RE: Competitors? I don't hear too much from Pyrogenesis so if they are actively competing against Alter then it's news to me. After researching this sector for a while it looks to me like a lot of boats have ended up on the rocks (or are heading there). The technology has gotten to the point that under the right conditions the plants are economical (i.e. high natgas prices in places with no domestic supply, high tipping fees or incentives for WTE projects). But it does not work everywhere. Companies trying to get plants built in the US keep running into public opposition brick walls, for example. Asia seems like the place where this is going to get going the fastest. Europe has potential too.
Why is Alter the leader? They got the technology from Westinghouse Plasma when they acquired the company. So they have the benefit of more time and experience with the technology than anyone else. The WPC plants in Japan demonstrate commercial use of the technology operating for years. For a number of reasons it seems to me that the company that will be the most successful is the one that can build the strongest network of partners. I think Alter is taking the lead quite clearly in this category. Plasco is trying to do the soup to nuts approach. Alter is working with very large EPC partners and industrial gases industry veterans such as Air Products and Linde.
Consider that Air Products is internally financing the plant they are building now at Teesside, that incorporates a gasifier from Alter. APD is spending $400MM of their own money to build the plant. I would say that is an extremely strong statement about how confident they are in the technology. They have also announced a second plant of the same size for the same location and plans to construct a minimum of three more in addition to that.
Finally, I suggest taking a long, hard, detailed look at the investors that just acquired a large chunk of this company. Who are they? Why did they invest in this sector? Why this company? What complementary investments have they made in related companies? Connecting these dots may turn out to be the most important piece of the puzzle, time will tell.