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Chapter 210 Coalification System
The first lesson is fractionation. There are skilled craftsmen in the palace who can direct it. A brass fractionation tower over two meters high has been built. Not only is the internal structure ingenious, but the appearance is also very royal.

Two coiling dragons are engraved on the tower. There are clouds on the top of the tower, and the dragon's body is circling and soaring upward.I don’t know how the Bank Supervisor came up with the idea. Is it appropriate to put the True Dragon Emperor on a fractionating tower and roast it over fire, while also smelling various toxic gases?

"Come here, smell it, dip a bit and taste it!"

There is a porcelain basin in the middle of the big jade sea. It is outlined in blue and filled with red, green and yellow. It has cloud and dragon patterns and group flowers. It is a standard Wanli official kiln multi-colored covered jar. It may not be complete but it was a masterpiece ordered to be burned by Emperor Wanli during his wedding. In later generations, it would have cost a million to start, but now it was used to hold chemical raw materials.

The jar was filled with a little bit of dark, viscous liquid. You didn't have to get too close to smell the pungent smell. It wasn't smelly, it wasn't spicy, it was very unpleasant.

"Long live my lord, it stinks..." Wang Chengen was not only loyal but also courageous. He had to be the first to do whatever the emperor asked him to do.This time was no exception. Not only did he take a deep breath, he also covered his fingers with liquid, lifted them up and stuffed them into his mouth.

"Stop! I told you to dip it in a little bit and taste it, but I didn't let you eat it as honey. Look, this little bit is enough... Tsk tsk... It tastes pretty good. It would be perfect if I could have another mouthful of diesel!"

But Wang Chengen's arm was grabbed, and Hong Tao personally demonstrated what it meant to have a taste. He only dipped half of his fingernail in, smacking his fingers and shaking his head, with a look of enjoyment on his face.

"Uh... ugh..." The emperor had finished making the sample. The craftsmen and eunuchs didn't dare to hesitate at all, and they all put their fingers into their mouths.But what they got was not enjoyment but stimulation. It was spicy, bitter, salty, and had an unspeakable strange smell. Some of them were about to vomit.

"Hey hey hey... remember this smell, it's called coal tar, a by-product of coking. It used to be a waste material. Except for a small part used as fuel for steelmaking, it was basically useless and difficult to process.

I once said that everything, objects and people in the world are useful as long as they are used in the right place.This is true for people, and so is coal tar.Now I want to teach you how to extract something more valuable than gold, and this science is called alchemy! "

Seeing the bitter faces of everyone, Hong Tao smiled extremely happily, even though he had the same unpleasant taste in his own mouth, he was still very happy.There is no way, this is just a matter of character. Regardless of whether you are unlucky or not, as long as you see others being unlucky too, you will find it difficult to conceal your joy.

"Dear me, alchemy..." There were whispers and low exclamations in the hall.

From craftsmen to young eunuchs, no one dared not believe the emperor's words, and everyone had heard of this magic.I always thought it was a myth and legend, but I didn’t expect that someone actually knew it and could pass it on. It was so exciting that I forgot the strange taste in my mouth.

"You want to learn, right? Then listen carefully and memorize it carefully. I don't want to favor one against another, but learning magic is not easy. It requires a lot of skills. In the future, some of you will be eliminated because you don't have enough skills. Don't blame me when the time comes, and don't be free. Side story. Remember, whoever has a long tongue, I will make him unable to speak or write for the rest of his life!"

Hong Tao was very satisfied looking at the green eyes. The reason why he described chemistry as alchemy was to seduce people's greed.Only with greed can you have motivation and study seriously.Speaking of chemistry, who knows what it is?There are only a few people who like to explore and have the courage to practice.

It stands to reason that it is relatively easy to fractionate petroleum, but it is a pity that Bi Maokang has just extended his appointment. It may be several months before he can get the oil, and water far away cannot quench his thirst nearby.In fact, the general composition of coal tar and petroleum are not much different, and their properties are even more similar.The most important thing is that the supply is sufficient. Yongdinghe Iron Works started using this stuff as auxiliary fuel for the open-hearth furnace the year before last. It can't be used up. It can't be used up at all.

Burning such a good thing in vain is more luxurious than eating only the claws of the crab. It is better to use it to refine higher-grade raw materials. In addition to upgrading the chemical industry, it can also partially replace petroleum products.

China is not an oil-producing area to begin with. It does have oil reserves, but they are buried deep and are a bit difficult to extract.It is not known whether the self-injection oil reserves in the Yanchang area alone can meet the demand for large-scale exploitation in the future.

Instead of just staring blankly when the time comes, it is better to choose a backup plan in advance and build a chemical system based on coal tar, which is a very suitable alternative.

China lacks oil but does not lack coal. As long as the technology is good, replacing oil with coal tar is not a dream.Germany did this during World War II, and it worked well.

"This coal tar contains water and sand, which must be cleaned before refining. Now watch my actions carefully!"

Hong Tao didn't mention a word about what coal tar is and what it contains. He just started working on it, starting from the most basic process and completing the entire process step by step.Then do it again, and repeat, until most people have memorized every step and reaction.

This approach is not training chemists at all, but training technical workers.But as a saying goes, when the quantity reaches a certain scale, it may lead to quantitative changes.

When the People's Republic of China was first founded, there was a general lack of professionals in all walks of life, and they were tightly blocked by the outside world, unable to obtain corresponding petrochemical knowledge and equipment.It was in this way that workers at that time invented countless indigenous methods to ensure that oil production would not stagnate.

Since there have been successful examples, Hong Tao plans to give it a try.Although there is a difference of several hundred years between the times, the general knowledge level of the people in the early years of liberation seems to be no higher than that of eunuchs who have studied in the middle school study room. In addition, eunuchs can be 100% obedient, and there seems to be no reason why they cannot succeed.

"Okay, the impurities in these oils have been removed, but they can't be used yet. There is water in them. Now I want to teach you how to remove the water. The process is very magical. If you want to remove the water, you must first add water to it!"

Hong Tao was talking and doing, and soon he finished filtering half a basin of coal tar, leaving a layer of dark impurities on the fine yarn.But the cleaning work was not completed yet. Next, I poured some tar into the beaker, and poured about twice as much water into it. I kept saying that I wanted to remove the water, which was very contradictory and mysterious.

The beaker was placed on the alcohol lamp, but the distance was a little far away, with a layer of copper sheet in between, and it was heated slowly.There is nothing to do at this time, just pay attention to the temperature of the tar in the beaker, which is about 60 degrees.

How to determine when the temperature is around 60 degrees? It's very simple, use a mercury thermometer.So was there a mercury thermometer in the Ming Dynasty?If Hong Tao hadn't traveled through time, there wouldn't be one, but it must be there now!
(End of this chapter)