PyroGenesis Canada Inc. and its Steam Plasma Arc Refrigerant Cracking System (SPARC) has been acquired as the core technology for New Zealand’s national hazardous refrigerant collection and destruction facility run by Cool Safe.
The New Zealand government established Cool-Safe, which is a product stewardship organization (PSO), in 1993.
It is mandated to play a significant role in New Zealand’s goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 35 per cent by 2035.
CEO and chair of PyroGenesis, Peter Pascali, described the client as a very large, government-mandated organization serving the whole of New Zealand, and is comprised of nine advanced materials/chemical trading companies working together.
“As with most product stewardship organizations, these companies have been given the responsibility to oversee, in this case, the safe removal and disposal of the hazardous products they either manufacture or distribute,” he said.
"The nine companies within the Cool Safe organisation are significant players in their own right and include four that are large publicly traded multi-nationals and six that are 50+ years old.”
In addition to the nine large materials/chemical companies and distributors that are central to the Cool-Safe organization, the initiative serves all commercial businesses across New Zealand by way of a buy back program which commenced in October, 2022.
This program rewards companies who deposit their end-of-life refrigerants and refrigerant-based mechanicals at a Cool-Safe collection site. Additionally, through widespread marketing of the refrigerant disposal rules, both industry and consumers will be informed about the steps they can or must take regarding hazardous refrigerants.
This is expected to lead to a large uptake in the program, and a growing need for the safe destruction capabilities provided by PyroGenesis’ SPARC System.
“With the shift \from voluntary to regulated handling of these waste streams, scheduled for 2024, combined with the relaunch and marketing of the Cool-Safe initiative, the collection and safe disposal of hazardous refrigerants in New Zealand, will continue to grow,” Pascali said.
“Until now, the organization has been sending collected refrigerants to a plant in Australia for destruction. With this purchase and construction of PyroGenesis’ SPARC system, New Zealand will have its own onshore capabilities for the safe destruction of refrigerants.
PyroGenesis has been contracted to design and build the SPARC refrigerant waste destruction system, and will also supervise and support contractors in the system installation within a new facility being built by the Cool-Safe organization.
The project has an approximate production-to-delivery timeline of 18 months, and the client has indicated they may require additional systems as the initiative grows now that collection of hazardous refrigerants has become mandated. This first system is contracted at approximately $6 million, not including ongoing after-sales support of an indeterminate amount.
Powered by electricity, the SPARC system substantially reduces an operator’s carbon footprint while concurrently eliminating ozone-depleting substances. The SPARC system can also destroys other chemicals such as CFCs, HCFCs, HFCs, Halons, and PFCs.