Carrier Corporation for HVAC applications. “We’ve got huge partners that will help bridge the gap from technological development all the way through to commercialization,” he said.

As far as the production timeline for AirJoule, Jore said pilot systems are happening now through 2025, which will be the year they scale up to production. AirJoule will officially launch in 2026. Jore said the HVAC industry will probably be where AirJoule will have the most immediate impact. He pictures AirJoule units in the rooftops of Walmarts, for example. “We’ll start there because that’s where most of the energy is consumed — in these big commercial facilities,” Jore said. “We will eventually make our way to the residential market, but massive impact is in the commercial sector for HVAC.”

Montana Technologies’ partnership with Carrier means that they will provide the interior components of the AirJoule system that go in HVAC components, and Carrier will provide the rest. “We don’t have to build the whole thing. We just supply the very key components to Carrier, and they build around them,” Jore said.

For the water harvesting component of the technology (turning water vapor into liquid water), Montana Technologies is building the complete unit. “It’s a much-needed product, and nobody is really doing that in mass production, at least on an economically viable basis,” Jore said.

After they scale up to production in 2025, Jore believes AirJoule will really take off. “It’s going to be a matter of how fast we can replicate the capacity,” he said. “Our partners already have the balance sheets to support all of the engineering to expedite and accelerate growth, so we see it as a hockey stick opportunity.”

Jenks knows the impact AirJoule could have on the world and is excited to see it emerge in the next two years. “JJ Jenks is an Oregon hometown man who is going to impact the world. This technology is going to impact the world. He’s a co-inventor of it and leads our technology team now,” Jore said. “It’s really important for the state of Oregon and a small town like Burns because it’s not often that such a game-changing, world-changing technology comes out of a place like that.”  

For more information about AirJoule and Montana Technologies, visit the website mt.energy, which features videos demonstrating the technology.