PyroGenesis announces successful validation of DROSRITE™ facility
by CM Staff
The results confirm that the residues are reportedly of such high quality as to be able to be processed into marketable products.
MONTREAL — On Sep. 1, PyroGenesis Canada Inc. announces that their JV Partner has completed primary testing of residues from an operational DROSRITE™ facility. The results confirm that the residues are reportedly of such high quality as to be able to be processed into marketable products.
“We are extremely happy to announce today that for the very first time the existing process, around which we are basing the joint venture on, has successfully tested residues from PyroGenesis’ DROSRITE™ metal recovery system,” said P. Peter Pascali, CEO of PyroGenesis Canada Inc. “Of note, these residues are from the same site where we plan to build and operate our first dross residue processing plant. It is expected that this will be the first plant of several that will be built to transform dross residues into high value chemicals. Timing could not be more perfect, as these residues are being increasingly regulated, with some jurisdictions banning them outright from landfills. The success of these test results further validates the “inside-the-fence”, on-site discovery and upsell strategy we have often described as key to our customer relationships. This bodes well for our long-term goal of building out and operating many such plants. These results further demonstrate the value of this JV, and reinforces PyroGenesis’ strategy as an eventual one-stop shop for aluminum producers aiming to reduce CO2 emissions with environmentally friendly processes.”
As background, aluminum dross is a waste by-product of aluminum production or transformation, created when the top layer of the molten metal is exposed to oxygen. Composed of a mix of aluminum metal (typically 60%) as well as oxides and other chemicals (typically 40%) that get trapped together in this layer, it is constantly skimmed off and removed from furnaces containing molten metal. Toxic in nature, dross is stored, landfilled, or processed, with the goal to recover some of the metal that it contains.
PyroGenesis’ DROSRITE™ dross processing metal recovery system can recover up to 98% of the aluminum metal fraction in dross, returning it directly back to production. This results in cost savings for aluminum producers, who benefit with instantly higher output levels, less waste, and less cost to store or landfill the material.
The material left after DROSRITE™ processing – the remaining fraction comprising typically 40% of the original dross – is referred to as secondary dross, dross residue or often just “residue”. With little purpose in this form, this residue is most often either disposed in landfills or, in some cases, sold as-is as a cheap production additive to other industries. It is the transformation of these residues into high-value products to sell on the open market – a process known as “valorization” – for which the 50:50 JV agreement was signed, with an end goal of building and operating dross residue valorization facilities worldwide to serve areas of high dross production, and locations where PyroGenesis’ DROSRITE™ systems are operating.
With these results in hand, steps to confirm specific techno-economic aspects of the first JV plant can be completed, a phase that’s ongoing this quarter (Q3) and which is expected to conclude during the next quarter (Q4), at which point actual factory planning can commence.
