[Gasification] Small steam systems plus gasifiers for electricity

Tom Miles tmiles at trmiles.com
Mon Dec 2 21:24:50 CST 2013


Jeff,

 

Nothing is that sensible. With retail garden products, and especially on
eBay, weight and value go out the window. It's whatever the customer
(sucker?) will pay for a package. Garden products are usually sold by
volume, not weight.  

 

Take the 5 gallon bucket of biochar that weighs 17 lbs. The blend is 25
lb/ft3 (17 lb/0.67 ft3). If the biochar is about 8 lb/ft3 and the additive,
say compost, is 42 lb/ft3 then that's a ~50:50 blend by weight. Is it worth
$56? Sip the KoolAid and pay the $56 to support your biochar curiosity.
There are some very good biochar-compost blends that sell for far less. 

 

I like the Biochar "charflakes" at $129/5 gal or $65/2 gal. $192/ft3
(>$5,000 CY) or $240/ft3? (That 5 gal plastic bucket must be worth more than
$2 that I pay.) 

 

I'll take the 40lb bag for $33 ($0.83/lb). That must be a misprint. The same
supplier wants  $1.80/lb for 10 lb and 2.60/lb for 5 lb. 

 

We don't really know what portion or how much of a market these retail
garden products represent but several sharp marketers are taking advantage
of it. If you are willing to do the packaging and sales and get a lot more
than $1/ft3 then you are at the head of the class. 

 

At least eBay makes it easy to find these things on the internet.

 

Tom

 

 

From: Gasification [mailto:gasification-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org] On
Behalf Of Jeff Davis
Sent: Monday, December 02, 2013 4:01 PM
To: Discussion of biomass pyrolysis and gasification
Subject: Re: [Gasification] Small steam systems plus gasifiers for
electricity

 

Tom,

So, if the charcoal is mixed with compost does some of the compost and water
add to the wieght of the charcaol sold?

Business Model:
Grass compost + moisture + charcoal = X amount of $$$ per pound  ????

Here's a 5 gallon bucket of biochar for a cool $129.00:
 <http://www.ebay.com/itm/121104857835>
<http://www.ebay.com/itm/121104857835>

And more examples:
 
<http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xbiocha
r&_nkw=biochar&_sacat=0&_from=R40>
<http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xbiocha
r&_nkw=biochar&_sacat=0&_from=R40>




Jeff



On 12/01/2013 06:57 PM, Tom Miles wrote:

There is a lot of creative marketing going on with biochar. There is a wide
range of quality. Prices range from $0.35/lb to $2/lb with most selling
between $0.75-$1.00/lb ex plant.  

 

Updraft gasifiers (>10 MWth) have been good sources of char for one biochar
wholesaler/broker. Char is usually conditioned with  compost or inoculated
before it reaches the final customer. As nearly as we can tell a few
thousand tons of char was traded in the US in the last year. 

 

 

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