-sigh-
Thank you for going out of your way to provide me with a few links of similar (but quite different) research and products.
One thing that you
love to do, is throw scientific jargon and information around willy-nilly. I'm not sure if this is a sort of tactic to make the less-scientifically-competent HotCopper members to feel intimidated, but if you truly want to get your point across, you'll need to tailor your posts to your target audience.
As one who seems to deal in Chemistry, it is without doubt that you have a better understanding of the processes behind all of these fertiliser/bio-stimulant projects, but step one to becoming a more helpful poster is an explanation to what you're saying
in layman's terms.
In this case, I suspect a solid proportion of HotCopper members won't look at any of those links. So that everybody has the potential to be just as informed as each other, I'm going to summarise what we've got here at GPP, and each of those links that you've shared.
I'll then give my opinion on GPP when compared to its alternatives.
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Greenpower Energy Limited's OHD Project
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Oxidative Hydrothermal Dissolution: The process for converting carbonaceous material, such as coal, into a range of low molecular weight organic compounds.
We have exclusive OHD rights to the Australian and New Zealand Market for the next 15 years
How it Works: Crush the coal to powder, slurry it with water, feed the slurry into a reactor, apply heat and pressure while introducing an oxidant - in this case liquefied oxygen. This is then concentrated, and a raw liquor for downstream processing is separated from the the rejected solids in a clarifier.
HC members, please note that there has been debate about the specifics of this process. I don't want us to delve into the process anymore - we've been told it works, leave it at that.
21/10/2016 - OHD CLEAN TECH PROJECT COMPLETES TRIALS
- $4,000,000 spent on the project by the company to date.
- Allows for the production of bio-stimulant fertiliser at a significant cost saving using coal as feedstock as opposed to seaweed and other decaying plant matter.
- Estimated production cost of circa $350-$700 per 1,000 liters of wholesale.
- OHD bio-stimulant fertiliser applied in (what is assumed to be) a small-scale trial found a 41-49% increase in fruit yield and a significant reduction of fruit blossom end rot.
- Long-story short, OHD bio-stimulant can be used to increase the marketable fruit (tomato) yield.
- Compared to existing fulvic acid products, the OHD fluid can be produced at a fraction of the cost. So the primary product as it exits from the reactor has an immediate use, without further treatment.
- Costings and a financial model of a 20 tonne per day pilot plant expected by end of the year. We haven't received this, so some are concerned.
25/10/2016 - Market & Media Speculation
This announcement makes it clear that there is interest in the OHD project rights, Greenpower's commercial intellectual property and Australia/New Zealand distribution license. Moreover, that nothing will probably come of this.
- "Recently the Board has received a number of ... proposals from parties looking to acquire the OHD project rights, Greenpower commercial IP and Aust/NZ distribution license. The proposals received are indicative, preliminary, non-binding, and subjecet to a number of conditions including due diligence, and no agreement to proceed has been reached."
- "... discussions regarding a potential transaction are not uncommon and will often not lead to any transaction"
15/02/2017 - SUCCESSFUL OHD CEREAL CROP TRIALS
- OHD usage confirmed to increase wheat yields by ~300% (again, assumed that this was a small-scale trial). Increased yield due to greater number of heads per plant in comparison to control (untreated) plants.
- The Company has fielded approaches by offshore and national grower groups seeking off-take and partnering opportunities.
- Confirmed that GPP owns the rights to distribute the Australian manufactured product internationally.
- "Given the inbound interest in potential off-take and partnering the company has sought to undertake OHD trials on Canola and Palm Oil plants."
- This indicates to me, reading between the lines (only speculation), that the company has been requested to perform Canola/Palm Oil trials. I think we won't see any update re: off-take until these results come back.
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Promising future for Victorian brown coal in Agriculture
By Assoc. Prof. Tony Patti, Monash University, School of Chemistry
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- Research team led by Assoc. Prof. Tony Pratti have been investigating agricultural applications of VBC (Victorian brown coal) for over 15 years.
