math
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What'd be some lucrative uses of cheap electricity?
Hi, I know similar questions were asked before, but never went that far or were maybe too specific.
I'd like to know what'd be some lucrative uses of cheap electricity, assuming re-selling it directly to the electricity grid is not feasible
(off-grid).
I cannot use all my electricity from solar and the rechargeable battery is ok to fill my basic needs, so I'd like to turn that excess electricity
produced into profit.
I remember people in the forum suggesting the following (in no specific order):
- mining crypto and then buying things from Merck or anywhere really
- making copper and sulfuric acid
- making chlorates
- making Hydroxylamine, Sodium nitrite, Formic acid, perchlorates, Periodates and derivatives (IBX and DMP), Sodium metal, Magnesium metal, Potassium
hydroxide, Hydrazine salts, Sodium hydride, aluminium
Are there any other options you can think of?
How would you rank options from most profitable to least profitable?
I was thinking about induction furnaces to produce something (as I imagine some things inherently require a lot of energy to be produced), but again
not sure really what is more profitable than say importing ready-made from Asia.
TL;DR: what are some options to turn excess electricity in profit, possibly the highest per kWh used and without investing a lot?
Thank you
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chempyre235
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I think the scale of the synthesis will greatly impact profitability. One of the reasons that these things are imported from Asia, is that India and
China produce chemicals on a massive scale, which makes the unit price cheaper than most other suppliers, even after tariffs, customs and shipping.
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results." -Winston Churchill
"I weep at the sight of flaming acetic anhydride." -@Madscientist
"...the elements shall melt with fervent heat..." -2 Peter 3:10
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math
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Quote: Originally posted by chempyre235  | | I think the scale of the synthesis will greatly impact profitability. One of the reasons that these things are imported from Asia, is that India and
China produce chemicals on a massive scale, which makes the unit price cheaper than most other suppliers, even after tariffs, customs and shipping.
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Ok, still on a per kWh basis (thus regardless of scale) and on a minimal investment (thus no $1000 on equipment), what'd be one of the most lucrative
things to do with that electricity?
Thanks
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Radiums Lab
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I would make hard to acquire reagents or even F2  and sell it among reputed and
well known members.
[Edited on 29-11-2025 by Radiums Lab]
Water is dangerous if you don't know how to handle it, elemental fluorine (F₂) on the other hand is pretty tame if you know what you are doing.
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chloric1
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Like said above, it’s virtually impossible to compete with Chinese and Indian manufacturers. Instead of profit you should look at it from the
perspective of savings. Like how much money would you save making 1 kg of your own sodium chlorate from sodium chloride? You might not even be able
to buy sodium chlorate where your at! That way you don’t have a traceable transaction that the authorities could exploit. On the other hand some
reagents are better purchased if they don’t bring unwanted attention. You’ll have to weigh this on a per reagent basis.
Fellow molecular manipulator
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math
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| Quote: Originally posted by chloric1 | | Like said above, it’s virtually impossible to compete with Chinese and Indian manufacturers. Instead of profit you should look at it from the
perspective of savings. Like how much money would you save making 1 kg of your own sodium chlorate from sodium chloride? You might not even be able
to buy sodium chlorate where your at! That way you don’t have a traceable transaction that the authorities could exploit. On the other hand some
reagents are better purchased if they don’t bring unwanted attention. You’ll have to weigh this on a per reagent basis. |
Thanks for the input. While I'd make it, I have no real use for it and would end up having too much of it, that's why I'd rather convert the extra
electricity I can't use into cash or something else valuable.
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chloric1
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Understandable. If electrolysis is not your bag you can use the electricity for stirring, heating or running pumps. Split it up safely with fused
connections and run multiple projects at once. For example vacuum filtration wet crystals with a suitable pump while distilling some fresh acid from
a metal salt solution plus sulfuric or sodium bisulfate for example
Fellow molecular manipulator
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stygian
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Im betting $0 making peroxide/persulfates is the best you could do. Just gotta find a buyer
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clearly_not_atara
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How are you going to move the product? You can't just become a chemical vendor without even a permit for producing stuff.
Anyway you will want to limit capex and regulatory exposure. And you want to use freely available materials.
Birkeland-Eyde is interesting, more interesting though is making nitrite instead of fertilizer because it's roughly the same process but the product
is sold in lower volumes and at higher prices (that's you).
Another possibility is biomass to ethylene glycol. Surprisingly this is a retro-aldol decomposition of sugars and not a biological process. If you
have a good source of free biomass you might just be able to compete with hardware store antifreeze.
And of course you could try electrolyzing waste to extract metals. There are a lot of variations of this process but I am not very familiar with it.
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MrDoctor
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flash graphene is turbostratic graphene which is supposedly one of the more useful and versatile types. this process also basically rearranges a lot
of the waste gas into hydrogen and methane which are also valuable. anything to carbonaceous to leave the system just makes graphene again in the next
load.
Now selling that graphene is another matter. you can add it to concrete and it makes concrete WAY stronger sure, but that fact isnt likely to get you
money, just stronger concrete, or, it gets you increased value, in a non-monetary form.
A business venture that uses a particular product that costs money, as an intermediate, that you can omit, becomes a superior business, and you make
money that way, like that cattle farm that started feeding their cows red-algae or kelp or something and it almost eliminated methane emissions
(eventual tax benefits), and also made the cows so healthy their grading and yield bumped up a bit.
you wont make money selling chemicals unless you cater to pyromaniacs/pyrotechnic enthusiasts by making chlorate/perchlorate and selling it on etsy.
