Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1351 Industry-University-Research System ([-])

"Chlor-alkali, chlor-alkali, to put it bluntly, is the basic chemical industry that makes a fuss about chlorine and alkali." Weng Guang'an, who came out of the commissioner's office of the North Yazihu ​​District Administrative Office, sighed resentfully. The principle is not very clear, so he insisted that we deal with the waste liquid (mainly containing soda ash and calcium sulfide) produced in the production process of soda ash. He didn't even get the name right, but also calcium sulfate. Pooh, it is calcium sulfide. good."

"However, although this bird commissioner is not very scientific and technical, he has a good saying. The sulfur fixed in the waste liquid was randomly discharged into the river, which not only caused serious pollution (this has even caused serious pollution recently. The farmers in Dejushu Township are angry and complaining), and it is also a great waste. You know, our country spends a lot of money importing sulfur every year. Reducing pollution is also an extremely significant technological progress, and the benefits are extremely high." Weng Guang'an, who got into a carriage, thought slowly.

In fact, the Institute of Chemistry of the Academy of Natural Sciences has indeed arranged a special group to study the treatment and recycling of waste liquid from the Lublin process soda ash production line in recent years, but the progress seems to be relatively slow.Although Weng Guang'an is not a member of their team, he was fortunate enough to participate in several system-wide research briefings, and learned that they wanted to pass a large amount of flue gas (containing a lot of carbon dioxide) produced in the process of alkali production through the alkaline residue waste liquid, The sulfur in it is released in the form of hydrogen sulfide.When things get to this point, it is actually very simple. Just like collecting sulfur by oxidizing hydrogen sulfide in a coking plant, it is enough to directly invest in the construction of a collection pit.

It's just that their idea is perfect, but they have repeatedly encountered problems in the actual industrial production attempts, and the efficiency is extremely low. It seems that there is still a long way to go to effectively recover the sulfur in the waste liquid.Therefore, this group of people had to continue to increase investment in research in order to improve this method in the future and finally form a patent registration-their group had optimistically predicted that if all goes well and eventually overcome all technical difficulties, Then their patented method can recover hundreds of tons of sulfur from waste liquid residues for the Northern Chemical Plant every year. This is an industry worth tens of thousands of yuan, and it must not be underestimated.

And by recovering sulfur from alkaline waste liquid, producing bleach, bleaching cotton cloth and paper with chlorine gas, if they are all added up, it is a large industry close to 10 yuan per year. Even if the Chemical Institute of the Academy of Natural Sciences only charges 10% The annual patent fee, which is also an income of 1 yuan per year, can be used to do a lot of things when invested in scientific research. The shallow chemical industry-university-research system of the East Coast people is indeed a bit of a thing.

"However, it's none of my business! I'm not in their team. If their team leader hadn't happened to be on a business trip to the south, I wouldn't have been sent to the commissioner's office for questioning. Oh, what a bad luck." Naturally. Weng Guang'an, a top student at the Academy of Sciences and also a second-generation wearer, lamented, "I'm obviously studying the application of sulfuric acid, and I have no friendship with people in their soda industry. It's really terrible to be blamed by the commissioner for no reason. "

In this way, the carriage drove into the northern chemical factory in Jushu Township amid Weng Guangan's repeated laments. After taking the briefcase, Weng Guangan, a young second-generation wearer, did not stop, and strode into the factory area. In a remote corner, many of his "treasures" are kept here.

Well, well, to be precise, the total value of Weng Guangan's treasures is no more than two thousand yuan. They are all kinds of animal bones commissioned by the Institute of Chemistry, Academy of Natural Sciences, including huge whale bones, because they are all It was worthless waste, so it was purchased very cheaply, and it only cost more than 2000 yuan to fill up this large wasteland.

"Group leader Weng, the response from the farmers in the village is very good. Many people say that bone dregs have been used as fertilizer in ancient times, but they have never encountered such a good effect." A high school student wearing worn-out denim overalls saw Weng Guangan came back, greeted him, and said: "It seems that what you pointed out is correct, all the so-called old traditional fertilizers, including sea guano, seal feces, and animal bones, if they are not treated with sulfuric acid, then other The absorption rate will be ridiculously low, and a lot of valuable nutrients will be lost and not absorbed by the crop or fruit tree."

