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On the 14th August, Powerhouse Energy (PHE) CEO Keith Allaun and Technical Director David Ryan appeared on the Vox Markets Podcast, which you can listen to above.
Subsequently, David Ryan has responded to some online speculation about the validity of Powerhouse Energy's cutting edge technology, which in essence turns unwanted waste into increasingly demanded clean energy.
This speculation came from an alleged former employee of Pyromex, a company whose technology was used up until early January 2015 but was rejected by PHE due to its system being inferior to their current model the Gen3-UHt Gasification system:
"The Gen3-UHt Gasification system, a recently developed, concurrent-phase process, has proven to be a superior technology to prior Pyromex trials in each component the Company has evaluated.
"A number of engineering breakthroughs, including the integration of both resistance and microwave heating (concurrent-phase process), have set the PHE Gen3-UHt Gasification System apart from processes available elsewhere.
"Operating models of the PHE-Gen3 UHt which have been evaluated at the engineering facility in Australia, combined with a re-examination of earlier Pyromex test data, have reinforced the Company's decision to embrace this new approach for PowerHouse's gasification engineering and commercialisation efforts."
Below is a copy of the conversation between the alleged former employee and the replies from Powerhouse Energy's Technology Director, David Ryan:
Alleged Former Employee: I have followed the share chat on this company for some time. I was one of the original founders of Pyromex and was involved in the development of its technology which somehow ended up in this company. I know that the company has stated they have abandoned the Pyromex technology but the technology they are using is the same, they are just presenting it in a different way.
David Ryan: The chemical engineering processes are the same, the application to initiate the chemical engineering reactions is radically different.
AFE: The technology has its failings in that the process has to be oxygen free, but the waste being subjected to gasification has an oxygen content which could make the process very dangerous.
DR: The Pyromex technology certainly had its failings. Hence our abandonment of it. However, the DMG System physical/chemical reaction relies on the introduction of an oxidising agent. We are effecting this in a substantively different way to some of the other processes that also introduce neat oxygen but have proven to be unviable commercially.
AFE: Also the company states they are working with ceramics with temperature of 1500c plus, the problem here is the stability of the ceramic at that temperature to the application required. In theory the process works, in practice it has tremendous problems.
DR: Ceramics are, indeed, a challenge, hence we are working with alternative, semi-exotic materials that have proven to be both reliable and effectively impervious to caustic erosion within the temperature envelopes in which we operate.
AFE: I know many think this is the best thing since sliced bread, unfortunately it is not.
DR: I cannot comment on personal beliefs.
AFE: Over the many years of developing the Pyromex technology it was tested at various temperatures upto 3000c, but 1500c is a good working tempreture as all waste will gasify at 1500c. It was run continuously for the maximum of 10 hours at various times. A large range of different materials were used including ceramics to try and solve the problem or rather to find an acceptable balance in which the theory of the technology could be developed in such a way to make the technology a commercial reality. The problem being that reactor core destroys itself throughout the operation.
DR: We concur regarding the Pyromex technology. Material science has moved on quite substantively since their unit was constructed. See above.
AFE: Finding a material that can give a balance to make the technology commercially viable is the goal.
DR: Agreed, we have undertaken sophisticated modelling, bench testing, validation proving, and extensive in situ testing, in the G3 Research Demonstrator at Thornton Science Park to identify operating regimes and material selections for each feedstock presented to us by potential customers. We have now designed a commercially viable process.
AFE: Having said that the major problem as I have said before is the oxygen in the waste being gasified, as an oxygen free atmosphere has to be maintained at all times otherwise at 1500c a dangerous situation could occur.
DR: For such a hazardous environment situation to arise, we would need to be feeding in neat oxygen into the chamber at a significant rate, rather than the oxidising agents we are feeding. This is not an operational case. Both our empirical experience in the Demonstrator, and the scientific data derived therefrom, support our premise of operation and its safety.
AFE: I personally feel that the balance needed for this technology to progress is unattainable. For PHE it is a dream to come true, but the directors must know it will never be achieved, as they must know the downside but only want to listen to the upside. It is like a drug, once you are hooked, for various reasons you cannot walk away. However in this case, innocent people get hurt."
DR: I cannot comment on personal beliefs. We are prudently addressing each challenge and I have stated my position that following the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) I consider that the process is commercial, and this view is corroborated by the interest we have from blue-chip, technically astute, customers.
Information on David Ryan
David was the former CEO and Managing Director of Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions’ Oil & Gas Business Unit for the UK.
Prior to his employment with Thyssenkrupp, he founded and built a successful engineering consulting organisation, Energy & Power Limited, which was acquired by Thyssenkrupp in 2012. He has over 30 years of increasingly complex engineering, business development, and project management experience. An expert in sophisticated design engineering, David will bring a breadth of project delivery, international business management, and general engineering acumen to the Board.
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