Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 354 is not easy to brag about, so I will brag about it instead (first update, please subscribe)

Steel is both a country and a country.

In this era, no one will doubt that for any country eager to industrialize, they will first put the development of the steel industry at the core.

The same is true for Soviet Russia, and the same is true for Borneo, and Donghai Iron and Steel Company is the focus of development. After more than two years of intense construction, Donghai Iron and Steel Company finally put into production at the beginning of the year, but even so, it did not ease the domestic construction and Production demand for steel.

"Second period!"

Pointing to the distance, Qiu Yuchi said.

"The key is the second phase of the project. Sir, you see, that is our No. 3 blast furnace. Although it is an old equipment from the 1930s, its main components are made by the American GE Company. It has an annual production capacity of 80 tons of pig iron. After improvements, the annual production capacity is 100 million tons, No. 4 blast furnace, the main components are manufactured by German Demark and AEG companies, with an annual production capacity of 100 million tons of pig iron. As long as coke and ore can be supplied, our steel production can exceed 350 million tons next year! "

350 million tons of steel!

This is the production capacity of Tokai Steel, which is basically the steel production capacity of the entire Borneo. It is production capacity, not output. In fact, when these equipments were still in Japan, due to coal supply and production problems, none of the blast furnaces had reached the highest level. Yield.

Yes, the equipment for the second phase of the expansion project was all dismantled from Japan.

"What about the steel plant? How much equipment is installed? What is the steel production?"

Li Yian asked.

Iron is not important. For industrial production and construction, steel is the most important.

“第二炼钢厂，拥有600吨混铁炉1座、300吨精炼炉3座、150吨平炉2座、100吨平炉4座，年产能力钢锭58万吨。目前主体设备已经基本完成安装，第三炼钢厂，2座600吨混铁炉已经完工一座，另一座接近完工、四座300吨精炼炉也已经完工，六座150吨平炉也已经基本完工，年产能力钢锭75万吨。”

Qiu Yuchi continued to introduce.

"Steel ingots need to be processed into steel. The supporting factories of the steelmaking plant include two blooming mills with an annual steel production capacity of 106 million tons and a large plant with an annual steel production capacity of 20 tons, including rails and special steel, with an annual steel production capacity of 17 tons. tons, mainly two small factories for steel pipes and wire rods, in addition to a thin plate factory with an annual production capacity of 8 tons and a medium plate factory with an annual production capacity of 7 tons. In addition, there are 8 gas generators. The main equipment is from Germany. Manufactured by Lupp, AEG, Demac, and Japan's Kobe Steel, in addition to old equipment, we have added some German-made equipment."

After introducing the equipment and production capacity of the second phase project one by one, Qiu Yuchi added.

"The key is steelmaking. Therefore, the core of the third phase plan is to increase the steelmaking capacity by 100 million tons. At present, we have completed the design work of the 300-ton open-hearth furnace. The fourth steelmaking plant will all use large-scale steelmaking open-hearth furnaces. In addition, We are also preparing to expand the chamber of Daiichi Steel’s 100-ton open-hearth furnace, which is expected to increase production capacity by 50%.”

Open hearth steelmaking!

After thinking about it, Li Yian asked.

"I remember that in the steelmaking plant before, you mentioned that it takes 12 hours to make steel in an open-hearth furnace, but the speed of steel-making in a converter is very fast. One furnace can be made in half an hour. It can be said that for steel-making furnaces with the same volume, the converter is an open-hearth furnace. Dozens of times, then can we consider a converter?"

Qiu Yuchi said without thinking about the president's suggestion.

"Although the Australian ore we use has the characteristics of low phosphorus and low sulfur, a large amount of air needs to be blown into the converter to make steel, so the nitrogen content is high. It often needs to be further refined with an electric furnace, which not only increases production costs, but also consumes a lot of of electricity. So now all countries use open-hearth furnaces, while converters are rarely used."

If it weren't for the fact that the other party was the president, he would even use the old incident of the Hanyang Iron Works introducing converters, which resulted in the inability to produce qualified steel, as an example to refute. However, in front of the president, he still had to restrain himself appropriately.

"Blow in the air?"

Li Yian said, thinking of the oxygen top-blown converter in later generations.

