John, good questions. I too was looking for european/asian companies
using ozone applications, more to identify who potential competitors
might be, as well as to understand the economics. I had no luck, and
I know that's not reassuring.
But what we do know are some of the favorable economics in the
laundry industry, and as best as I could figure, these same economics
should "carry over" to food processing. The benefits are: lower costs
of by-product disposal - used chlorine must be disposed of in
environmentally friendly ways whereas, ozone evaporates; lower
utility costs - while electrical costs may increase in order to
produce ozone it is offset by savings in the laundry process by the
ability to run shorter cycles and use less hot water; improved
product quality - in laundry systems, ozone sanitizes more thoroughly
than in traditional processes. There are many posts and several
articles which discuss economics/paybacks in laundry applications.
I'm not saying that these reasons will carry over 1 for 1 to food
processing...but the environmental and quality issues certainly will
still hold. Those issues can outweigh the simple capital cost
decision, if conversion costs are within 20-30% of traditional IMHO.
I believe that irradiation systems will be far more costly. But, the
company still needs to layout for the marketplace (and investors)
what the cost/benefits are to ozone processing vs. alternatives. Thy
haven't done this because they are still in development and pilot
studies.
All this being said, I'm long OZON based on DD and instinct. Downside
risk from here may be 25-35% and upside potential is several fold.
Its definitely not an investment for everyone. I don't like the "huge
contracts" banner, because that's not the way it will happen. I
anticipate a series of smaller announcements and business
partnerships. Good luck to all. cm |
