Our Market
Regenx’s technology will play an important role in the niche market opportunity for Diesel SiC converters with its proprietary market leading cleantech.
A Growing Opportunity
Regenx identified an underserved niche in the catalytic recycling market that its technology is targeted for. This market is the Silicon Carbide (SiC) based diesel catalytic converters. Government regulations regarding emissions controls have been a primary driver historically of the increased usage of catalytic converters worldwide and this has not slowed down. As regulations became more stringent, they also were applied to a boarder set of applications. Initially the regulations were applied to gasoline autos, then included highway diesel engines. Since 1996, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulations for non-road diesel engines emissions have been phased in through four progressively more stringent tiers. Different tiers went into effect at different dates for different engines, but since 2015, all new non-road diesel engines, including stationary engines, have had to comply with the EPA’s Tier IV standard. Under this standard all diesel engines must be equipped with catalytic converter type devices regardless of application.
The Growth in demand has created a supply deficit in platinum group metals (PGM) with an average shortfall of 259,000 oz for the period between 2016 and 2023.
The primary suppliers of PGM are South Africa (Pt – 69.1%, Pd – 35.8%) and Russia (Pt 13.5%, Pd – 41.2%). Both these countries have geo-political risks associated with their ability to be considered reliable sources of supply. Not withstanding that PGM are among the least abundant minerals on the Earth adding new supply from a mining source generally takes in excess of 10 years of development. Platinum and palladium are generally interchangeable in their usage for catalytic converters and their mixture has changed over time based on the pricing and availability of the specific metals. Palladium was the primary metal available to fuel the growth in demand for catalytic converters which is why its share of usage increased even as the pricing of Palladium increased. Diesel converters have historically used a larger proportion of platinum then their gasoline counterparts.
In conjunction with the increased requirements related to emission controls the amount heavy trucks being purchased in the United States is growing which are primarily diesel powered. The average life expectancy of a vehicle is in the 10 to 15 years which when combined with projections that any potential alternative powered replacement technologies will be slow to be implemented in this sector the supply of used catalytic converters will continue long into the future.
Platinum is a key element in the future energy economy and its usage is projected to increase substantially due to its importance in fuel cells. Substituting platinum with other PGMs, such as palladium as occurred in auto catalysts, could help alleviate some of these supply pressures.
In recognition of the importance of PGM to the future US economy the federal government designated PGM as a critical mineral for energy technologies. The main pillars of the government strategy to secure the supply of the designated materials are: implement programs to diversify supply, develop substitutes, and improve reuse and recycling.
Future Energy Economy
North America accounts for 20% of the global PGM usage in catalytic converters.
The total amount of PGM being recycled is projected to increase to meet the rising demand but alternative recycling technologies are required as the capacity of the current dominate commercial method of recycling, smelting, is at capacity. The ability to add additional smelting capacity is challenging due to environmental, economic, and social license limitations. In addition, the proportion that contains Silicon Carbide (SiC), which when processed by smelters create operational efficiency issues, has been increasing from 9% in 2019 to a projection of over 30% in 2025.
The Regenx strategy is to work in conjunction with smelters to offer an outlet for the feedstock they don’t want to process that their customers are looking to dispose of.