But you can make money by starting a business and being your own customer base for a singular specific process/product and either using the power to
mitigate expenses or increase value of a product or service, where you only need to gear quality control to this singular application, otherwise
theres no way you can compete against big-chemical and people who just buy 50 gallon drums of chemical X for $0.79/gal.
cost mitigation is where you should focus. like look at things that produce expensive waste that is expensive to process, and process it.
If you hypothetically began a TNT factory, you could hugely undercut the market if you could use free power to destroy the immensely volumous, toxic
waste product, "red water" that forms as a result of washing or decomposing the many undesired byproducts/isomers of MNT/DNT/TNT, my understanding is
that waste disposal is so expensive that its why the US cant produce as much of either the worlds, or its own, TNT anymore, compared to others that
are still willing to pollute their rivers and water tables, plants are bottlenecked by environmental/waste management policy, and my guess is that
theres no good balance for cheap vs quick that lets them scale output.
for a better real world case at smaller scale, a process that involves electro-synthesized chlorine or bleach might be more appropriate or realistic
for where lots of gaseous chlorine is needed.
Nitric acid is a dead end though, cleaning shops sell 68% conc stuff for close to the same price per volume as acetone or DCM. I can frankly make
cheaper KNO3 by buying nitric acid and free potassium, than i can make nitric acid by buying KNO3 and free sulfuric acid. even if you cant buy nitric
acid like i can, local industry can and thats how the value of things around you will be set.
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Dr.Bob
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Short of smelting aluminum or making steel, mining crypto might be the only scalable thing that won't require huge investments. Making KClO4 might
be OK, but hard to scale up and it requires a lot of work and chemicals, plus Pt electrodes.
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chloric1
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| Quote: Originally posted by Dr.Bob | | Short of smelting aluminum or making steel, mining crypto might be the only scalable thing that won't require huge investments. Making KClO4 might
be OK, but hard to scale up and it requires a lot of work and chemicals, plus Pt electrodes. |
Nah, it’s okay for a huge manufacturer but for small scale use, it’s just better to make chlorates from disproportionation of calcium hypochlorite
and the perchlorate can be had by melting the chlorate carefully. Other methods include digesting potassium chlorate with concentrated acid like
nitric acid. Remember, scientists were aware of these salts long before electrolysis was widely used or available.
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MrDoctor
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you dont need Pt electrodes for perchlorate, lead dioxide at the right current density, possibly doped with something like tantalum iirc, lasts an
incredibly long time
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pesco
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Thats exactly what i hate the most - the socialistic/totalitarian mindset that presumes everything needs a permit.
I do produce some chemicals and I do have a permit. Given by my wife. The only person who is entitled to give such permit.
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pesco
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There are many things you could do with cheap/free electricity. The simplest one is running crypto. Other potential activity is services - charging
batteries, cooking food, recycling plastic by reforming etc.
Activities related to this forum are pretty much limited to reagents production. Depending on where you live, some chemicals are delegalized. If you
are in EU/UK forget about selling chlorates, sulphuric, nitric and whold host of others.
You could still produce nitric quietly, and use it to make nitrates (some are deligilized in EU/UK), then flog the salts.
Electrolysis is a great way to produce many. Easy, clean, but might be lengthy.
Edit: misspellings.
[Edited on 14-12-2025 by pesco]
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PonderosaP
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| Quote: Originally posted by math | Hi, I know similar questions were asked before, but never went that far or were maybe too specific.
I'd like to know what'd be some lucrative uses of cheap electricity, assuming re-selling it directly to the electricity grid is not feasible
(off-grid).
I cannot use all my electricity from solar and the rechargeable battery is ok to fill my basic needs, so I'd like to turn that excess electricity
produced into profit.
I remember people in the forum suggesting the following (in no specific order):
- mining crypto and then buying things from Merck or anywhere really
- making copper and sulfuric acid
- making chlorates
- making Hydroxylamine, Sodium nitrite, Formic acid, perchlorates, Periodates and derivatives (IBX and DMP), Sodium metal, Magnesium metal, Potassium
hydroxide, Hydrazine salts, Sodium hydride, aluminium
Are there any other options you can think of?
How would you rank options from most profitable to least profitable?
I was thinking about induction furnaces to produce something (as I imagine some things inherently require a lot of energy to be produced), but again
not sure really what is more profitable than say importing ready-made from Asia.
TL;DR: what are some options to turn excess electricity in profit, possibly the highest per kWh used and without investing a lot?
Thank you |
If you're serious about this (which I sort of doubt) you should consider biological production of products refined or aged. What fragrant
flowers/plants could you grow on your estate? Steam distill those into essential oils. What fermentable berries could you grow? Ferment and age
those into fine local wines. Barley? Potatoes? Build a reflux still. These are borderline appropriate for this discussion space. You'd get a far
greater ROI on time asking this question in a space less bound by legal constraints, with accompanying greater personal risk.
TL;DR redd*t is down the hall and to the left.
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Varungh
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Plastic is ubiquitous and freely found as trash. It can be converted into petrol like hydrocarbons by heating(cracking)
Maybe try that.the Capital needed is cheap. Say about a vaccum pump, some iron pipes, a drum and a collection vessel. And of course some heater wire
You can also try calcining limestone and selling it.
You can do the Chlor alkali thing, make bleach and sell it. And make NaOH and sell it.
You can try the le blanc process(if you know someone who needs sulfides)
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