PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (TSX:PYR) said it has completed an on-schedule delivery of a 1-megawatt (MW) plasma torch to an unnamed multi-billion-dollar client.
The torch is designed for use in iron ore pelletization, an important upstream part of the steelmaking process.
Now that the company’s torch system has been delivered, the installation will proceed at the discretion of the client, PyroGenesis said. Installing the plasma torch system and all related peripherals is estimated to take approximately three to four weeks, after which a site acceptance test (SAT) is performed.
READ: PyroGenesis strikes agreement to introduce plasma torches into the upstream anode baking process
The SAT was initially scheduled for the end of July, but the client informed PyroGenesis that it would prefer to extend the process by up to an additional 90 days, the company said, due to delays in implementing significant modifications to their site that the client is making.
“This on-schedule delivery signals the push into the final leg of this journey,” PyroGenesis CEO Peter Pascali said in a statement. “Since we announced our participation in the international consortium studying the use of plasma in iron ore pelletization for the first time, the response to the possibilities presented by our plasma torches, and the subsequent scale at which several of the world’s largest iron ore producers and steelmakers have been willing to investigate such a major change to their process in partnership with PyroGenesis, has been remarkable.”
The client, as PyroGenesis has previously announced, is a multi-billion-dollar international producer of iron ore pellets and one of the largest in the industry. The client, which has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, has over 10 iron ore pelletization plants, each possibly requiring up to 50 plasma torches, the company noted.
“By replacing heavily polluting diesel and bunker fuel burners with clean combustion-less plasma torches, iron ore pelletizers around the world will dramatically reduce their reliance on environmentally damaging fossil fuels,” Pascali said. “And now, after extensive modeling, simulations, business case development, production, and live factory tests – during a period that was engulfed by a global pandemic – our plasma torch system for iron ore pelletization is now on-site with the client in preparation for first-ever live factory usage toward that carbon reduction goal.”
PyroGenesis also previously revealed that the client requested and received a cost estimate for 36 plasma torches of between US$75 million and $95 million (C$95 million to $115 million).
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