Hello Doc...the costs in the chart lists estimated variable costs and no fixed costs, yet would tend to be more towards the high end of the cost estimate...the CAPEX for a thermal operation can be US$ 8 to 25 million (estimated / various manufacturers / designs) depending on the design, capacity, mesh size or PSD, and signature of the feedstock.
As for US hydro, Niagara Falls Power supplies the Buffalo industrial district at ~US$ 0.04 to US$ 0.06 per Kwh depending on the contract terms. There are batch thermal purification operations in NY that focus on graphite machined parts, shapes, and rods to improve purity and oxidation threshold. As for Iceland, and also Canada, geothermal operations are gaining importance as a renewable source of energy and are excellent future candidates for purification operations, but CAPEX will be the single restricting factor.
One notable geothermal operation in the US is near Las Vegas, NV producing enough steam to drive several electric generators to produce up to 25 MW of electricity. A small output, yet it is 100% renewable energy.
In the US and Canada, there are a total of 3 caustic purification operations for graphite; GrafTech, SGL, and Eagle Graphite in BC, Canada (Permit limited to 99.0% LOI). There are many steel pickling (using a mix called pickle liquor containing strong acids) operations historic steel production districts that are acid operations, but there have been no new permits granted for this type of caustic operation in many years. Hence, I do not believe based on the current environmental sustainability movement in the US, that any new caustic operation will be granted a permit.
The guy for Syrah that has be appointed the project manager COO for the new SPG / Purification plant in Louisiana is located in Houston, TX named Paul Jahn and he joined Syrah in April this year. He is charged with design the new plant / facilities. One way they could obtain permitting if they occupy and industrial location that had prior caustic operations that would be allowed under a grandfather clause to obtain a permit. Key thought here is that to achieve a purity of 99.95 LOI using caustic methods would be so severe for air quality, potential water pollution / contamination, and OSHA standards for heath and safety would be viewed as extremely dangerous. I plan on continuing to follow-up with the Louisiana EPA and industrial permitting on their progress.
I have checked with the Louisiana EPA and state government (permitting / design), and there have been no plans or permits submitted review and public commit by Syrah, yet that does not mean they are not in preliminary design discussions.
A thermal operations would be easier to permit, but the CAPEX for the level of capacity Syrah has indicated would be quite expensive and in one of their recent reports are seeking additional funding up to US$ 80 million, if memory serves, to pay for the new plant / facility.
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