pH7 Technologies
We share a passion to create a more habitable and sustainable planet for future generations.
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pH7 Technologies is a Foresight 50 2023 Honouree
Empowering Green Energy
pH7 Technologies enables the transition to clean and renewable energy (i.e. hydrogen) by increasing the supply of critical metals through an environmentally and economically sustainable process empowering the circular economy. This innovative closed-loop process, applying organic, inorganic, and electrochemistry, increases the supply of critical metals through the extraction of metals from the materials destined for landfills, such as mine tailings, low-grade ores, and end-of-life materials problematic for current methodologies. This disruptive process significantly reduces the wastewater, prevents hazardous chemicals from being exposed to the environment, and reduces the CO2e emissions down to zero while enabling the extraction of critical metals such as nickel, copper, platinum, and iridium to empower the smooth transition to green energy.
pH7 provides hydrogen technology OEMs with required critical metals such as iridium and platinum catalysts for electrolyzers, fuel cells, ammonia crackers, etc., which will enable them to meet their 2050 net zero commitments. For example, 15 tons of iridium is required annually to scale hydrogen production by 2035, while the supply from mining is only 7.5 tonnes per year. To address this market deficit, responsible sourcing from recycling is vital, and the pH7 process provides the industry with the technology to meet this demand in a sustainable manner.
Why our venture should be considered one of Canada’s 50 most investable cleantech companies:
pH7 has developed innovative technology to support growing PGM demand and significantly reduce the environmental footprint generated by conventional extraction processes. Our patent-pending, closed-loop process leverages emerging solvometallurgical techniques, extracting PGM from secondary resources by selectively dissolving metals into a proprietary green and biodegradable solvent that reduces chemical consumption, and uses organic and inorganic salts combined by electrochemistry, enabling the infinite reuse of solvent medium. As compared to secondary smelting, this process supports a broader range of PGM-bearing inputs, yields a higher purity product, consumes 48 per cent less energy and 99.7 per cent less freshwater, and generates near zero GHG emissions, no effluent, and no off-gassing.
Compared to primary smelting and mining — which constitutes the majority of our environmental impact due to our end product primarily deriving from materials that are not commonly recycled — pH7’s closed-loop process consumes 97 per cent less energy. Applied at a commercial scale through pH7’s proposed large-scale demonstration and deployment project, the technology will directly reduce 65,000 tons of CO2e, 21,000 m3 of freshwater consumption, and 7,200 MW of energy consumption annually.