Rio Tinto and Alcoa spotlight PyroGenesis plasma technology at TMS
Rio Tinto and Alcoa spotlight PyroGenesis plasma technology at TMS
https://aluminiumtoday.com/news/rio-tinto-and-alcoa-spotlight-pyrogenesis-plasma-technology-at-tms
Publish Date: 2026-03-20 07:33:00
Source Domain: aluminiumtoday.com
Rio Tinto and Alcoa have presented PyroGenesis’ plasma torches at The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) in San Diego, California.
Held over 15-19 March, the presentation showed data that confirmed that PyroGenesis’ patented plasma torches provide significant reductions and/or cost savings in key operational metrics when compared to natural gas burners.
The data is derived from a live furnace trial conducted by PyroGenesis and its clients Rio Tinto and Alcoa. Overall, the results show that plasma improves furnace thermal performance, leading to significant energy savings and shorter melting times, and reduces dross generation, all without compromising metal quality.
Mr P. Peter Pascali, President and CEO of PyroGenesis, stated: “Effectively, this means that by replacing a natural gas burner with a patented PyroGenesis plasma torch, you can produce more output from the same footprint, or produce the same output from a smaller footprint.
“What this also means is that, especially for greenfield projects, major CAPEX costs for metal and refractory construction, or for associated equipment like fume treatment systems to neutralise hazardous air pollutants, can be reduced.
“This is significant given that in many aluminium plants there is not enough system capacity to process the desired amounts of aluminium. In these cases, the bottleneck is operational capacity not aluminium availability.
“Switching out natural gas burners for plasma torches would be a quick and efficient way to immediately increase throughput, and profit.”
As previously reported in PyroGenesis’ earnings reports, the company has been engaged in live furnace tests of plasma as a process heat source in melting and holding furnaces with major aluminium companies.
For this project, a pilot furnace was installed at PyroGenesis’ facilities in Montreal. This same furnace is used by the clients to replicate the processes in their industrial aluminium…
