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Technology Stocks : Thermo Tech Technologies (TTRIF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CAYMAN who wrote (4408)	7/3/1998 8:42:00 PM
From: David Pickering	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 6467

CAYMAN, Can you say DEAD THREAD? Maybe this post will spark some activity: I had a conference call with Dr. Frank Owsley of AU and Rene yesterday afternoon concerning the animal feed sample testing. Frank has signed the confidentiality agreement, as an official representative of Auburn University, as opposed to just signing it "Frank Owsley". Frank stressed that he couldn't sign the agreement in an official capacity unless he was able to share his findings with others (i.e. individual farmers, other universities, the big agribusiness sector, etc.)as part of his AU research directive. Of course, this is what we want! Rene assured him that he could freely discuss the pre-processed material and the final end product quality with anyone. However, the actual technology itself- the thermophilic process and its implementation- would be subject to the confidentially agreement. Frank said he had no problem with that and faxed the document to Rene. Rene was to overnight the Dillon Report plus other feed-specific information to Frank. After Frank has reviewed this information, he will call me to set up the trip. During the course of the conversation, Rene told Frank and I something I was not aware of: WE ARE NOW PRODUCING A LIQUID ANIMAL FEED (a patent has been applied for) at Hamilton. This operation started about a month ago. Here's how it's done: The centrate from the Centrifuge (see Dillon Report) goes via the Centrate Tanks to the Evaporator, which increases the solids concentration of the centrate from approximately 10% to approximately 40-50%. The evaporator product is now DIVERTED (different from the Dillon Report/Section 5.2.9) to another mixer, where dried corn is added to achieve a 60% solids content. This material still flows and is pumped into Miracle Feed trucks for transportation to the end users, primarily hog farmers. As per Rene, Hamilton is currently producing about 30 tons of dry feed and 70 tons/wet weight (35 tons/dry weight at 50% solids content) of the liquid feed a day at its current 400 ton/day processing capacity. The liquid feed is commanding a $220/ton dry weight price ($110/ton wet weight price). The liquid feed is converted to a dry weight price to calculate the 80/20% split with Miracle Feed over the $140/ton minimum guaranteed price. For example, once again assuming a 50% solids content of the liquid feed, TTRIF would actually receive $204/ton (dry weight) for the liquid feed times 35 dry tons processed daily or $7,140 in liquid feed revenue plus $140/ton (dry weight) for the dry feed times 30 dry tons processed daily or $4,200 in dry feed revenue to total $11,340 in daily end product revenues. Of course, there is the added cost of the dried corn to consider, but corn is comparatively cheap ($80/ton if memory serves) and we don't use a lot of it (I would guess approximately five tons a day). So, allowing $400/day in the added dried corn expense, we should net approximately $10,940 in daily end product revenues. As per the Dillon Report, by processing 400 tons per day of food waste into JUST dry feed, the resulting dry product will be 65 tons a day (at 11% moisture content) times $140/ton or $9,100 in daily end product revenues. Therefore, the liquid feed is generating roughly $1,840 more a day in net end product revenue than strictly processing dry feed (the above example is a combination of MY figures and the Dillon numbers.not Rene's). Previously, the evaporator product then was directed to the Wet Product Mixer where it was blended with the centrifuge cake to form a uniform mixture, and then sent to the Dryer, through the Cyclone, and on to the Pellet Mill where the particles were compressed into pellets. Frank told me that about 80% of the information you need to properly evaluate a feed sample is in the final product itself. Knowing specifically WHAT is going into the final product adds another 10-15% confidence factor. Frank didn't say it, but I would surmise that the remaining 5-10% confidence factor could be attained by Frank actually scooping both samples himself, right off the production line in Hamilton. BTW, Frank was very impressed that Furst-McNess Miracle (the new name for Miracle Feeds of Canada LTD) is marketing our end product. He said that he deals with Furst-McNess on an almost daily basis. They are apparently major players in the Southeastern US feed market. So far, so good. I'll keep everyone apprised. Regards, David Pickering