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Chapter 285 Alkali Plant
In addition, the alkali production plant not only produces hydrochloric acid and soda ash, it is also the source of a large number of chemical raw materials.For example, sodium sulfate, called Glauber's salt in Chinese, is a drug in itself.After calcining it with pulverized coal at high temperature, it is hot-melted with an alkali solution to obtain sodium sulfide, which can be used for leather making, dyes, and papermaking.

In fact, the same principle can also be used in coke kilns to turn waste into treasure.During the carbonization of coal, in addition to the finished coke, a waste material, coke oven gas, is also produced.It contains a large amount of ammonia, which is exactly needed for plant growth. If the ammonia in the gas can be extracted and used in agriculture, it will be used as chemical fertilizer.

The specific method is the same as using a contact tower to extract hydrogen chloride gas. The gas generated in the coke kiln is collected with a chimney or pipe and sent to the sulfuric acid pool for reaction, and the ammonium sulfate solution can be obtained.After collection, separation, and crystallization, you can obtain ammonium sulfate crystals that are as white as white sugar.

This step can be placed in front of the coke oven gas to cool the coal tar. On the one hand, it can produce an additional product. On the other hand, it can filter the coke oven gas and remove part of the ammonia, which is beneficial and harmless to the later fractionation of coal tar.

Are you satisfied with ammonium sulfate?Absolutely not.Ammonium sulfate and saltpeter are dissolved in water and heated together. When the temperature and concentration are appropriate, a metathesis reaction will occur. After the components are exchanged with each other, a new compound, ammonium nitrate, is born.

What can ammonium nitrate do?Like ammonium sulfate, it can be used as a chemical fertilizer, especially for tobacco, cotton, and rice.At the same time, it is a very powerful explosive, extremely safe, and very insensitive.

Mix ammonium nitrate with sawdust, paraffin and diesel fuel to make a very stable ammonium oil explosive.As long as the temperature is not too high during storage and does not withstand too severe impacts, it will basically be safe.

If there is a way to extract relatively pure toluene from coal tar or petroleum in the future, it can also be reacted with nitric acid and sulfuric acid to produce a yellow flake, which will later be called trinitrotoluene, commonly known as TNT.

With these raw materials used to make weapons, whether they are nomads on the grasslands, nomads in the mountains, or various coachmen on the sea, they will all be blown to pieces.

But achieving all this is just the beginning, and there is still a long way to go before the refinement and purity can be further improved. It may take several years, or it may take more than ten years or even decades.

But as our ancestors said, everything is difficult at the beginning.As long as you find the way forward and master the correct method, it is only a matter of time when you reach your goal.What Hong Tao lacks most is time, but at the same time, what he lacks most is still time.

"Hand out the masks and tell the people in charge here that from now on, each person will be given a mask every ten days and must wear it when working. Anyone who violates this will be punished as a bully!"

Looking at the chemical plant, which was more messy and crude than the construction site, Hong Tao was not angry but quite satisfied.He has experienced this kind of scene more than once and knows how difficult it was to start the chemical industry in ancient times.At any rate, the Ming Dynasty still had large glazed water tanks, which was much more advanced than the Song Dynasty, which did not even have large water tanks.

It's just a little bit far from perfect, such as labor protection equipment.The workers here are all recruited refugees, and there are currently no prisoners of war available, so all possible protective measures must be taken to reduce work-related injuries as much as possible.

All that can be thought of at present is to formulate a production safety system and distribute some labor protection supplies, such as thick leather boots, leather gloves and cotton masks.For the first two items, people who have their own internal organs and prisons go to various places to order and purchase them, but masks are a new thing, no one sells them and no one knows how to make them.

This was not difficult for the emperor. He did not need to find a special workshop to make it. He only needed to explain it to the queen and teach her how to make a few.Within two days, the entire harem, from the concubines to the maids, would take the initiative to sew. The quality should be as good as possible, and the stitching would be denser than the soles of the mother-in-law's shoes.

"Your Majesty, I forgive you for being stupid and not knowing how to use this thing..." Wang Chengen carried a large bag of masks made by concubines in the harem and handed them to the officials supervising the construction site.As a result, the two of them muttered for a long time, and then cautiously came together. "Wearing it on the ears can block out the bad smell... Who are you?" Hong Tao didn't waste any time. He picked up a mask and put it on his face. He was about to ask the official to do it again when he suddenly felt that this person It looks familiar, but I can't remember where I've seen it.

"Chen Guo Weicheng..." This official is not too old, only in his early forties.The accent is not strong and he can't go anywhere near the capital, but Hong Tao still can't remember who his name is Guo Weicheng.

"Long live the Lord... Bo Ping Bo... the Queen..." Seeing this, Wang Chengen quickly stepped forward and lowered his voice to remind in a low voice.

"Oh, I was negligent. It turned out to be the father-in-law of the country. Hehehehe, thank you for your hard work..."

This made Hong Tao somewhat embarrassed. The son-in-law didn't even know his father-in-law, yet he still asked him in front of him. He couldn't explain anything no matter where he went.If the news reaches the Queen's ears, that woman with a personality like a doormat will secretly shed tears again.

Speaking of which, Queen Guo's life has been really uncomfortable these past few years. When she was the Crown Princess, she was not well received by the Emperor. The food and drink expenses were not very simple, and she was not worthy of her status as a Crown Princess.

It was not easy for her to become the queen, but she did not give birth to a son and a half daughters in nine years.Because of this matter, the empress dowagers of the two palaces were summoned alone for questioning, and their words were full of criticism.

"I don't dare. The work here is very easy. All you need to do is be careful and do everything according to His Majesty's instructions." Guo Weicheng, the head of the country, made Hong Tao smile and be polite, which made Hong Tao even more nervous. He quickly knelt down regardless of whether he made a mistake or not. answer.

"This is not a court, so there is no need to perform such a grand ceremony. Uh... I am a bit busy, my father-in-law, and it is not convenient for me to leave the palace. I haven't paid much attention to him in the past few years. How is your family?"

Even though he was used to seeing white-haired officials kneeling in front of them, Hong Tao was still not used to having his elders salute like this, so he quickly reached out and helped Guo Weicheng up.But I couldn't find a suitable meeting etiquette for a while, so I simply skipped it and went straight to homely matters.

"Everything is fine at home and abroad..."

There was an ancestral system in the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor was not allowed to marry women from high-ranking officials and noble families, so Guo was born in a small official's family in Daxing County.Before Guo Weicheng became the head of state, he was just a servant in the county government. He had never seen such a scene before. He was at a loss for a while and even stammered when speaking.

"That's good, that's good... I still have some at home..." Seeing this scene, Hong Tao also knew that the closer he appeared, the worse it would be, so he had to take a half step back to put some distance between him and try his best to appear aloof.But La Jia Chang had to admit that he knew absolutely nothing about the Guo family, so he had no choice but to turn to Wang Chengen for help with his eyes.

(End of this chapter)