PYX Resources: Achieving volume and diversification milestones. Watch the video here.
@simms45 thanks for the info, certainly seems that the focus will be back on biomass as a feedstock (which makes a lot more sense for gasification than mixed waste) and then on specific other non-biomass (predominantly well sorted plastics) for methanation / oil production where some level of ****geneity of the feedstock can be guaranteed.
putting msw or rdf into gasification is fraught with issued for a process that requires stable reactor conditions, that variabilities in moisture content, calorific value and ash bridging can easily upset. the only reliable example i've found of att working on rdf or msw is the applications by nippon steel/hzi with their direct melting equipment, which ran at up to 1,800*c to solve the ash issue by creating a glass-like black vitreous ****. even they are predominantly focussing on grate-based incineration for msw / rdf, as evidenced by their most recent projects in taoyuan, muroran city and
kitakyushu city - the last direct melting plant was more than 10 years ago, 2013 i believe.
I’m not a “chart guy” mainly because I’ve no idea what half the lines and colours there mean, but more because I’d rather focus on the fundamentals than trying to predict future movements based on past pricing.
@BertMonkey a $90k saving on a 250KVA (assume 220kw) generator running at an average of 90% load for 8,500 hours per annum is approximately 5.3p/kWh which is not to be sniffed at, but natural gas CHP even on power only will save you double that, not to mention a significantly cleaner burn than the H2 / Diesel mix. I just don’t get it? I’m new here and wanting to learn, but a saving of 5p/kWh against diesel generation (which is c.30-35p) isn’t much to write home about.
Thanks for the post, the debt covenants issue will likely be that there are potential debt serviceability covenants that ST was in risk of breaching due to the delays, and those needed to be renegotiated to avoid triggering a default. Remember that these furnaces are apparently unique to ST and their process, therefore from a lender's perspective they've very little value as collateral, if these were HGV's or other ubiquitous assets with readily ascertainable market value, a simple Asset Based Lending facility could probably be achieved on a light to no covenant basis.
@Trytrytryagain It could be, as I said I'm familiar with the Company from quite some time ago, including a face to face meeting with the Chairman way back in 2018, I wasn't sure about the application of the technology on RDF then, and I can't find any evidence on the website (I'll admit I'm a LONG way from up to date on the RNS's etc) that they have any RDF plants up and running - the usual pre-requisite for an insurance wrap on performance. If you can point me towards the insurance company who will provide that cover, I know of a project site looking for technology and this would be a massive de-risking exercise for the developer as performance guarantees through an EPC wrap is not only nigh on impossible to find for kit other than HZI, but prohibitively expensive unless you're at massive scale (at which point you'd be using HZI anyway).
@Razza - from my experience you're told before you're provided with information that would make you inside, and can inform the BOD that you don't want to be brought inside, allowing you to trade without having said information. If the investor just wanted to dump, then he'd have refused the info (and take the risk that it would have been great news that would cause the stock to rocket) and then dumped between 3p and 1p.
Sorry I mis-typed when I put sell, it was meant to be "send". You're right that the profit level to the waste processor seemed to remain constant, however the idea is that each stage of "cleansing" removes material that can either be sent off at little to no cost (such as rubble / hardcore) or could be sold for recycling (such as glass, metal, plastic etc).
As such each stage would have a weight reduction also, so in your example level 1, you'd have something like:
Waste Company:
Receives 1,000 tonnes of MSW @ £140 = £140,000
Cleans 1,000 tonnes @ £20 (£20,000)
Removes 100 tonnes @ £0
Sells 100 tonnes £40 = £4,000 (plastics, glass etc for recycling) It's actually more complicated with PRN's etc.
Sends 800 tonnes to EfW @ £80 = (£64,000)
Net profit: £60,000. (140k - 20k + 4k - 64k)
@MyIPA - you're absolutely correct about the gate fee issue, I think maybe I wasn't clear. Essentially the W2E operator charges a gate fee for the material they receive, and the more fussy they are (i.e. the more work the waste processor has to do in providing the material to the W2E operator) then the gate fee falls, but this means that the W2E operator has less gate fees for their material (it also usually means it rises in CV, which means the same plant can process less tonnage, so you get hit twice if your'e the W2E operator) so they need to recover more from the sale of power / gas / oil etc.
Let's say that Eqtec are running their own plant, getting the waste from, for argument's sake, Biffa.
