Environmental Clean Technologies Ltd (ECT) has acquired the Matmor technology, including plant, equipment and intellectual property (IP). Since the advent of coke based iron production in 1709, primary iron making has relied on high quality black coal as its reductant and heat source. The Matmor process is positioned to revolutionise primary iron making thanks to the design of a simple, low cost, low emission, patented Matmor retort using cheaper, alternative raw materials. This technology comprises two exclusive facets:
1.Inputs – It uses brown coal (lignite) as a reductant and heat source – no other technology can claim this
2.Plant design –a vertical furnace that works with the natural chemistry of brown coal
Matmor is a unique method for producing high-quality iron from inexpensive, abundant brown coal and iron oxide bearing material such as mill scale, nickel tailings and, of course, high or low grade iron ore. It delivers a clean iron product tailored to the size/shape and carbon content requirements of the end user. Matmor iron is a high-quality substitute for, or supplement to, scrap metal feedstock used in Electric Arc or Induction Furnaces.
The transaction supports the ACT’s need to more closely align Matmor and Coldry development to deliver on the full potential of the technologies, by attracting worldclass development partners keen to benefit from the combined offering.
ECT Managing Director Ashley Moore stated “This transaction is a significant commercial step ahead of commencing the technical scale-up of the Matmor technology, providing clarity and certainty in relation to current and future access to the IP in the eyes of potential development partners.”
“With the conclusion of this transaction, the company is in a position to confidently enter development and investment discussions with interested parties, aimed at advancing both Matmor and Coldry.”
Managing Director Ashley Moore stated, “From an external investment point of view, bringing the Matmor technology in-house alongside Coldry creates a more attractive investment ‘package’ for interested parties. The whole is viewed as greater than the sum of its parts.”
This interest has grown out of the company’s India strategy, which addresses challenges around energy and resource security, economic security and environmental security.
In addition, it has become clear through the company’s ongoing discussions with various parties, that while the Coldry and Matmor technologies are individually attractive in their own right, the combined offering is a significantly more compelling proposition, able to leverage lower value resource assets (lignite and iron ore tailings) to deliver higher value, diversified outputs such as iron and iron alloys in addition to Coldry’s thermal coal product.
The company has concluded preliminary testing of several Indian iron ores, with encouraging results. The intention is to pursue a second phase of bench-scale, batch testing on those same iron ores to refine outcomes and inform the selection of candidate inputs for subsequent test plant trials.
Bench-scale trials require several hundred kilograms of raw materials, whereas the test plant trials may require tonnes of raw inputs and involve iterative development of the test plant as part of ongoing fundamental and applied research and development necessary to inform pilot scale design.
In addition to these technical activities, the company is developing commercial pathways, starting with collaboration options around both Matmor and Coldry technologies, with the view to advancing Matmor and Coldry to pilot and demonstration scale respectively.