In fact, people on the east coast have actually used a lot of phosphorus-containing fertilizers many years ago, including sea guano imported from Peru and Chile by the Southern Railway Company, sea guano and seal dung dug from the Falkland Islands, transported by the South China Sea Fishery Company Whale bone meal back home and so on.The main chemical composition of these so-called fertilizers should be phosphate, which is especially suitable for fruit tree production. However, after years of follow-up research by people on the east coast in recent years, they have found that if this primitive fertilizer is not specially treated—such as using If sulfuric acid is used to provide its solubility——then its absorption rate will be very limited, which is a waste of good fertilizer, so this is why Weng Guangan and his research team were established.

To put it simply, the main task of the research team led by Weng is to use sulfuric acid to treat a large number of animal bones recovered like rags, changing them from phosphate to superphosphate, so that they can be better absorbed by crops.There is no doubt that this process will consume a lot of sulfuric acid, but compared to the "value-added utility" of fertilizers, everything is worth it. After all, sulfuric acid is not a valuable thing on the east coast at this time. The price of one ton It’s only close to 90 yuan—if it’s the internal cost price, it may be even lower—at present, the Institute of Chemistry of the Academy of Natural Sciences has also registered a patent with the National Patent Office for this superphosphate production method, and It is officially authorized to produce by Northern Chemical Factory, and only charges a patent fee of 5% of the selling price, which can be regarded as supporting agricultural production.

The technical team led by Weng Guang'an and others went to the countryside around Jushu Township for several consecutive years, and conducted dozens of comparisons and evaluations of crops with and without phosphate fertilizers. The results were naturally extremely gratifying. Superphosphate fertilizers The effectiveness of the phosphate fertilizer is indeed amazing, perhaps this means a development direction of phosphate fertilizer in the future.

However, a group of people including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Academy of Natural Sciences, and Northern Chemical Industry are all staring at the production of superphosphate fertilizers, but whoever he is, Weng Guang'an is naturally not so "low-level". This young man who graduated with honors from the High School Attached to the Natural Academy has been trying to prepare a fun thing that can "instantly ignite"-in fact, he has tried it before, using sulfuric acid to process the ashes of animals, and then using charcoal to reduce phosphorus (white phosphorus).

Before this novel thing like phosphorus, he only heard a brief introduction from the teacher in the high school textbooks, but now after being reconstructed by himself, Weng Guangan, a young guy, was immediately drunk. Research to produce a cheap, fast and effective ignition thing?After all, the effectiveness of the widely used Huozhe on the east coast is really too painful. There is an urgent need for a new kind of ignition thing to replace this old antique that has been used for countless years. Perhaps it will finally fall on phosphorus. .

However, the nature of phosphorus is too unstable, and the teacher said it was poisonous in class before, so it is not an ideal "new generation fire book".Therefore, after thinking over and over again, Weng Guangan decided to use the method mentioned in the chemistry textbook, which is to heat white phosphorus to 240 degrees Celsius in the absence of air to transform it into non-toxic and relatively stable red phosphorus. Then find a way to rub it with a mixture of potassium chlorate and sulfur (as a fuel) to generate heat, a series of chemical combustion reactions occur, and then ignite the thin wooden pole to successfully start a fire.

But this kind of thing is easy to say, but it is quite difficult to do it. For example, the production of red phosphorus currently has a lot of problems.Let’s not talk about how to isolate the air heating and how to make it more economical in large-scale industrial production, just say that it’s a bit problematic to heat it up to 240 degrees. As for the thermometer, the measurement control during production is not easy to handle. In addition, there are designing new production lines, dealing with a series of faults, etc. In short, there are a lot of troubles.

