Tantech Holdings Ltd's Business Segments

Tantech Bamboo was established in October 2002 under the trading name “Lishui Zhonglin High Tech Co., Ltd.” by its incumbent owner. Following the establishment of the Forasen Green Energy Group, later renamed Forasen Group Ltd. (“Forasen Group”), in May 2003, 60% of THL’s shares were acquired by the Forasen Group. A second subsidiary, Tantech Charcoal, was acquired in September 2006 to manage the Forasen Group’s export business. In September 2008 a third subsidiary, Tantech Energy, was established to research and develop bamboo charcoals application as a carbon component for EDLCs. Following the renaming of the Forasen Group to its current name, 95% of Tantech Bamboo’s shares were acquired by USCNHK, a Hong Kong registered company, in December 2010. In May and December 2016, Zhejiang Tantech Bamboo Technology Co.,Ltd., a USCNHK’s wholly owned subsidiary acquired 100% of Tantech Bamboo’s shares from USCNHK and five individuals.

Our charcoal briquettes are processed from carbonized bamboo (as to our self-produced BBQ charcoal) and wood (as to our OEM BBQ charcoal) into charcoal and pressed into shapes appropriate for our customers’ preferred use. These products include barbecue grill briquettes, disposable all-in-one barbecue grills (including charcoal), and fuel for incense and tobacco burners.

We expect revenues generated from our charcoal briquette products in oversea market will increase, however we expect total revenue in our charcoal briquette will keep current relevant level in comparison to these other segments and in absolute terms.

Charcoal Doctor Products

Our primary consumer brand is Charcoal Doctor (“ ”, “Tan Boshi” or “Dr. Tan” in Chinese). In processing our charcoal products, the primary byproducts are solid charcoal and charcoal vinegar. We make use of both the solid and liquid byproducts in our Charcoal Doctor products.

Our Charcoal Doctor brand products have been the primary source of our revenue over the last few years. Charcoal Doctor products are sold throughout China and stocked by many supermarkets and specialty shops in Zhejiang Province and other provinces. We seek to protect and grow our market share pricing our products aggressively, often as much as 10 – 15% below our competitors’ prices. Our Charcoal Doctor gross profit margins average 26%, largely due to our industrialized and automated production processes. We plan to expand product lines in the coming years to take advantage of the many uses of bamboo charcoal and vinegar. Charcoal Doctor products can be categorized according to their physical state: liquid or solid:

Our solid charcoal products are primarily used for purification and deodorization. These consumer products are made from dry distilled carbonized bamboo, and have the ability to absorb harmful substances and foul odors from the air, including benzene, toluene, ammonia and carbon tetrachloride. The primary ingredient of these products, activated charcoal, is an adsorbent. Our solid Charcoal Doctor products generally fit within three categories: (1) charcoal bags, primarily used as air purifiers and humidifiers, (2) charcoal deodorants and (3) toilet cleaning disks. Our primary Charcoal Doctor solid products include the following:

· Air purifiers and humidifiers

· Automotive accessories for air purification

· Underfloor humidity control

· Pillows and mattresses

· Wardrobe deodorizers

· Mouse pads and wrist mats

· Refrigerator deodorant

· Charcoal toilet cleaner disks

· Liquid charcoal cleaner

· Shoe insoles

· Decorative charcoal gifts

In addition to providing solid charcoal, the carbonization process also results in a liquid byproduct called bamboo vinegar. Bamboo vinegar is used in disinfectants, detergents, lotions, specialized soaps, toilet cleaners and fertilizers. We have also adapted our bamboo vinegar for use in a variety of agricultural applications:


· Fruit, vegetable, and other plant fertilizers
· Soil conditioners and sweeteners
· Flower nutrients
· Toilet cleaning liquid detergent and solid disks
· Hand washing sanitation

We use this silver ion nano technology for sterilization to improve the effectiveness of our sanitation and purification products. We purchase silver ion nano powder from third parties to add into our products. We use our own formulas for the purification and sanitation products that incorporate such powder.

We have developed two kinds of products that use our silver ion nano technology. Our detergent products are based on bamboo vinegar and are supplemented by the introduction of silver ion nano powder. These products are used for washing clothes and are in the trial stage. We began trial sales of our silver nano detergent products in Yantai (Shangdong Province), Lishui (Zhejiang Province), Chengdu (Sichuan Province) and Zhengzhou (Henan Province) in November 2012. We have concluded our trial sales in Lishui and Chengdu (and plan to conclude sales in Yantai upon the exhaustion of current trial sales inventory), and our preliminary conclusions are that customers liked the product but were less enthusiastic about the packaging. As a result, we adjusted our packaging in preparation for full-scale sales. Given the investment required to improve brand awareness for our silver ion nano detergent, we will focus first on Zhengzhou before beginning to plan either the expansion plan or the timeline for such expansion into other cities in China. At the same time as we are selling such products under our Charcoal Doctor brand name in China, we are also in discussions to sell such products to one distributor in Dubai, who would then re-brand the products for resale in local markets in Africa and the Middle East.

Our silver ion bamboo charcoal bag products are used for odor absorption and air purification. We combine our charcoal powder products with silver ion nano powder to achieve a charcoal bag that may be stored in a wider variety of locations. If our traditional bags are stored in conditions that are too damp and warm, mold or mildew may grow. Our silver ion nano products are able to fight the growth of mold and mildew, allowing them to be used in damp conditions without problem. We have begun to promote and sell limited numbers of such bags in connection with our sales of traditional charcoal bags. We are promoting these bags in anticipation of adding such products to our portfolio of products for sale in supermarkets and other stores. Our customer stores typically invite us to apply in June or July to update the products we will offer for sale in their stores, and we are required to pay a fee for shelf space at such time. Accordingly we plan to increase demand for our silver ion nano products in anticipation for adding them to the list of products we sell this year. As we will make these silver ion nano charcoal bags available everywhere we offer our traditional charcoal bags, we will leverage our existing sales and distribution channels to introduce these products to the market.

EDLC Carbon

We have recently begun to produce bamboo carbon for use in EDLCs. Our product serves as the industrial carbon compound for the EDLC and is responsible for conducting electricity in the battery. Activated charcoal is extremely porous and has a high specific surface area, so it provides a useful electrode material. Because the surface area of such a material is many times greater than a traditional material like aluminum, many more charge carriers (ions or radicals from the electrolyte) can be stored in a given volume, allowing for a higher energy density.