Chapter 450 - 206: Cooperation and Procurement

Chapter 450: Chapter 206: Cooperation and Procurement

Inside the biofuel experimental base in Gongping Town.

Xue Hua, the chairman of Haida Group, was touring the applications of various technologies, led by Zhang Haitao.

He even put on a mask and went right into the cow manure drying plant, where he saw large quantities of manure being dried and then quickly crushed into powder.

Not far from the production line, Xue Hua watched the powdered manure get fed into high-temperature sterilization equipment via a conveyor belt. Scooping up a handful of powder from the belt, he asked, "The moisture content of this powder is 5%, right?"

"Yes..." Zhang Haitao answered loudly.

The roar of the surrounding machinery forced them to speak loudly.

Xue Hua brushed the manure powder from his hands. To him, this was nothing strange; he had often collected it as a child. Xue Hua was from Southern Shaanxi Yang County, where, in his time, the main industries were agriculture and animal husbandry. Collecting cow manure was a completely normal thing to do.

"General Manager Xue, it’s too noisy in the plant. Let’s go outside to talk!"

"Alright..."

The two of them left the plant.

They saw a forklift at another plant nearby, moving packaged barrels of nutrient powder to the warehouse across the way.

"Director Zhang, do all this cow manure and straw need to be dried, crushed, and sterilized?"

Zhang Haitao nodded. "Yes, General Manager Xue. It’s for standardized production. After all, the moisture content of cow, sheep, and pig manure varies, and they also contain a lot of bacteria. They must be pre-treated to unify the raw material specifications. That’s the only way to guarantee the battery boxes can maintain a stable power output for 480 hours."

"How many kilograms of powder can one ton of cow manure produce?"

"One ton of fresh cow manure can produce 200 to 250 kilograms of manure powder. We then add about a 10 to 20 percent ratio of straw powder. If it’s pig manure, the ratio of straw can be increased to around 30 to 40 percent."

Xue Hua silently ran the numbers in his head.

This year, Haida Group’s live pig inventory had already reached 3 million head, with 4.3 million head sent to market annually.

The amount of manure produced by so many pigs was enormous. With 3 million pigs in stock, that was 20,400 tons of manure per day, adding up to nearly 7.446 million tons a year.

The moisture content of pig manure is slightly lower than cow manure, around 72 to 80 percent. Each ton of fresh pig manure can produce about 250 to 330 kilograms of dry powder.

By adding straw powder, if his group could utilize all of its pig manure, they could produce 3.35 million tons of nutrient powder annually.

According to the technical specifications provided by Hailufeng Company, a single battery box operating at full capacity for a year would consume 2.7 tons of powder and generate 3,066 kWh of electricity.

Furthermore, the residual slurry and solids left after decomposition by the electrogenic bacteria could also be used as raw material for biogas fermentation. The residue from one battery box per year could produce 900 cubic meters of biogas (with a methane content of about 60%).

Finally, the leftover solid residue can be used as organic fertilizer, with each battery box producing about 3.5 tons of it annually.

So, this one system had three core outputs: electricity, biogas, and organic fertilizer.

With a rough plan already forming in his mind, Xue Hua spoke up. "Director Zhang, our group has a farm in Gaozhou with 250,000 pigs. If we wanted to build a combined power, gas, and fertilizer project, what would be your company’s quote?"

"Two hundred and fifty thousand pigs? I can only give you a rough estimate, as the specifics would need to be analyzed on a case-by-case basis."

"That’s fine. A rough estimate from you, Director Zhang, is all I need to get a general idea."

Zhang Haitao pulled out his phone’s calculator and quickly ran the numbers.

’Okay, 250,000 pigs... that’s 1,625 tons of fresh manure per day.’

’Annually, that’s roughly 590,000 tons. After processing, that gives us about 265,500 tons of nutrient powder.’

’With 18 cycles a year, that’s about 14,750 tons of nutrient powder needed per cycle. Factoring in backup units... they’ll need roughly 100,000 battery boxes.’

’Hailufeng Company’s own bio-power project at the Yangcheng warehousing center cost 3,500 yuan per battery box, including supporting facilities. The project here at the Gongping Town biofuel base, on the other hand, cost an average of 3,000 yuan per box.’

’Clearly, the larger the scale, the lower the unit cost per battery box. With 100,000 units, the total cost could probably be brought down to around 270 million yuan.’

"Excluding land and buildings, and just focusing on the equipment, your 250,000-pig farm in Gaozhou would require a set of 100,000 battery boxes. The total investment for that would be around 500 to 600 million yuan. If you add in the biogas fermentation system and other components, the total comes to around 1 billion yuan."

"Director Zhang, my colleagues and I are going to step aside to discuss this," Xue Hua said with a slight smile after hearing the figure.

"Of course, General Manager Xue. Please, go right ahead."

Xue Hua nodded, then led his vice president and a few other employees to a spot under an osmanthus tree some twenty meters away.

The vice president whispered, "General Manager Xue, based on the data Hailufeng Company provided, 100,000 battery boxes can generate 300 million kWh of electricity, 90 million cubic meters of biogas, and 350,000 tons of organic fertilizer annually."

"The upfront investment isn’t that high," an analyst from the investment department added in a low voice. "Even if you factor in the land and buildings, the total one-time cost is quite reasonable."

Another analyst from the investment department rattled off a string of figures: "Three hundred million kWh of electricity, at the price the grid pays us, is worth about 150 million yuan. The 90 million cubic meters of biogas, with a 60% methane content, is equivalent to 54 million cubic meters of pure methane. At average gas prices, that’s about 216 million yuan. And the 350,000 tons of organic fertilizer, even sold at a rock-bottom price of 150 yuan per ton, is still worth 52.5 million yuan."

"In other words, the theoretical annual value is around 415.5 million yuan?" Xue Hua immediately grasped the bottom line.