Biomass Briquettes - Marketing - Revision history

Tom Schulze at 12:48, 30 April 2018

2018-04-30T12:48:37Z

Tom Schulze: Text replace - "link=GIZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium

[[GIZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium#Cook

2018-04-30T12:18:15Z

Text replace - "left|831px|GIZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium|alt=GIZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium small.png|link=GIZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium<br/><br/>[[GIZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium#Cook

Luis Azuaje at 12:35, 27 July 2017

2017-07-27T12:35:00Z

Lisafeldmann: /* Markets and Users for Briquettes */

2017-07-27T12:24:54Z

Markets and Users for Briquettes

Lisafeldmann: /* Markets and Users of Briquettes */

2017-07-27T12:23:49Z

Markets and Users of Briquettes

Lisafeldmann at 12:23, 27 July 2017

2017-07-27T12:23:35Z

Lisafeldmann at 11:39, 27 July 2017

2017-07-27T11:39:56Z

Lisafeldmann at 13:51, 9 December 2015

2015-12-09T13:51:44Z

Show changes

Ranisha at 14:55, 27 January 2015

2015-01-27T14:55:14Z

Ranisha at 14:43, 9 January 2015

2015-01-09T14:43:22Z

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 = Overview - Markets and Users for Briquettes<br/> =
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 <br/>Whereas the first key question might be easy to answer by a simple comparison of solid fuel market prices, the second question might imply indirectly the '''willingness of consumers to alter their normal combustion appliances to suit briquettes. '''Without a doubt, before not only changing the fuel but also adopting a whole new combustion unit consumers will hesitate. They will ask themselves if briquettes offer any significant advantages, in terms of quality of combustion or in financial advantages that might persuade consumers to spend money on new appliances. But that is not enough: '''briquettes are also a consumer good. '''That means consumers must trust in their availability. This aspect might be especially difficult at the beginning of a briquetting activity while searching for penetrating a new market. The likely size of briquette supply relative to the total traditional fuel supply will be small. At these low kinds of penetration, consumers will always be aware of the need to give themselves an alternative source of fuel. This will certainly be true in the early stage of marketing briquettes whether or not, at the later stage, some consumers would have the confidence to commit themselves wholly to briquettes. Thus, briquettes have to be compatible with existing appliances with little or no modification if they are to have any chance of achieving initial market penetration.<br/><br/>A part of these general considerations about the competiveness of briquettes there might be some user specific thoughts. These are discussed in the following by regarding the solid fuel which is supposed to be substituted by briquettes.<br/><br/>
 = Burning Appliances<br/> =
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 *Participating in shows and exhibitions<br/><br/>
 <div style="text-align: center"><u>'''To keep in mind!'''</u></div><br/>
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 {{#set: Hera category=Woodfuel Supply}}
 [[Category:Charcoal]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:18, 30 April 2018
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 {{Hera}}
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 This article is part of the [[Biomass Briquettes – Production and Marketing|Biomass Briquettes - Production and Marketing]] and belongs to the [[GIZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium|GIZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium]].
 [[Category:Cooking_Energy_Compendium_(GIZ_HERA)]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:24, 27 July 2017
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−	= Markets and Users for Briquettes<br/> =	+
		+	= Overview - Markets and Users for Briquettes<br/> =

	''“Selling a product isn’t as complicated as it’s made out to be. At its most basic, a sales program is defined principally by what you sell, who you sell to, and how you sell.<ref name="wiki">http://www.wikihow.com/Sell-a-Product </ref>” ''<br/><br/>		''“Selling a product isn’t as complicated as it’s made out to be. At its most basic, a sales program is defined principally by what you sell, who you sell to, and how you sell.<ref name="wiki">http://www.wikihow.com/Sell-a-Product </ref>” ''<br/><br/>