Biffa collect MSW from council contracts at around £140/tonne, give or take, then they have options:
- They can send this straight to large incineration (such as Wilton, Runcorn, etc) and pay £100-110/tonne.
- They can spend £20/tonne to process it to RDF, gain some revenues from recyclate sales, then sell that RDF to a W2E plant at £90/tonne.
- If Eqtec want a very clean waste, the work that has to be done might cost £40-60/tonne, as such the residual gate fee to Eqtec in that scenario is c.£40-50/tonne, which would in most cases completely break the economic model.
All of those figures are for example purposes only, I've no idea what the processing costs are as I've not seen them published, the gate fees are widely available (although I'd suggest a pinch of salt with them).
@MyIPA - thanks for the info. Unfortunately it's a story I've heard many, many times before and I've physically visited gasification plants (advanced and then some not so) in locations throughout the UK, Europe and Asia - all of them had the exact same issues - heterogeneous feedstocks (and in particular major issues with low ash-melt point plastics leading to clinker formation). Not a single one of them ran consistently at anywhere near the stated capacity (once they moved out of the safe, sterile test environment into the real world, running on genuine, mixed waste feedstock).
Gasification of clean biomass to make biochar works 100% technically, but with the prices of clean biomass nowadays, it's potential economic suicide.
You're right in that feedstock cleanup (for example to move from MSW to RDF, or from RDF to SRF) is possible, but it's expensive, which as you rightly point out results in the reduced gate fees that can be charged by the business accepting the waste. Taking SRF at £40/tonne means you need to get a LOT for the power you produce, which lends itself to very small, on-site applications predominantly focused on the displacement of diesel for power-constrained sites - I know of two such sites that have recently gone through planning and I'm eager to see their performance.
"Waste to X" applications such as hydrogen, syngas methanation, synthetic oils etc is definitely a possibility, the issue for me is on economics, in terms of can you actually get a customer for the byproduct which whilst technically very clever - might be prohibitively expensive.
The MCAP will be factoring in the current burn rate - that's what I'd like to know about ASAP - what's the monthly cash burn depending on production level? I'll be honest I don't really like this £25/50/75/150m capacity point - it's no good having the "capacity" if you're not hitting the output numbers, as those are the ones appearing on your sales invoices. There was talk in the last presentation and I think in some recent RNS's about the need for on-site expansion, and new buildings etc - are we certain that they actually have somewhere to put these new furnaces when they use the £13m to buy them - it'd be a crying shame if they spend all that money and the furnaces sit around gathering dust in storage because there are delays on buildings or other infrastructure - my firm is always getting let down by civils contractors, not to mention the bloody energy suppliers.
Just got turned onto this one by a friend of mine who knew the MD (Gujral) and Chair (Davenport) from years ago - seems like a no-brainer with the push for Net Zero. I'm just wondering what all of these customers are doing for carbon free power when there's no sun? I live in the North West and that big yellow ball is a rather infrequent visitor...
Gotcha, the jury's still out for me on gasification of RDF, especially given the failures of Outotec, Energos, Air Products. Small demo plants are all well and good, but commercial scale plants at more than 3 tonnes per hour are another matter. I'l have look into the two university projects, the big issue with a lot of those is that they don't accurately represent the fuel supply that will be received, as it's often very carefully sorted and waste companies will try and sneak all kinds of sh*te in.
Hi all - new to the board, but not new to this company, I've been following it for a while. Can someone please explain what: "formal legal action to recover project development loans at the Deeside project in Wales, for which a settlement agreement has recently been signed, in April 2024" means? I'm familiar with the site, as well as the close by Parc Adfer and Shotton projects - and from what I can tell one of the main issues with the Deeside site was that they finally realised that gasification of MSW / RDF simply doesn't work, so it was being offered for sale at £15m despite not being able to get a grid connection until almost 2030 which meant that whoever bought it would just be sat on it, waiting for NRW to revoke / refuse the permit because nobody in Wales wants an EfW plant anywhere near them (same in Scotland).
Is anyone else signed up to the presentation for next week? I'm trying to work out how much info will be shared, in that will we get any decent insight (like I'm sure the Institutional Investors have) or will it just be fluff and guff? I'm watching the YouTube recording of the November presentations at the moment, I'd imagine that this next one will sound very similar, as in we're losing money so we need to grow, we need cash to grow but once we get to £50/75m sales there'll be loads of cash.