"Master! You haven't slept for two nights? Then go and have a rest! We'll talk about the ironworks later!"
After finally recovering from the shock, Uncle Fu "captured" another layer of meaning in Han Yuxi's previous words, which was also the most important layer. He quickly said to Li Zexuan.
Li Zexuan shook his head and said: "Of course I haven't slept at all. I took a nap in the middle! Let's not talk about it for now. Uncle Fu, please take a look at the drawings first. If there is anything wrong, we will discuss it together. The matter of the iron smelting plant must be brought up as soon as possible. schedule!"
"Oh well!"
Seeing Li Zexuan's persistence, Uncle Fu knew that he couldn't persuade him, so he lowered his head and started to look at the drawings.
The drawings given by Li Zexuan were arranged in a very particular order. First the whole, then the details. The first thing Fu Bo saw was the overall layout of the future iron smelting plant, followed by the overall structural diagram of each part, and then It is a detailed structural diagram of some key components.
As the drawings were turned over page by page, a huge iron-making factory that was completely different from the style of this era gradually appeared in Fu Bo's mind. ), a towering iron furnace stands in the center of the factory. Pipes lead out from the body of the blast furnace, just like the roots of old trees, densely entangled around it. The two large chimneys are even more towering, and they want to be inserted into the clouds. , is blowing thick smoke towards the sky, and the sound of various machines in the workshop is running, rumbling, and rumbling.
Uncle Fu was extremely shocked. It was obvious that Li Zexuan's iron smelting plant was not just a small business. Its scale was definitely one of the best in the entire Tang Dynasty! But why does this method of steelmaking feel so familiar to him?
"Master! Why does this look like a shaft furnace for making iron?"
Uncle Fu suddenly thought of it and said aloud.
China is the first country in the world to use shaft furnaces to make iron. In ancient my country, shaft furnaces were mainly used to smelt pig iron. The iron-smelting shaft furnaces developed from the copper-smelting shaft furnaces. The method of smelting pig iron in a vertical furnace appeared in the late Spring and Autumn Period, but this method was not completely popularized until the Northern Song Dynasty.
Shaft furnace ironmaking is an economical and effective method of ironmaking. The charge is loaded from the top and the air is blown from the bottom, causing the relative movement of the charge falling and the gas rising. The high-temperature gas generated by combustion rises through the material layer and transfers heat to the furnace material. The carbon monoxide contained in it also reduces iron oxide. In this way, the thermal energy and chemical energy of combustion are fully utilized at the same time. The charge in the lower layer is gradually reduced and even melted, and the charge in the upper layer slowly descends from the top of the furnace. The charge is preheated and can reach a higher temperature.
Blast furnace ironmaking was born out of shaft furnace ironmaking, but its optimization of certain structures makes its ironmaking efficiency and ironmaking quality far superior to shaft furnace ironmaking!
Li Zexuan said with a smile: "This is not exactly a shaft furnace for iron-making. Uncle Fu, if you take a closer look, you should be able to tell the difference! I call this type of iron-making furnace a blast furnace!"
Uncle Fu closed his eyes and meditated for a moment, then opened his eyes and said, "There are indeed many differences! But I don't know whether these differences are good or bad!"
Li Zexuan said confidently: "Of course it's good!"
As he spoke, he pointed to a drawing and said: "For example, the inlet duct of this blast furnace. I merged the section before it finally enters the furnace. There is a fire pool below that is isolated from the inlet. It contains coal, and the air is heated very hot before entering the furnace, and can even melt iron directly! In this way, the iron-making efficiency will be greatly improved!"
Air preheating is the most critical step in improving ironmaking efficiency in modern steel production. High air temperature is also one of the main technical features of modern blast furnace ironmaking.
First of all, part of the heat required for blast furnace smelting is the combustion heat released by the combustion of fuel in the hearth, and the other part is the physical heat brought in by high-temperature hot air. The more heat the hot air brings into the blast furnace, the less heat of fuel combustion is required, that is, the lower the fuel consumption. Therefore, increasing the air temperature can significantly reduce fuel consumption and production costs.
In addition, increasing the air temperature also helps to increase the theoretical combustion temperature in front of the tuyere, so that the swirling area of the tuyere has a higher temperature and the furnace has sufficient heat, which is conducive to increasing the pulverized coal combustion rate and increasing the amount of coal injection. It can also further Reduce focal ratio.
Therefore, air preheating is the key technology for blast furnaces to realize large-scale coal injection operations, and it is also an extremely important technological progress in the history of blast furnace ironmaking development. In Li Zexuan's impression, at least before the industrial revolution, the whole world had not mastered this technology.
Uncle Fu seemed to have some understanding. He nodded thoughtfully and said, "What the young master said seems to make sense. Maybe you can give it a try!"
Li Zexuan smiled and said: "Actually, the benefits of this blast furnace are far more than this. Uncle Fu will gradually realize it in the future! The top priority now is to build this ironmaking plant first! As for the inside of the furnace, I plan to use Shuozhou The white clay mine on the side is used to make refractory materials. We will wait until Xiaobin transports the soil back! Uncle Forbes, your main task now is to first see if there are any difficult problems to solve in the construction of the iron smelting plant according to these drawings? "
Li Zexuan did not plan to build the first iron-making blast furnace very big. The blast furnace he planned on the drawings had an effective volume of only a hundred or so cubic meters. In modern society, the iron-making blast furnace with the largest effective volume in the world is Shaganghua in China. Sheng's blast furnace has an effective volume of 5,860 cubic meters and an annual steel production of nearly 30 million tons!
So his ironworks is nothing more than a small workshop in modern times! But in ancient times, it was definitely a giant-like existence!
"Well... it shouldn't be a big problem, it's just a little troublesome at most! I'll start gathering craftsmen as soon as possible to plan this matter. Young Master, please take a good rest first and don't exhaust your body!"
Uncle Fu looked through the drawings again, and after thinking about it carefully for a long time, he said.
Li Zexuan finally breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, compared to most time travellers, he was definitely lucky because he had a workshop and many excellent craftsmen around him. He only needed to draw many new ideas and draw them. The craftsmen behind him will try their best to realize his ideas, and he will just put some effort into drawing the drawings!
"Haha! Thank you Uncle Fu for your concern. My health is still fine! But you should always pay attention to your health! Don't be too tired!"
Li Zexuan smiled gently and said.
Uncle Fu shook his head, then stood up and said: "Young master, you don't have to worry about me. My old bones are getting stronger and stronger every time I move. If I lie in bed all day long, I will get sick. Master, please rest first! I'm going back." The workshop is arranged!”
Li Zexuan quickly stood up to say goodbye.
After a while, Uncle Fu disappeared from the sight of the couple, and Han Yuxi could only hear Han Yuxi saying: "Why don't you go and rest obediently, my husband? Do you think I have to go find you...?"
Before she could finish the words "suicide", Li Zexuan had already blocked her mouth with his hands, "Hey! You! What are you talking about again? Let's go back! Let's go back. Sleeping alone is not as good as sleeping! Haha!"
"Uh...I don't want to~!"
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