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 {{Hera}}
-= Markets and Users of Briquettes<br/> =
 ''“Selling a product isn’t as complicated as it’s made out to be. At its most basic, a sales program is defined principally by what you sell, who you sell to, and how you sell.<ref name="wiki">http://www.wikihow.com/Sell-a-Product </ref>” ''<br/><br/>
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 <br/>Whereas the first key question might be easy to answer by a simple comparison of solid fuel market prices, the second question might imply indirectly the '''willingness of consumers to alter their normal combustion appliances to suit briquettes. '''Without a doubt, before not only changing the fuel but also adopting a whole new combustion unit consumers will hesitate. They will ask themselves if briquettes offer any significant advantages, in terms of quality of combustion or in financial advantages that might persuade consumers to spend money on new appliances. But that is not enough: '''briquettes are also a consumer good. '''That means consumers must trust in their availability. This aspect might be especially difficult at the beginning of a briquetting activity while searching for penetrating a new market. The likely size of briquette supply relative to the total traditional fuel supply will be small. At these low kinds of penetration, consumers will always be aware of the need to give themselves an alternative source of fuel. This will certainly be true in the early stage of marketing briquettes whether or not, at the later stage, some consumers would have the confidence to commit themselves wholly to briquettes. Thus, briquettes have to be compatible with existing appliances with little or no modification if they are to have any chance of achieving initial market penetration.<br/><br/>A part of these general considerations about the competiveness of briquettes there might be some user specific thoughts. These are discussed in the following by regarding the solid fuel which is supposed to be substituted by briquettes.<br/><br/>
 = Burning Appliances<br/> =

