In January, we wrote about a company called PyroGenesis that was using its waste management technology to breakdown waste into material suitable for 3D printing. Back then, it had purchased a metallurgical powder plant from “a multinational Mining and Metallurgical Company (“Client”), which has requested that its name be withheld for competitive reasons” to produce additive manufacturing powder. The company has just made another announcement, this time saying that PyroGenesis has “signed a contract with a major international manufacturer (the ‘Customer’) for ten plasma-based, powder production systems for 3D printing.” The contract is, according to the company’s press release, valued at $12.5 million and, again, “The Customer’s name is being withheld for competitive reasons.”
PyroGenesis’s business is an interesting one, converting waste into useable material and energy. The company lists on its site that it uses a process called Plasma Atomization to produce powders for 3D printing, including metals such as Titanium, Niobium, Nitinol, and Aluminum, among others. And the PyroGenesis website has been much improved since I last covered them, but it’s difficult not to be wary of statements that company makes in this latest press release like, “the Company’s backlog of signed contracts now exceeds $20MM or the equivalent of approximately 350% of the Company’s revenues in its previous fiscal year, all of which is expected to be completed by year end 2015.”
The company’s CEO, P. Peter Pascali, goes onto say, “Our patented platform can produce these powders effortlessly. It is a proven product with completed commercial sales having already taken place in North America and Europe . What is more exciting is the demand we are currently experiencing for this product line world-wide,” adding, “This contract highlights the success PyroGenesis is having with the focused business development strategy implemented last year; the effects of which we are only now beginning to see and it once again underscores the success PyroGenesis is having in deploying its core plasma technology to niche, high-margin applications.”
If it’s true, though, the company could be influential as a 3D printing materials supplier, but, before we add it to the list of players in the 3D printing industry, we’ll have to wait for some more concrete evidence to come out.
