HPQ Silicon Inc. ("HPQ" or the "Company") (TSX-V: HPQ)
(OTCQX: HPQFF) (FRA: O08) an innovative silicon solutions
and technology development company, informs shareholders that it
has partnered with three leading French research engineers to
create Novacium, a “jeune entreprise innovante (J.E.I)” based in
Lyon, France.
NOVACIUM’S EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD OF
RENEWABLE ENERGY MATERIALS (PHOTOVOLTAIC, HYDROGEN AND BATTERIES)
IS IN HIGH DEMAND.Novacium's three founding research
engineers, Jed KRAIEM PhD, Oleksiy NICHIPORUK PhD, and Julien
DEGOULANGE PhD have over 50 years of combined experience in
developing innovative processes for renewable energy; this includes
hydrogen production via hydrolysis, photovoltaic processes, as well
as materials for batteries and energy storage. In addition, the
team has world-renowned expertise in producing and purifying
Silicon.
AN EXPERIENCED TECHNICAL TEAM WITH A
PROVEN TRACK RECORD Novacium's Chief Operating Officer
(“COO”), Mr. Jed KRAIEM, received his PhD from the National
Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon in 2005; he then worked for
the CNRS and FerroPEM (now Ferroglobe) as Valorization engineer in
order to develop an innovative process for crystallization and
purifying Silicon for Photovoltaics. He was subsequently approached
by Apollon Solar SAS, a French start-up, which recruited him to
become the Innovation Director and later promoted him to General
Manager, a position he held until recently.
Novacium's Chief Technical Officer (“CTO”), Mr.
Oleksiy NICHIPORUK, earned his PhD from the National Institute of
Applied Sciences in Lyon in 2005, he then joined PHOTOWATT, the
leading French producer of solar cells and panels, as an R&D
engineer to work on continuous process improvement. In 2012, he
joined the team at Apollon Solar as R&D engineer and was soon
promoted to CTO due to his extensive expertise, a position he held
until recently.
Novacium’s Chief Innovation Officer (“CIO”), Mr.
Julien DEGOULANGE, obtained his PhD from the Polytechnic Institute
in Grenoble in 2008 (his thesis was on purifying Si Metallurgy via
plasma), he then spent a year working for NNTNU/SINTEF in Norway on
Silicon crystallization as a postdoc. He went on to joint Apollon
Solar in 2010 as an R&D engineer and was later promoted to Head
of the Silicon Business, a position he held until recently.
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN HPQ AND NOVACIUM
IS READY TO BEGINWith offices and a laboratory on the
AXEL'ONE site in the Lyon region of France, Novacium is already
operational and can immediately begin its collaboration with HPQ,
focused on the following three areas:
|
1) |
R&D assistance and collaboration on HPQ’s processes (PUREVAPTM
RRQ and RNIS): |
|
|
|
a. |
Supporting, optimizing and sharing knowledge and know-how,
etc. |
|
2) |
Collaborating on R&D to develop innovative processes that may
be complementary to HPQ's processes in the following niche
sectors: |
|
|
|
a. |
Manufacturing silicon or SiOx particles for battery
applications. |
|
|
|
b. |
Manufacturing carbon particles for super-capacitor
applications |
|
|
|
c. |
Manufacturing silicon-based particles for battery and hydrogen
applications, etc. |
|
3) |
Capitalizing on their own knowledge and know-how, the technical
team has several innovative concepts in the hydrogen sector and
intend to develop two innovative processes. |
Mr. Jed KRAIEM PhD, Chief Operating Officer
of Novacium said, “This partnership with HPQ is very exciting and
very strategic given our positioning. Today, everyone has
understood that Silicon is a critical, highly import and extremely
strategic material. It is everywhere! Including in semiconductors,
photovoltaic panels, lithium batteries, biomedical, etc., all of
which are key fields. Moreover, having a partner that is capable of
supplying us directly with silicon or exploiting the technologies
that we intend to develop guarantees both our security of supply
and our success in quickly being able to commercialize them on the
market.”
“Having first-hand experience of their silicon
skills at Apollon Solar, we are extremely pleased to have been able
to formalize a partnership with Messrs KRAIEM, NICHIPORUK and
DEGOULANGE via Novacium. This partnership comes at a pivotal moment
for HPQ. Without a dedicated technical team within HPQ, this could
have limited our ability to exploit the opportunities available to
us with the imminent start of our GEN3 PUREVAP™ pilot plant,” said
Mr. Bernard Tourillon, Chief Executive Officer of HPQ Silicium.
“Furthermore, having a research & development center in Lyon,
France, opens up new opportunities for cooperation within Europe, a
region which, unlike Quebec, Canada and the United States, has
formally recognized that silicon is a critical, highly important
and extremely strategic material.”
About NOVACIUM SAS
Novacium is a “jeune entreprise innovante
(J.E.I)” based in Lyon, France. It is the result of a partnership
between three of France’s leading research engineers, who wanted to
start a new Research and Development company to develop their own
technology in high added value fields connected to renewable
energy, and HPQ Silicon Inc, a Canadian company, which wanted to
find a technical team capable of helping it develop its silicon and
new renewable energy projects.
Achievements of the founding research
engineers
While working at Apollon Solar, the three
research engineers were responsible for the PHOTOSIL-ISOPEM
project, the largest research project on silicon photovoltaics in
France, with a budget of around €45m. In 2020, as part of the
project, they were the first in the world to demonstrate that it
was possible to obtain a crystal silicon ingot from metallurgically
purified silicon. The following year, they went even further by
teaming up with the German company, Roth & Rau to demonstrate
that a very high conversion efficiency could be achieved and set a
world efficiency record of 19% (‘World Class Solar Efficiency On
N-Type Cz UMG Silicon Wafers By Heterojunction Technology’). Even
today, this silicon is the subject of a collaborative research
project with the prestigious University of New South Wales (UNSW)
in Australia and the current efficiency record stands at over
22%.
