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.
We develop and manufacture bamboo-based charcoal products for industrial energy
applications and household cooking, heating, purification, agricultural and
cleaning uses. We have grown over the past decade to become a pioneer in charcoal
products industry made from carbonized bamboo. We are a highly specialized high-tech
enterprise producing, researching and developing bamboo charcoal based products
with an established domestic and international sales and distribution network.
We oversee a national sales network that has a presence in 17 cities throughout
China. We sell approximately 90% of our products in China, and the remaining
10% of products are sold internationally. We sell products in Japan, South Korea,
Taiwan, the Middle East and Europe.
In addition to our bamboo charcoal products, we also derive revenues from our
trading activities, which primarily relate to industrial purchases and sales
of charcoal.
We are headquartered in the bamboo rich southwest of Zhejiang Province, in the
city of Lishui. Zhejiang province, located in southeastern coastal China, is
China’s tenth largest province in population, with 54.5 million residents,
and eighth in terms of population density. The first province in China without
any counties in the poverty-county list of the central government, Zhejiang
has become one of the wealthiest and most commercial provinces in China. Its
province-wide GDP of approximately RMB4.6 trillion in 2016 places it as the
fourth highest in China in absolute amount.
Lishui is a prefecture-level city located in southwest Zhejiang province. Approximately
2.5 million residents live in the city, and city-wide GDP is approximately RMB50.6
billion. Lishui’s primary industries include wood and bamboo production,
ore smelting, textile, clothes making, construction materials, pharmaceutical
chemistry, electronic machinery and food processing. As to wood and bamboo production,
approximately 69% of Lishui prefecture is covered with forest, giving it the
nickname “The Foliage Ocean of Zhejiang.”
As a company focused on bamboo charcoal, our business is in a sub-part of China’s
bamboo industry. Government policies that encourage the use of bamboo also benefit
the bamboo charcoal industry. Accordingly, we provide a brief overview of bamboo
and those elements of China’s bamboo industry, insofar as they have an
effect on the bamboo charcoal industry in general and our company in particular.
Bamboo
Bamboo plants are some of the fastest growing plants in the world, with some
varieties growing more than three feet per day. Moreover, Bamboo can be re-grown
quickly following harvesting, ensuring high frequency utilization without shortages.
Unlike trees, individual bamboo culms emerge from the ground at their full diameter
and grow to their full height in a single growing season of three to four months.
Over the next 2–5 years, fungus begins to form on the outside of the culm,
which eventually penetrates and overcomes the culm. Eventually the fungal growths
cause the culm to collapse and decay. As a result, bamboo culms generally have
life cycles of up to ten years, at which point they must be cut down in order
to preserve the environment of the surrounding forest. Optimal quality bamboo
culms for carbonization are cut at five years of age. Additional bamboo can
be grown in the same area where previous culms grew.
Bamboo is considered environmentally friendly because it takes in substantial
amounts of carbon dioxide and gives off oxygen as it grows. Indeed, bamboo sequesters
more carbon dioxide than an equivalent region of plantation trees. Moreover,
harvesting of bamboo is considered more environmentally friendly than allowing
it to live through the full life cycle, as such harvesting maximizes the amount
of carbon dioxide the bamboo can sequester because of the effects of fungus
noted above.
Bamboo charcoal has been documented in China as early as 1486 AD during the
Ming Dynasty in China. Bamboo charcoal has traditionally been used as a heating
source, in replacement of wood, coal or wood charcoal. As a source of heat,
bamboo charcoal has a calorific value approximately half that of an equivalent
weight of oil, and similar to the calorific value of wood. In addition to being
an efficient source of heat, bamboo charcoal is considered less polluting than
wood charcoal, because it burns more cleanly due to a lower percentage of volatile
matter. Smoke and pollution in charcoal burning relate largely to moisture content
and volatile matter. While careful processing can control the moisture content,
the ratio of volatile matter is affected by the source of charcoal. Traditional
wood charcoals may range between 5 – 40% volatile matter free of moisture,
depending on the type of wood and the temperature at which it is carbonized.
Bamboo heating charcoal tends to be between 13 – 17% volatile matter free
of moisture.
Because of the relatively higher pollution levels in wood charcoal, it is estimated
that the burning of wood fuel claims the lives of an estimated 2 million people
every year who inhale the smoke. Moreover, it takes between seven and ten tons
of wood to produce one ton of wood charcoal, compared with four tons of bamboo
to produce one ton of bamboo charcoal.
In addition to use as a heating source, bamboo charcoal has applications as
an adsorbent, deodorizer, dehumidifier, purifier and electrical conductor. Nonactivated
bamboo charcoal is a versatile mineral matter with great porosity and consequently
high absorption ability. Bamboo charcoal’s porous surface area makes it
an ideal air and water purifying agent, odor absorbent, additive, dehumidifier
and electromagnetic wave absorber (electromagnetic waves from computers, mobile
telephones and other electronics can be conducted through bamboo charcoal to
dissipate their energy in the charcoal pores). While wood charcoal’s surface
area may be as low as 20 m 2 /g, bamboo charcoal generally ranges from 200 –
600 m 2 /g, and our company’s EDLC carbon has achieved 2,200 m 2 /g.
While bamboo charcoal has a high absorptive capacity after carbonization, it
becomes even more effective after activation. Activated bamboo carbon is bamboo
charcoal that has been taken through an extra step greatly increasing its absorptive
abilities. Activated bamboo charcoal can be used for cleaning the environment,
absorbing excess moisture and producing medicines.
The carbonization process occurs in the absence of oxygen and produces a brown-black
liquid containing more than 200 organic compounds known as bamboo vinegar, or
pyroligneous acid. Following sedimentation two distinct layers appear: a light
yellow-brown liquid (clarified bamboo vinegar) which can be refined to produce
acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, carbinol and organic solvents, and
a viscid oily liquid (bamboo tar) containing large amounts of phenol substances.
Bamboo vinegar is found in sanitary and health products as well as a range of
horticultural fertilizers and organic solutions.
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