Furthermore, there are some problems in the production of potassium chlorate * now!At least Weng Guang'an knew that Liu Xuefei's scientific research team had not yet completed the industrial production and preparation of potassium chlorate. There were still a lot of problems, and it was still unknown when they would overcome the difficulties.Moreover, they use the by-product calcium chlorate generated in the process of making alkali to undergo metathesis reaction with potassium chloride. The output of calcium chlorate is firstly restricted by the production of soda ash, and secondly, it has to compete with the bleach industry for raw materials.Of course, as the early match industry, the demand for *potassium chlorate was actually not that great. The potassium chlorate *produced in the subsequent production and treatment of the by-products of the chlor-alkali industry should have been enough for Weng Guangan and the others to use for many years. up.

However, there is another problem here, and it is an equally difficult problem, that is, the source of potassium salt.After all, a large amount of potassium chloride * potassium chloride is needed in the process of preparing * potassium chlorate *, this kind of thing does not need you to produce additionally, this kind of material exists in many salt lakes in nature, but the problem is that these salt lakes are not on the east coast !That is to say, if people on the east bank want to produce potassium chlorate * on a large scale on an industrial scale, they must first solve the problem of the source of potassium salt, which is an unavoidable hurdle. Djibouti, East Africa, where the Navy once sailed and buried the Sovereignty Stele, is probably the only place known to people on the coast that clearly produces potassium salt, has a large output, and is easy to obtain and transport.

Weng Guang'an once vaguely heard about this incident. At that time, the navy's expedition ship docked on the shore of Gebert Lake in Djibouti, and then it was in that unclaimed land-in fact, people on the east coast did not know it at the time, and it was still Ottoman in name. The territory of the empire—there has been contact with the natives, and a monument of sovereignty has been buried.Later, people from the east coast sent two expeditions to explore the arid land of Djibouti. As a result, they found a huge salt lake in the inland area. After analysis, it was found that there is a large amount of potassium salt, and the content of potassium salt is extremely high!

This discovery once made everyone in the Institute of Natural Sciences very excited, but at this time the navy poured cold water on them, pointing out that Djibouti's climate is extremely dry, hot, and extremely short of water, which is not suitable for setting up large-scale colonial strongholds, unless they We can dig ditches from neighboring Ethiopia and bring in drinking water, otherwise we can only send a small number of people to make small troubles and build small settlements. It is difficult for large settlements like the mainland, South Africa, and New China to exist. that's it.

This news made everyone extremely depressed for a time, so gradually no one mentioned it anymore.However, the potential market demand for potassium chlorate* made Weng Guangan once again hope for this salt lake in Djibouti. Whether the dual demand in chemical industry and agriculture (potash fertilizer) can prompt the members of the executive committee to make up their minds and finally Decided to establish a colony around Djibouti to mine the potash in the salt lake?It seems that there is such a possibility!

"It is said to integrate 'industry-university-research'. Now the research of our Institute of Chemistry has produced results, and the obstacles to industrial production are few and far between. Sooner or later they will be overcome. Then, the country should also pay attention to the practical application of these technologies and patents. Get up! Potassium chlorate is so useful, too much, I don’t believe that the members of the executive committee can’t see it—well, well, limited to their cultural knowledge, it’s really possible— —And once I find the large-scale industrial production method of red phosphorus, then all the conditions for the preparation of a new generation of fire zhezi are almost ready, and what is lacking is the important basic raw material of potassium salt." Weng Guangan felt a little excited Thinking: "What is the Ministry of the Navy doing with so much military expenditure every year? With so many people and so many ships, do they lie down and sleep every day? They should take a boat full of people and prepare enough weapons to colonize the area around Djibouti. Then enclose large tracts of land including salt lakes, and use local blacks to mine and transport potassium salt, and the cost will not be too high. Moreover, potassium salt is extremely useful, so much farmland in China is transported back every year How much grain production can be increased? If you do the calculations carefully, it will be incredible! What's more, potassium salt is also used in industry. My new generation of friction and self-igniting fire folds will definitely have a huge market demand. By then But it all depends on Djibouti. Sigh, I’m so anxious, I should find a way to get the institute to write a report to the superior, clarifying the necessity of occupying Djibouti and developing the salt lake at this stage.”

(End of this chapter)