In parallel to their work in the Photovoltaic
sector, the team also launched a very innovative project within
Apollon Solar to produce Hydrogen from silicon and aluminum
powders. This project, which was of considerable interest to the
French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), was financed within
the framework of a RAPID to develop a portable Hydrogen reactor to
power a system called TREKHY, which contains a fuel cell developed
by the start-up Pragma-Industries. TREKHY is currently being tested
by the French Special Forces and the DGA. Finally, they have
written several books in the field of Silicon Photovoltaics, dozens
of scientific articles and patents and their expertise is in high
demand from various public bodies (ADEME, European Commission, BPI,
etc.).
About Axel'One
Based in the region of Lyon, the collaborative
innovation platform Axel’One hosts and supports collaborative
R&D projects as well as VSEs/SMEs in the chemical-environmental
sector. The Axel'One collaborative platform was established in June
2011 with 10 founding members, including academic institutions (CPE
Lyon, ENS Lyon, INSA Lyon and Université Lyon 1), public
institutions (CNRS, IFP Energies nouvelles) and industrial
companies (Adisseo, Elkem, Solvay and SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT).
Axel'One has three sites in the Lyon area: PMI
(Innovative Materials Platform) in Saint-Fons, PPI (Innovative
Processes Platform) in Solaize and Campus (Fundamental Research
Platform) in LyonTech-la Doua and collaborates with 3
competitiveness clusters: Axelera (chemistry-environment in Lyon);
Polymeris (Rubber, plastics and composite) and Techtera (textiles
and flexible materials in Lyon).
Axel'One currently hosts more than 80
collaborative projects, 20 start up and SMEs and 5 technology
platforms of shared tools and skills in industrial analysis,
industrial catalysis, digital simulation, polymer processing and
materials characterization.
For more information, please visit
www.axel-one.com - Twitter: @AxelOne
About HPQ Silicon HPQ Silicon
Inc. (TSX-V: HPQ), is a Quebec-based innovative silicon
solutions company that offers silica (SiO2) and silicon (Si) based
solutions and is developing a unique portfolio of high value-added
silicon (Si) products sought after by battery and electric vehicle
manufacturers, among other industries. On July 21, 2022, HPQ
started trading as a Tier 1 Industrial Issuer on the TSX Venture
Exchange.
Silicon (Si), also known as silicon metal, is
one of today’s key strategic materials needed for the
decarbonization of the economy and the Renewable Energy Revolution
(“RER”). However, silicon does not exist in its pure state and must
be extracted from quartz (SiO2) in what has historically been a
capital and energy-intensive process.
With PyroGenesis Canada Inc.(TSX: PYR)
(NASDAQ: PYR), HPQ is developing:
-
the PUREVAPTM “Quartz
Reduction Reactors” (QRR), an innovative process (patent
granted in the United States and pending in other jurisdictions),
which will permit the one-step transformation of quartz (SiO2) into
high purity silicon (Si) at reduced costs, energy input, and carbon
footprint that will propagate its considerable renewable energy
potential.
-
Through its 100% owned subsidiary, HPQ NANO Silicon Powders Inc.,
the PUREVAPTM Nano
Silicon Reactor (NSiR) is a new
proprietary process that can use material produced by the QRR as
feedstock, to make a wide range of nano/micro spherical powders and
nanowires of different sizes.
-
Through its second 100% owned subsidiary, HPQ Silica POLVERE Inc.,
HPQ is developing a new plasma-based process that allows a direct
Quartz to Fumed silica transformation, removing the usage of
hazardous chemicals in the making of Fumed silica and eliminating
the Hydrogen Chloride Gas (HCI) associated with its
manufacturing.
HPQ is also a technology development company
interested in developing hydrogen-based ventures, that could be
complementary to the QRR efforts. Currently, HPQ is evaluating two
different approaches to reach this goal, those being:
-
Working with Swiss based company EBH2 Systems SAS on their
proprietary process to manufacture Green Hydrogen via electrolysis,
and
-
Developing HPQ’s own processes of making hydrogen via hydrolysis of
nanosilicon materials made by our PUREVAPTM (NSiR).
For more information, please visit HPQ Silicon
web site.
Disclaimers:
This press release contains certain
forward-looking statements, including, without limitation,
statements containing the words "may", "plan", "will", "estimate",
"continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "in the process" and
other similar expressions which constitute "forward-looking
information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws.
Forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current
expectation and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, our
expectations regarding the acceptance of our products by the
market, our strategy to develop new products and enhance the
capabilities of existing products, our strategy with respect to
research and development, the impact of competitive products and
pricing, new product development, and uncertainties related to the
regulatory approval process. Such statements reflect the current
views of the Company with respect to future events and are subject
to certain risks and uncertainties and other risks detailed from
time-to-time in the Company's ongoing filings with the security’s
regulatory authorities, which filings can be found at
www.sedar.com. Actual results, events, and performance may differ
materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no
obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking
statements either as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This News Release is available on the
company's CEO Verified Discussion Forum, a moderated social
media platform that enables civilized discussion and Q&A
between Management and Shareholders.
Source: HPQ Silicon
Inc.For further information contact:Bernard J.
Tourillon, Chairman, President, and CEO Tel +1 (514)
907-1011Patrick Levasseur, Special Advisor to the CEO Tel: +1 (514)
262-9239Email: Info@hpqsilicon.com
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