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 Charcoal stoves are often the second important cooking appliance and therefore an important solid fuel market in many developing countries. As shown in the chapter of briquette production there is also the possibility to produce charcoal briquettes out of biomass residues. Practically, these charcoal briquettes can be burnt in stoves designed for normal charcoal. Literature report somehow contradiction results about the user acceptance of charcoal briquettes, something which may be related to the different cooking situations in which the briquettes were used. For example, S. Eriksson and Michael Prior<ref name="Eriksson 1990">Eriksson, S. and Prior, M. (1990): The briquetting of agricultural wastes for fuel, FAO Environment and Energy Paper 11, FAO of the UN, Rome, 1990</ref> mentions great problems in persuading households in India to burn molasses-bound charcoal briquettes due to complains about smells and about the speed of burning. On the other hand, market research carried out in Sudan on molasses-bound charcoal briquettes made from cotton stalks were said to be an acceptable charcoal substitute. Whereas a NL Agency study<ref name="NL 2013">NL Agency (2013): Charcoal Production from Alternative Feedstocks; final version 2013</ref> reports little success of cotton stalk charcoal briquettes in Mali as summarized in table 1 but very good market sales for coal dust briquettes in Kenya. In general, depending on the raw material and the binders used in the production, '''charcoal briquettes may show''' higher ash contents and '''different burning characteristics''' when compared to normal charcoal. This fact might be '''important for the success of charcoal briquettes and user acceptance''' must be investigated before entering a market.<br/>
-<u>Table 3: Summary of results acceptability tests</u><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)"><ref name="NL 2013">NL Agency (2013): Charcoal Production from Alternative Feedstocks; final version 2013</ref>:</span><br/>
+<u>Table 1: Summary of results acceptability tests</u><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)"><ref name="NL 2013">NL Agency (2013): Charcoal Production from Alternative Feedstocks; final version 2013</ref>:</span><br/>
 [[File:Table 3 summary of results.jpg|thumb|center|550px|Summary of results acceptability tests|alt=Table 3 summary of results.jpg]]
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 Both of these market segments are driven by consumer decisions which are normally based on price comparisons between biomass briquettes and traditional solid fuels. But not always the price seems to be the only or crucial point for a consumer decision to buy biomass briquettes. This fact can easily be observed when for example comparing solid fuel prices in a German hardware shop: even if prices per energy content are higher, than for example the price for lignite, biomass briquettes are well sold.
-<u>Table 4: comparison of solid fuel prices in Germany</u><br/>
+<u>Table 2: comparison of solid fuel prices in Germany</u><br/>
 [[File:Table 4 comparison of solid fuel prices in Germany.jpg|thumb|left|650px|Comparison of solid fuel prices in Germany|alt=Table 4 comparison of solid fuel prices in Germany.jpg]]
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-<u>Figure 13: marketing example of briquettes in Kenya</u><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)"><ref>http://www.chardust.com/briquettes/briquettes/</ref></span>
+<u>Figure 1: marketing example of briquettes in Kenya</u><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)"><ref>http://www.chardust.com/briquettes/briquettes/</ref></span>
 [[File:Figure 12 marketing example.jpg|thumb|left|450px|Marketing example of briquettes in Kenya|alt=Figure 12 marketing example.jpg]]<br clear=all>
-<sub><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)"></span></sub>Table 5: Price comparison of different briquettes produced by chardust in Kenya
+<sub><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)"></span></sub>Table 1: Price comparison of different briquettes produced by chardust in Kenya
 [[File:Table 5 Price comparison of different briquettes produced by chardust in Kenya.jpg|thumb|left|650px|Price comparison of different briquettes produced by chardust in Kenya|alt=Table 5 Price comparison of different briquettes produced by chardust in Kenya.jpg]]<p style="text-align: center"><br clear=all></p>The experiences of Chardust Ltd suggest that in general charcoal dust briquettes have to compete directly on price with wood charcoal. As a result, the (semi-)industrial production of charcoal dust briquettes can only be viable in African countries where charcoal is relatively expensive. Chardust Ltd. roughly calculates that the minimum wholesale prices would have to be some $200 per ton (for packaged charcoal). This rules out many African countries as candidate manufacturing sites. On the other hand in areas with high charcoal prices and sufficient charcoal dust there is a good potential for charcoal dust briquetting. Charcoal briquettes that are higher priced but attractively packaged may still find some customers e.g. those willing to pay more for a product that is produced in a sustainable manner. Such environmentally and socially conscious buyers may include individuals as well as institutions (for the latter it may be a part of their company’s policy).<br/><br/>Innovative packaging is one example of smart marketing of briquettes but for sure not the only one. Depending on the clients to address different approaches could be used.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 = Overview<br/> =
 ''“Selling a product isn’t as complicated as it’s made out to be. At its most basic, a sales program is defined principally by what you sell, who you sell to, and how you sell.<ref name="wiki">http://www.wikihow.com/Sell-a-Product </ref>” ''<br/><br/>
@@ Line 18: / Line 17: @@
 <br/>Whereas the first key question might be easy to answer by a simple comparison of solid fuel market prices, the second question might imply indirectly the '''willingness of consumers to alter their normal combustion appliances to suit briquettes. '''Without a doubt, before not only changing the fuel but also adopting a whole new combustion unit consumers will hesitate. They will ask themselves if briquettes offer any significant advantages, in terms of quality of combustion or in financial advantages that might persuade consumers to spend money on new appliances. But that is not enough: '''briquettes are also a consumer good. '''That means consumers must trust in their availability. This aspect might be especially difficult at the beginning of a briquetting activity while searching for penetrating a new market. The likely size of briquette supply relative to the total traditional fuel supply will be small. At these low kinds of penetration, consumers will always be aware of the need to give themselves an alternative source of fuel. This will certainly be true in the early stage of marketing briquettes whether or not, at the later stage, some consumers would have the confidence to commit themselves wholly to briquettes. Thus, briquettes have to be compatible with existing appliances with little or no modification if they are to have any chance of achieving initial market penetration.<br/><br/>A part of these general considerations about the competiveness of briquettes there might be some user specific thoughts. These are discussed in the following by regarding the solid fuel which is supposed to be substituted by briquettes.<br/><br/>