"What if we switch to pure oxygen?"

"Blow pure oxygen?"

The sudden suggestion stunned Qiu Yuchi, but his eyes suddenly lit up and he said.

"Pure oxygen does not contain nitrogen, so the nitrogen content will be reduced. In this way, the biggest problem of converter steel will be solved. Converter steelmaking is much more efficient than open-hearth steelmaking, and it can also save fuel. Reduce costs. Yes, that’s right, it’s pure oxygen. Just change to pure oxygen and oxygen,..."

Just when Qiu Yuchi was excited about the president's "eureka", Kant, a metallurgical expert from Germany and the company's chief engineer, said next to him.

"Sir, blowing pure oxygen into the converter to make steel is not a new invention." His words surprised Qiu Yuchi,

"Has someone invented it yet?"

Li Yian is also a little curious. Since it has been invented, why is no one using it?

"Mr. Manager, you know, blowing air into a rotatable asymmetric converter. This is the Bessemer process or the alkaline Bessemer-Thomas process. Its shortcomings are also well known. For example, the air contains a large amount of Nitrogen, after cheap oxygen became available in large quantities more than ten years ago, research in this area began in Europe. Oxygen blowing was used instead of air blowing. They studied the bottom blowing process. However, due to various reasons, such as refractory material issues, the There were damaged air outlets, severe splashing, etc. In the end, these studies were not successful.”

As the chief engineer of a steel company, Kant has of course conducted research in this area. After all, the cost of converter steelmaking is too low. Compared with open-hearth steelmaking that consumes a large amount of gas, it is almost "zero cost." "of.

Of course, this is to a certain extent, but compared with the production efficiency of a furnace of steel in half an hour and a furnace of steel in 12 hours, no one can resist it. But the problem is that pure oxygen... is not so easy to blow.

"Mr. Kant, are you saying that blowing oxygen will cause damage to the nozzle?"

"Yes, sir, the damage is very fast. Almost every furnace of steel needs to be replaced, and its splashing is also very harmful. After all, pure oxygen burns more intensely. Therefore, the test results of various countries before the war were different. How ideal."

Kant then introduced his attempts before the war. While listening to his introduction, Li Yian did not speak, but frowned and thought. He was not an expert in metallurgy, but he had heard of oxygen steelmaking. In fact, All the secrets are in the name, and now with Kant's introduction, Li Yian found the problem.

"Bottom blow."

"what?"

"I mean, you all used bottom blowing in your experiments, right?"

"Yes, sir, this is the principle of the converter. Of course, there is also side blowing. In order to ensure the stirring of the molten pool, the converter basically uses bottom blowing,"

"Then why not consider top blowing?"

Li Yian asked rhetorically.

"Since the splashing is strong, top blowing may be able to avoid this possibility. The splashing can even turn into stirring. If that doesn't work, top blowing will be strengthened to ensure that the oxygen jet can enter the depth of the molten pool for stirring. What do you think?"

What seems to be a sudden suggestion is actually another world's main steelmaking method that started in the 50s and replaced the open-hearth steelmaking method in just a dozen years.

It is top-blown oxygen converter steelmaking. All the secrets are in the name.

Although it was just a small suggestion, Kant looked at the president in astonishment.

Change the top!

Is it that simple?

It's that simple. After thinking about it for a while, Qiu Yuchi became a little excited and stood up, so that he finally clapped his hands excitedly and said.

"Top blowing, yes. In the past, low blowing was used with air, but the oxygen burned too fiercely. If you still use low blowing, it will definitely cause splashing. If you change it to top blowing, from top to bottom, the splashing will naturally be Under control! Yes, that’s it!”

For engineers, sometimes they don't need to conduct many experiments, they just need simple analysis to get the answer, but with just a little speculation, they have already got the answer.

"Sir, your words have awakened the dreamer!"

Qiu Yuchi continued.

"I will organize technical staff to study the process now. If it is successful, we will start the converter for the third phase of the steelmaking plant."

Although he knew that the results of the research were definitely very ideal, Li Yian still reminded him.

"Don't be so anxious. My suggestion is just a glimmer of inspiration. You need to conduct sufficient experimental research before considering the application. After all, it is a new thing."

(End of this chapter)