Gas Promotion

The household-waste recycling line at the recycling plant had begun trial operations. It could currently process 500 tons of household waste per day, though only two recycling lines were running.

The gas-fired power units and gas storage area had also gradually begun trial operations.

The engineering team and Huang Xiuyuan's group completed the first gas production line on the 18th. With sufficient raw materials, it could produce around 500 tons of liquefied gas per day.

The trial run was going well. Hard-to-recycle items such as plastic bags, plastic film, and plastic-film composite paper were being added to the kitchen waste.

Over the past three days, they had produced 11 tons, 12.7 tons, and 13.6 tons of liquefied gas, respectively.

Based on the results, they needed to increase the volume of waste collected and further expand their channels for recovering organic matter.

Huang Xiuyuan was already planning to open a new household-waste recycling line and transport the stockpiled garbage from various sites around the city to the factory in batches for processing.

At the same time, he told Du Jinhua's engineering team to continue fine-tuning the gas production line.

Bao Sikang, general manager of Hailu Gas Company, was also hiring staff and personally taking his salespeople from town to town to drum up business.

Shanmei's urban district.

Xinxiang.

Three vans and a small truck were parked beside the little square by the opera stage.

Bao Sikang and several salespeople had set up simple tents and tables, hung a banner advertising a big discount, and turned on a speaker to play music.

Quite a few villagers passing by were drawn over.

"Hailu Gas? Half price on the first cylinder?"

"Is that for real? Fifty yuan for a gas cylinder?"

"Are they trying to rip us off?"

A middle-aged woman came over and asked Bao Sikang, "Boss, is it really fifty yuan for one cylinder?"

Bao Sikang quickly explained, "Ma'am, I've brought the gas right here. With your ID card and phone number, your first cylinder is only 25 yuan. If there's a problem, you can only accuse me of cheating you once."

Another young man saw the sign inviting small-scale distributors and hurried over to ask, "Boss, how do I become a distributor?"

"Let me explain it to you, young man."

After Bao Sikang explained the arrangement, the young man was quite interested. After all, other people had already taken over gas delivery in the nearby area, and the two liquefied-gas companies weren't looking for distributors at all.

The current retail price of gas was around four to five yuan per kilogram. A 15-kilogram cylinder of liquefied gas, including delivery, usually cost around 65 to 75 yuan.

With their price advantage, breaking into the market would be easy.

He happened to know how to drive a three-wheeled vehicle. At the gas filling station in Magong Town, the wholesale price was 48 yuan per cylinder. He could add another one to seven yuan himself, while Hailu Gas Company's suggested retail price cap was 55 yuan per cylinder.

"My name's Wang Gang. I'd like to apply to be a distributor. How do I do that?"

Bao Sikang patted the young man on the shoulder. "You've got a good eye, young man. Come fill out this form."

The villagers who'd heard about the half-price deal on the first cylinder figured they might as well take advantage of it. They bought all 120 cylinders of liquefied gas that had been brought in on the small truck.

Including the deposits on the steel cylinders, Bao Sikang recouped a good sum of money.

Hailu Gas estimated that supplying gas to the entire urban district, with a population of 800,000 and an average annual consumption of 47.75 kilograms per person, would require a substantial amount.

With 800,000 people, annual consumption would reach 38,200 tons of liquefied gas, or an average of around 105 tons a day.

Assuming an initial market share of 30%, Hailu Gas would need to supply 35 tons of liquefied gas a day. Once it gradually captured the entire market, it would need to supply over 105 tons daily.

At present, the parent company could increase production to around 50 tons of liquefied gas per day by opening another household-waste recycling line and sending more vacuum trucks to collect pig manure from the countryside and waste from the city's underground sewer pipes.

While promoting gas, the company had also surveyed small pig farms in the countryside. Small-scale pig farms were common throughout the villages around the city.

According to current survey data, most village pig farms had between a few dozen and a few hundred pigs, while a handful had several thousand.

The total number of pigs raised in the urban district was estimated at 140,000 to 150,000, producing around 210 tons of pig manure a day. About 63 tons of that was dry matter, enough to produce around 15 tons of liquefied gas.

The five vacuum trucks already in service were running at full capacity, transporting large quantities of pig manure from farms near villages.

After all, one ton of pig manure could yield around 71 kilograms of liquefied gas. At a selling price of about 3.3 yuan per kilogram, that was worth roughly 232 yuan.

The residue left after extracting the gas was also an excellent organic fertilizer once properly blended.

According to research by Suiren Company, the catalytic breakdown caused by Nitrogen-16 decomposed complex organic polymers in large quantities into gas and smaller organic molecules. Those smaller organic molecules made good organic fertilizer.

In addition, when exposed to ultraviolet light, Nitrogen-16 broke down into nitrogen gas or combined with small organic molecules in the garbage to form some urea.

Nitrogen-16's catalytic breakdown was also extremely potent. It could kill or break down 99.9% of microorganisms, parasites, insect eggs, antibiotics, and similar contaminants in the waste—an even more powerful effect than the high-temperature fermentation used for ordinary organic fertilizer.

The organic fertilizer market was a mixed bag, but even the lowest-priced products could fetch 600 yuan per ton, while granulated organic fertilizer approached 1,000 yuan per ton. High-quality organic fertilizer could sell for several thousand yuan per ton.

According to Suiren Company's assessment, after the residue from gas production was desalinated and dehydrated, and beneficial microbes were added, it could sell for 800 to 1,500 yuan per ton.

Each ton of kitchen waste or manure could produce 200 to 300 kilograms of organic fertilizer. That was another business worth pursuing.

The recycling industry was all about watching every penny. Even a stone had to be squeezed for oil so that resources could be recovered to the greatest extent possible.

Shanmei's urban district.

As one of only two liquefied-gas suppliers in the Shanmei region, Huayang Energy's gas filling station had maintained a 68–75% market share before Hailu Gas entered the market.

The filling station's business manager looked grim as he reviewed the past half month's wholesale figures for liquefied gas. "What's going on?"

They had previously sold seventy or eighty tons of liquefied gas a day. For more than half a month, however, sales had fallen to just forty or fifty tons a day, and the downward trend was obvious.

A salesperson nearby offered a possible explanation. "Manager Li, I heard that Hailu Gas, which just opened, is running a promotion. Quite a few of our customers have switched over."

"Hailu Gas? The company that got its license a little over two months ago?"

The salesperson nodded. "That's the one. Their discounts are huge. A 15-kilogram cylinder of liquefied gas costs no more than 55 yuan."

"55 yuan?" Manager Li sprang out of his seat as if he'd been pricked by a needle. "Are they not even planning to make money?"

"Manager Li, maybe they're trying to poach customers. They'll definitely go back to normal prices later."

Manager Li paced back and forth, but he didn't take the situation lightly. "No, we need to cut our prices too. We can't let them steal our customers."

After reporting the situation to the parent company, Huayang Energy lowered its wholesale price for liquefied gas to 3.5 yuan per kilogram.

The other liquefied-gas supplier was also forced to lower its prices, hoping to hold on to its customers.

What they hadn't realized was that Hailu Gas wasn't bringing in liquefied gas produced elsewhere. It produced and sold its own.