I haven’t been this excited to write an article in a while, so I’m just going to hop right in! About two weeks ago, PermaFix (PESI 0.00%↑) held its 4Q23 earnings call. During that call, management shared that the company has made major strides towards providing a new, proprietary treatment option for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are a major environmental problem as can be inferred by their slang name: forever plastics/forever chemicals. Finding a way to treat these chemicals on a large scale has been elusive.
On the one hand, we do know how to get rid of PFAS products: incinerate them. Of course, the problem with that is while eliminating the product, you do not eliminate the chemical. In fact, what happens is that the chemicals end up polluting the air and water supply, which can lead to serious health issues for humans and other animals and plant life. Another possibility to treat PFAS products is a super critical water oxidation system. From what I can gather, this treatment option is actually quite effective. The problem with it, however, is the amount of heat needed to make the system effective. In other words, this treatment option is effective, but not efficient.
What is needed, then, is a treatment option that is both effective AND efficient. Enter PESI.
Now, to be clear from the outset, PESI still needs to make progress on their new PFAS treatment system to prove they can deal with the chemicals on a production-level scale. That said, the company has nearly completed a pilot project and believes they can begin scaling the treatment method to production levels before the end of the year. In fact, the company is confident enough that the CEO actually projected for $2M of revenue in 2024 from PFAS treatment on the 4Q23 earnings call.
While PESI is obviously a relatively small company, they clearly have a sterling reputation for treating nuclear waste, as evidenced by the DOE continuously trusting them with new contracts and with massive amounts of work related to the Hanford cleanup. Their top engineers have also been working on this PFAS treatment for around four years, so there are certainly good reasons to be optimistic that PESI can scale this treatment method to production levels.
Below, I will share detailed information with our subscribers that I have learned over the past two weeks related to PESI’s PFAS treatment development and future plans. I believe as more investors become aware of PESI’s progress with PFAS, they will better understand the current excitement surrounding the company and the recent surge in stock price despite guidance for a weak 1H24 (I previously wrote an article following the 4Q earnings call discussing balancing PESI’s potential opportunities with its current projected 1H24 weakness). In addition, I will share some new details I learned regarding PESI and Hanford, including one specific detail that I believe is extremely important to understand the current state of the Hanford cleanup project.