Proactive Investors - PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (TSX:PYR, OTCQX:PYRGF) announced that its PozPyro cement additive material produced by its proprietary plasma process has demonstrated “superb” compressive strength, marking a significant milestone toward commercial feasibility for the product.
The company said the results came from testing done by its partner Progressive Planet Solutions Inc (TSX-V:PLAN) as part of a collaboration between the two companies to develop supplementary cementing material as an alternative for fly ash.
The companies are exploring the conversion of widely available, high-grade, crystalline silica into amorphous silica using PyroGenesis’ plasma torch reactor which can be used to enhance the strength of concrete as a replacement for fly ash.
Progressive Planet, a Kamloops, British Columbia-based CleanTech and manufacturing company, prepared four separate batches of cement mortar cubes to test using the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) testing protocol, which measures compressive strength at both day 7 and day 28.
The average Strength Activity Index result for the four 7-day strength tests for PozPyro was 108.75%, a 45% gain.
“Mortar cubes need to possess 75% of the strength of the control cube at 7 days to pass this ASTM test, so we are delighted that the average strength was 108.75%,” Progressive Planet CEO Steve Harpur commented.
The results of the 28-day Strength Activity Index test are expected sometime after April 29, 2024.
All four test batches also passed the water demand test, which measures the workability of cement.
The water demand for PozPyro was between 99% and 109% with the average water demand being 103.75%, below the 115% water demand of the control mix.
P. Peter Pascali, CEO of PyroGenesis, said the results underscored yet again the transformative nature of plasma in producing materials, in both an economically and environmentally beneficial manner, key to heavy industry.
“Our experience over the past few years in developing new ways to use plasma to process silica quartz into valuable end products continues to lead to a variety of unique and interesting outputs, with PozPyro being the most recent example,” Pascali said.
“The cement industry is a major target for us, and we have high expectations for the PozPyro green cement additive material we have developed with Progressive Planet.”