The Hai Van Clean Energy JSC, based in Thac Gian Ward, Thanh Khe District, Da Nang, has made contributions in creating organic fuel products and soil substrates by researching and providing solutions for treating biological waste, thereby bringing many values ​​to the community and society.

Mr. Truong Tu Long, Director of the Hai Van Clean Energy JSC. Photo: CHIEN THANG

With over 8 years of working at the Lien Tri Mechanical Company Limited in the Hoa Khanh Industrial Park, Lien Chieu District, Mr. Truong Tu Long, the Director of the Hai Van Clean Energy JSC, gained a deep knowledge in the field of clean energy regeneration from green trees.

According to Mr. Long, many people still do not know how to make effective use of cut and pruned green trees. This prompted him to carry out a project to regenerate clean energy from green tree waste. Specifically, he plans to use chopped tree trunks and branches to make products to supply to boiler units specialising in making compressed pellets. The chopped leaves will be used to compost soil for agricultural production.

In 2021, Mr. Long withdrew all his savings and borrowed about VND 1.2 billion from his family to buy industrial choppers, conveyor belts, and wood grippers.

Initially, Mr. Long's model encountered continuous problems. The cost of maintenance and replacement of components was very high, especially the grinding blade costing VND 40 million/set.

His startup model was shaky in 2021 and 2022 because there were no partners and the product was not yet complete.

"Each month, the costs of operation, maintenance, replacement, labor, etc. are over VND 150 million. There was a time when I thought about giving up, but then I was determined to continue to fulfill my unfinished dream" said Mr. Long.

Gradually, when business activities became more stable, Mr. Long decided to establish a company called the Hai Van Clean Energy JSC in November 2023. Since its operational, the company has received many quality orders.

For about a year now, his company has provided about 100-500 tonnes of wood chips per month to energy enterprises to serve boilers, as well as nearly 5 tonnes of soil substrate per month for cooperatives, farms, and households in the city.

Currently, his company is a partner of Heineken Da Nang Brewery, Viet Nam Dairy Factory (Vinamilk) in Da Nang, Bana Rita Farm Tourist Area, Raku Farm, Da Nang Rubber JSC (DRC), Song Han Social One Member Co., Ltd. and a number of other enterprises in the Hoa Khanh Industrial Park. The company's average revenue is over VND 2 billion/year in the 2023-2024 period.

According to Mr. Long, about VND 3 billion has been invested in the bio-waste recycling startup model, with a focus on purchasing equipment and maintaining operations. His long-term orientation is to create a soil substrate that can meet the needs of all types of plants.

Through the evaluation and experimentation process, his soil substrate product has outstanding advantages such as good moisture retention, moderate temperature, and rich in nutrients.

However, for "picky" plants such as medicinal herbs and regional fruits, Mr. Long is still researching and adjusting the soil substrate to create an ideal environment for their development. In the near future, he plans to test growing lingzhi mushrooms on soil substrate to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of the product, and soon bring it to the market.

However, the enterprise is encountering some difficulties such as a lack of raw material sources,  and incomplete infrastructure. This is the reason why Mr. Long has not been able to invest heavily in machinery and infrastructure to develop the "Green Energy Regeneration" model.

To solve this problem, Mr. Long hopes to coordinate with the Department of Construction, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Parks - Trees Company to have raw materials through the processing of urban tree pruning.

At the Da Nang Innovation Startup Festival (SURF 2024), Mr. Truong Tu Long's "Green Energy Regeneration" project was highly appreciated by the jury for its environmental friendliness and suitability for the Net-Zero programme.

According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Toan, Director of the Da Nang Support Centre for Innovation Startups, Mr. Truong Tu Long's model has great potential for development. Therefore, immediately after the end of SURF 2024, the project was assisted in connecting with experts in the same field, and venture capital funds and angels so that the model can soon be completed and developed in the future.

"This is a project with humanistic environmental significance, the Da Nang Support Centre for Innovative Startups has high expectations and hopes that experts and investment funds will join hands to develop the project, not only in the city but also in the country and the region" said Mr. Nguyen Viet Toan.

Reporting by CHIEN THANG - Translating by M.DUNG