- Group has started to focus on improving the efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus delivery to plants through the use of fertiliser formulations involving VBC.
- Fertiliser blends involving brown coal are not yet available on the Australian market.
- Also have investigated commercial humic acid based products derived from VBC.
- "It is still not well understood how the interactions between microbial populations, plants and humic-rich substances lead to improved nutrient acquisition, increased soil carbon through greater biomass production and generally improved soil health. However, the evidence suggests that there are potentially significant benefits to be realised. It is anticipated that brown coal will provide a very important source of humic materials for new commercial products in Australia."
tl;dr - This is research into VBC-fertiliser blends, and the effectiveness of commercial humic acid-based products. Concluded that the future is promising for VBC-related fertilisers and bio-stimulants.-------Be careful how you word your statements for that one - it doesn't exactly focus on an increase in yield, and it doesn't mention much about costing either. I'm unsure of the significance of the fact that it supposedly "doesn't destroy the humates" - and without trials which demonstrate an effect on growth (i.e. yield) and the costs associated with production, it's hard to compare it to GPP at this point in time. I'd use this to support the contention that VBC-related products in this industry are looking promising, and nothing more. |
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Column 1 Lawrieco's BioMAX Liquid Fulvic
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[/table]
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Benefits of Fulvic:
- Directly influences numerous enzymatic processes and stimulates plant processes and natural immunity.
- Non-toxic, no withholding period.
- Compatibility with most inputs - acid or alkaline.
- Buffers against 'burning' with foliar applications.
- Will aid in plant recovery from stress due to moisture or disease.
- Enhances cell division and elongation, root growth is magnified.
- Fulvic acid can interact with sunlight to enhance photosynthesis. This can be particularly valuable during prolonged cloudy periods.
- Fulvic acids can detoxify pollutants and chemicals in the soil and catalyse the rapid breakdown of toxins; reducing soil life damage.
- Extracted from lignite brown coal.
Australia's largest online farm supply store, 'The Farm Store' sells 1000L of BioMAX Liquid Fulvic for $2175.00.
We've got no information here which says anything regarding the cost of producing the product. We do know that GPP's OHD is costed to produce 1000L for $350-$700, which is still ~16%-32% of the retail price for this product.
There is information regarding their other products' effect on yield in their trials here: http://www.lawrieco.com.au/trials-technical/?id=5#Fulvic Acid papers
But
I can't see anything regarding their BioMAX Liquid Fulvic's effect on yield. I encourage others to try to seek this out - I've been putting this post together for a couple of hours now and it's starting to get tiring.
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Humic Products - Soil System and The Importance Of Humic Substances
Link 3: http://ocp.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/OCP336_Humic_Fulvic-Flyer_v7.pdf
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This is a flyer by Organic Crop Protectants.It outlines the importance of Humic Substances; Humin, Humic acids, and Fulvic acids.
They provide us with some definitions of the above. They then talk about the benefits of using humic acids and fulvic acids. I'm not going to compare the difference between the two - if you really want to know, click on the link - it's the second page (nexusb is getting cranky because he wants to go to bed and is irritated that he has had to read two flyers). Organic Crop Protectants (OCP) have some of their products highlighted in this flyer.
This flyer doesn't talk about an increase in crop yield, or the process of production, or the cost of each product, or how 'advanced' it is.I can't find this information elsewhere, mind you, I haven't looked very hard because I'm done.
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I don't know
@jantimot, maybe I'm sleep-deprived to the state of delusion, or maybe I'm just stupid, but it seems to me like you've linked me a summary of some research and two flyers for alternative fulvic acid / humic acid products.
I'm
very happy holding GPP for their OHD alone now that you've made me sift through that junk - well, the research wasn't junk, that was definitely an interesting read, but the other stuff was disappointing.
Hmm, I was also going to come up with a proper conclusion. Sorry all, you'll have to take a look at what I've said above and make up your own mind.
Discussion encouraged.
Goodnight HotCopper!
-endsigh-
(20min delay)