 = Burning Appliances<br/> =
@@ Line 26: / Line 22: @@
 == Wood Burning Appliances<br/> ==
 Technically there does not seem to be any major problem about using briquettes in existing cooking or heating appliances which were originally designed for burning wood. Due to the high density of briquettes and their surfaces sometimes problems with initial ignition and heat-raising are reported. But this fact can easily be overcome by co-firing wood at the beginning. It is probably more difficult to sell bigger sized briquettes simply because the physical dimensions of household stoves are limited. Large logs are similarly rejected.'''The general combustion behavior of biomass briquettes is comparable to wood'''. Briquettes can therefore normally be used in traditional stoves as a substitute or as co-firing of wood. In fact in many countries briquettes can be found on local markets. Especially for normal households in developing countries the comparative price and the availability of briquettes will play a major role for their acceptance rather than the technical characteristics when burnt in stoves designed for wood.
 == Charcoal Burning Appliances<br/> ==
@@ Line 42: / Line 33: @@
 == Gasifier Stoves<br/> ==
 In recent years, more and more efforts in research and introduction of gasifier stoves for households can be observed. In general, the gasification process places higher quality demands on the solid fuel than does combustion. '''There are a number of important potential advantages of using briquettes''' instead of for example chipped wood for gasification: the briquettes are drier, increasing the efficiency of the process and increasing the calorific value of the produced gas; the bulk density is higher, increasing the residence time in the gasifier and the gas conversion rate and, finally, the size of the briquettes can be chosen to fit together with the size of the gasifier and the gasifier grate. In general it appears that briquettes can be used to provide a consistent feedstock to most gasification systems and thus show advantages on a market where gasifier stoves are used in households.<br/>
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 [[File:Micro Gasification Cooking with gas from biomass.pdf|thumb|left|180px|Micro Gasification Cooking with gas from biomass.pdf|alt=https://energypedia.info/wiki/File:Micro_Gasification_Cooking_with_gas_from_biomass.pdf|link=File:Micro Gasification Cooking with gas from biomass.pdf]]<br/>
 = Markets for Biomass Briquettes =
 <u>All hereby mentioned appliances (wood, charcoal, gasifier stoves) for briquettes are mostly supposed to target two main market segments:</u><br/>
 *The mass domestic market, consisting of normal households that use wood or charcoal as daily cooking.<br/>
 *Business and institutional consumers. This segment includes large consumers such as restaurants, hotels, institutes etc.;
@@ Line 78: / Line 54: @@
 [[File:Table 4 comparison of solid fuel prices in Germany.jpg|thumb|left|650px|Comparison of solid fuel prices in Germany|alt=Table 4 comparison of solid fuel prices in Germany.jpg]]
-<br/>
+<br clear=all>
 The observation of the willingness to pay a higher price for briquettes are not restricted to industrial countries, whereas examples of niche markets for higher priced briquettes can be found also in developing countries. These might be luxury hotels who want to convey the impression of a sustainable business approach to their clients.
@@ Line 92: / Line 68: @@
 <u>Figure 13: marketing example of briquettes in Kenya</u><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)"><ref>http://www.chardust.com/briquettes/briquettes/</ref></span>
-[[File:Figure 12 marketing example.jpg|thumb|left|450px|Marketing example of briquettes in Kenya|alt=Figure 12 marketing example.jpg]]
+[[File:Figure 12 marketing example.jpg|thumb|left|450px|Marketing example of briquettes in Kenya|alt=Figure 12 marketing example.jpg]]<br clear=all>
 <sub><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255)"></span></sub>Table 5: Price comparison of different briquettes produced by chardust in Kenya
+[[File:Table 5 Price comparison of different briquettes produced by chardust in Kenya.jpg|thumb|left|650px|Price comparison of different briquettes produced by chardust in Kenya|alt=Table 5 Price comparison of different briquettes produced by chardust in Kenya.jpg]]<p style="text-align: center"><br clear=all></p>The experiences of Chardust Ltd suggest that in general charcoal dust briquettes have to compete directly on price with wood charcoal. As a result, the (semi-)industrial production of charcoal dust briquettes can only be viable in African countries where charcoal is relatively expensive. Chardust Ltd. roughly calculates that the minimum wholesale prices would have to be some $200 per ton (for packaged charcoal). This rules out many African countries as candidate manufacturing sites. On the other hand in areas with high charcoal prices and sufficient charcoal dust there is a good potential for charcoal dust briquetting. Charcoal briquettes that are higher priced but attractively packaged may still find some customers e.g. those willing to pay more for a product that is produced in a sustainable manner. Such environmentally and socially conscious buyers may include individuals as well as institutions (for the latter it may be a part of their company’s policy).<br/><br/>Innovative packaging is one example of smart marketing of briquettes but for sure not the only one. Depending on the clients to address different approaches could be used.
 <u>A list of marketing tools to support the sales of briquettes in developing countries is suggested by Legacy Foundation</u><ref>Legacy Foundation: a trainer’s guide for making fuel briquettes; http://www.villagevolunteers.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Fuel-Briquettes-Guide.pdf </ref>:<br/>
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 This article is part of the [[Biomass_Briquettes_–_Production_and_Marketing|Biomass Briquettes - Production and Marketing]] and belongs to the [[GIZ_HERA_Cooking_Energy_Compendium|GIZ HERA Cooking Energy Compendium]].
 [[Category:Cooking_Energy_Compendium_(GIZ_HERA)]]