[Terrapreta] biochar costs

[Gerald Van Koeverden]

Richard,

Dynamotive has their Canadian head office in Vancouver.

Here's some info from a presentation Dynamotive made in May, 2007 at  
an Agrichar conference.  Note that in this presentation, one study  
suggested that char's actual value was $20-25/ton!
For the whole presentation, go to the link attached below.



The by-product of Bio-Oil, char, can be sold as charcoal briquettes  
or refined to make activated carbon. In a
feasibility study by Huskywood, the selling price is suggested to be  
$20-$25 per ton (Brady).
T. Brady, “Fast Pyrolysis: Wood to Gas, Bio-oil and Fuel-Grade Char:  
Preliminary Economic Analysis for Southeast Alaska”,
Jan. 2002.
If the calorific value of char is ~25GJ/T, it implies that its energy  
value is only ~ $1/GJ.
If the char could be sold for energy at a price similar to BCO,  
namely $8/GJ, then it would be worth ~$200/T
The value of char as an energy product is low because the mineral  
matter (ash) content only allows combustion in low
grade industrial applications, e.g. kilns
The higher value of $200/T could be approached by de-ashingsince it  
would enable the char to burned in a gas
turbine
Increasing the fuel value of char

http://www.biochar-international.org/images/ 
Agrichar_May2,_2007_Presentation-Radlein.pdf

Gerrit

On 28-Apr-08, at 10:42 PM, Richard Haard wrote:

> Is that dynamotive in British Columbia?
>
> I made a bit to buy 6 tote bags from the outfit that took over  
> John's plant at $100/1000 and at the last few minutes before the  
> deal closed someone bought the stuff out from under me. There were  
> about 25 bags available.
>
> what do you suppose is energy value?
>
>
>
>
> On Apr 28, 2008, at 7:22 PM, Gerald Van Koeverden wrote:
>
>> As a soil amendment for sequestering carbon, we were figuring on  
>> biochar at approximately $200/ton...   Whoops!!
>>
>> I finally got an actual selling price for biochar from  
>> Dynamotive:  $4,000/ton.
>>
>> (John, where can I buy a pyrolysis plant??)
>>
>> Gerrit
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 28-Apr-08, at 11:31 AM, Bouchard, Thomas wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Mr. van Koeverden,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I’m Tom Bouchard, the new COO for DynaMotive Energy Systems Corp.  
>>> I apologize if no one ever responded to your inquiry from almost  
>>> 1 year ago. If you are still interested in our BioChar the good  
>>> news is that our West Lorne plant started operations this year  
>>> after a large project was completed to increase capacity. We  
>>> produce and sell Biochar under our trade name, CQuest™ Fast  
>>> Pyrolysis BioChar. Attached is our information booklet about the  
>>> product. We have product in inventory (55 gallon sealed, steel  
>>> drums, each contains about 122 lbs), the price is $2 US/ lb, FOB  
>>> plant.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Please let me know if you have any other questions and thanks for  
>>> your interest in our products.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Tom Bouchard
>>>
>>> Chief Operating Officer
>>>
>>> DynaMotive Energy Systems Corp
>>>
>>> <CQuest BioChar Info Book Apr 22-08 .pdf>
>>
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