PUREVAP™ Process Significantly Reduces the Cost of Making Si PyroGenesis Provides GEN2 Testing Report to HPQ Silicon Resources; Confirms PUREVAP™ Process Significantly Reduces the Cost of Making Silicon Metal
MONTREAL, June 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (https://pyrogenesis.com) (TSX-V: PYR) (OTCQB: PYRNF) (FRA: 8PY), a high-tech company, (the "Company", the “Corporation” or "PyroGenesis") that designs, develops, manufactures and commercializes plasma atomized metal powder, plasma waste-to-energy systems and plasma torch products, today announced that it has provided an interim report to HPQ Silicon Resources (“HPQ”), confirming that the PUREVAP™ process can significantly reduces the cost of making silicon metal by lowering raw material costs.
PUREVAP™ PROCESS PROPRIETARY ADVANTAGE: USING LOW COST CARBON
One of PUREVAP™ process’ unique advantages is its capacity to use low cost highly reactive carbon sources, and convert them into high purity silicon metal. In comparison, conventional processes available on the market are using expensive higher purity carbon sources. This advantage allows the PUREVAP™ process to significantly reduce the cost of making silicon metal.
Depending on the producer, making metallurgical grade silicon metal (98.0% to 99.5% silicon) in 2018 with a conventional process can cost between US $1,450-2,000/MT1. More than 40% of that cost2 is directly attributable to the 6+ metric tonnes of raw material (silicon dioxide and reductant) needed to produce 1 MT of metallurgical grade silicon metal 3. The carbon reductant used in those processes accounts for 30% of total cost3. From that cost, 10% accounts for woodchip, and 20% for carbon, the latter being twice as expensive.
Therefore, having a process that uses less feedstock to make 1 MT of metallurgical grade silicon metal and allows the substitution of costly high purity reductant with readily available lower cost material would make the process more economically viable, and that is what PUREVAP™ offers.
GEN2 TESTING RESULTS: PUREVAP™ ABLE TO PRODUCE COMMERCIALLY VIABLE SILICON
During GEN2 testing, the Company decided to push the limits of the project by using only one reductant, a highly reactive carbon source, in the PUREVAP™ reactor. The results show that GEN2 PUREVAP™ is able to produce commercially viable 99.73% silicon with 0.166% Fe and 0.0424% Al, representing chemical grade metallurgical grade silicon metal.4
“Being able to produce chemical grade metallurgical grade silicon underscores the versatility of the PUREVAP™ process and, as such, we continue to de-risk the project”, said Mr. Pierre Carabin, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategist of PyroGenesis.
GEN3 PILOT PLANT WILL VALIDATE THE COMMERCIAL VIABILITY
Being able to use lower cost raw material represents significant potential cost savings, however another significant outcome from this is that, as a result, the PUREVAP™ process should only require 4.5 MT of raw material5 (lower purity silicon dioxide and cheaper reductant) to produce 1 MT of metallurgical grade silicon metal.
As more than 40% of the cost of conventional processes is directly attributable to the 6+ metric tonnes of raw material (silicon dioxide and reductant) needed to produce 1 MT of metallurgical grade silicon metal3, it is possible to estimate that the PUREVAP™ process could cut in half raw material cost, representing a 20% reduction in the cost of making chemical grade metallurgical grade silicon metal. GEN3 pilot plant testing will allow us to refine and validate these numbers at commercial scale.
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