New Patent Application for Plasma Process to Convert SPLNew patent application for PyroGenesis, note the comments/addressable market at the bottom of the post:
PLASMA PROCESS TO CONVERT SPENT POT LINING (SPL) TO INERT SLAG, ALUMINUM FLUORIDE AND ENERGY https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/fr/detail.jsf?docId=WO2021189133&tab=PCTDESCRIPTION&_cid=P21-KU6Y0H-57663-1&fbclid=IwAR0Z-oMSoY27AIE8LLSUToskErh9hjjjMWPYSeQo-ZxWJ9O6YuTFM0Z4fyo Abstract Apparatus for converting Spent Pot Lining (SPL) into inert slag, aluminum fluoride and energy includes a plasma arc furnace such that the destruction of SPL occurs therein. The furnace generates an electric arc within the waste, which arc travels from an anode to a cathode and destroys the waste due to the arc's extreme temperature, thereby converting a mineral fraction of SPL into vitrified inert slag lying within a crucible of the furnace. The furnace gasifies the carbon content of the SPL and produces a well-balanced syngas. The gasification takes place due to the controlled intake of air and steam into the furnace. The gasification reaction liberates a significant amount of energy. Steam captures this excess energy, to provide part of the oxygen requirement for gasification and to contribute to raise the syngas H2 content. Steam also contributes to converting some SPL fluorides (NaF and Al2F3) into hydrogen fluoride. The plasma SPL processing system is compact (occupying less area than some competitive methods of SPL treatment), can be installed in close proximity to the aluminium plant (minimizing transportation of SPL and AlF3), and requires only electricity as its energy source and thus no fossil fuels.
- Possible partnership with Rio Tinto (already ongoing with the research project for Alouette Aluminium, in which Rio Tinto is a stakeholder). "Rio Tinto currently operates an 80,000-ton/year LCL&L plant in the Saguenay region, Quebec. The process has the uttermost advantage of having already been through a difficult and long scale-up. Nonetheless, the process suffers from its complexity."
- Huge addressable market. "An aluminum smelter produces up to 25,000 tons of SPLs per year. All the 270 or so aluminum smelters around the world must handle such waste stream, which amounts to more than
1,500,000 metric tons per year worldwide."
Long and Strong in PyroGenesis!