When he came to the office, Hou Debang briefly introduced to Chen Muwu the process of synthesizing soda ash using the Solvay alkali production method while drawing pictures on paper.
He was not afraid that Chen Muwu would come to the alkali plant to steal some of his skills. After stealing the core secrets, he would set up an alkali plant somewhere else to compete with Wynn.
First, although the chemical equation written in the textbook for Solvay's alkali production method is very simple, the specific operating procedures and production processes are very complex, and the core data such as temperature and pressure are beyond Chen Muwu's access or grasp.
Second, Hou Debang is not a person who likes to hide his secrets.
After he thoroughly mastered the Solvay alkali production method, he wrote a monograph on alkali production and published it in the United States, making this method completely public and allowing people all over the world to escape from the monopoly of the alkali industry giants. .
While listening to the explanation, Chen Muwu's brain was running rapidly, carefully recalling the knowledge he had learned from the chemistry textbook, as well as the various exercises he had done in the "Five-Year College Entrance Examination and Three-Year Simulation".
When Hou Debang mentioned in his introduction that the equipment purchased by Yongli Alkali Plant recycled ammonia and carbon dioxide to produce waste calcium chloride, Chen Muwu finally remembered Hou's alkali production method and the present The difference in this Solvay alkali production method.
"Mr. Hou, why did I see so many barrels containing ammonia... ammonia water in the factory? Can the ammonia in this method really be recycled?" Chen Muwu asked his question .
Ammonia, the transliteration of English ammonia, is the current old name for ammonia.
This title is really too convoluted. I don’t know when it will be changed to the convenient and concise word ammonia.
"This..." Hou Debang seemed to have been hit in a sore spot, "Theoretically, it can be recycled, but we have actually done it several times and found that whether it is ammonia or carbon dioxide, the loss in each cycle is not small. So we still need to prepare a large amount of ammonia water and limestone. Well, I heard that there are already many factories for synthesizing ammonia in Europe. It would be great if we have the money to build one sometime."
"Indeed, with the synthetic ammonia factory, it can not only provide ammonia, but also carbon dioxide. In this way, there is no need for ammonia water or burning lime."
Hou Debang mentioned in his introduction just now that the limestone used in Yongli Soda Plant comes from the quarry in Beijidian, Lushan.
The carbon dioxide produced after limestone is heated and burned at high temperature serves as a supplement for the large amount of carbon dioxide lost in the soda production cycle.
"How can it be done without burning lime!" Hou Debang was indeed fooled. "Without lime milk, ammonia gas cannot be recycled!"
Another product of burning, quicklime, is added with water to turn it into lime milk, which is then put into the waste liquid tank to produce recycled ammonia gas and waste liquid containing large amounts of calcium chloride and sodium chloride.
"Director Hou, forgive me for my lack of knowledge, but I feel that the current production method seems to have fallen into a strange circle.
“It is said that two kinds of gases can be recycled, but they still need to be continuously replenished during production.
“Limestone is also wasted in large quantities, producing a lot of useless calcium chloride, which is troublesome to dispose of.
"Since ammonia must be replenished continuously, why not simply abandon the addition of lime milk to the waste liquid in the cycle?"
Chen Muwu finally found out.
Hou Debang seemed to understand Chen Muwu's unintentional meaning: "You mean, just leave ammonia in the waste liquid? But what is the use of germium chloride?"
Ammonium is now translated as columbium, which is also known as ammonium in later generations. Columnium chloride is ammonium chloride. This is another difference between the transliteration between the Republic of China and modern times.
"I think we can separate the germanium chloride and use it as nitrogen fertilizer and apply it to the ground to help the growth of crops. This by-product that can be sold for money is much better than the calcium chloride that is thrown away in vain."
“Wouldn’t the pH of the land become lower after applying cerium chloride?”
"You can sell cerium chloride to the south and use it as a special fertilizer for paddy fields. Running water and frequent rainfall can take away chlorine elements very well and prevent them from remaining in the soil."
Hou Debang pondered for a long time: "Hanchen, you have provided us with a new idea. However, if we can finally realize your idea, we will need more ammonia than now.
"As far as I know, a set of equipment for synthesizing ammonia is now worth a lot of money. The key is that there is a price but no market. Even if you have money, foreigners may not be willing to sell it to you.
"Even our current alkali production process was secretly obtained from foreigners by General Manager Fan at a great expense."
Indeed, as Hou Debang said, in this era where a ton of soda ash is worth an ounce of gold, foreigners will never give up the opportunity to make a fortune.
Chen Muwu knew that the ammonia plant was definitely the most high-end thing in the world in the 1920s.
Although the product of coal after carbonization also contains crude ammonia, the efficiency is not even close to that of a synthetic ammonia plant.
The advantage of the plan he gave is that it can eliminate the lime kiln and produce useless waste calcium chloride. However, as Hou Debang said, this will require the purchase of a larger amount of ammonia. Chen Muwu didn't know From an economic perspective, which option is more appropriate?
He didn't know what to comfort him, so he could only say a line from the movie: "There will be bread, there will be milk, and everything will be fine."
…
Before leaving, Chen Muwu mentioned to Hou Debang that when he came, he saw rust in the components of the reactor.
He suggested that Hou Debang must completely remove the rust, otherwise, it is likely to stain the white soda ash.
Rejecting Hou Debang's kindness to entertain him at night, Chen Muwu left the Wynn Alkali Plant while it was still light and returned to the cabin of the "Xinming No." moored at China Merchants Wharf.
The "secret" has been leaked out inadvertently, but how long it takes to comprehend it depends on Hou Debang.
I hope that he, a genuine PhD from Columbia University, will feel an inexplicable sense of familiarity with his future research, and thus speed up the research process!
Chen Muwu admires entrepreneurs such as Fan Xudong and Hou Debang, but if he is asked to end up in industry and follow the old path of industrial salvation, he will definitely refuse without hesitation.
Now the Beiyang government is pretty good. At least Liang Rengong can help Fan Xudong avoid sea salt taxes for decades, so that he will not be too constrained by money and can devote all his body and mind to his career.
But after the white sun flag changed on the city wall, the chemical factory of the Wynn Group began to struggle.
How did Fan Xudong die in the end?
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he wanted to restore the chemical industry and make Wynn bigger and stronger, so he applied for a loan of US$16 million from the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
After the efforts of his friend Chen Guangfu, Bank of America finally agreed to the loan, but it required a guarantee from the National Government.
As a result, Fan Xudong sent countless reports to the Executive Yuan to apply for guarantees, but all came to nothing. Finally, he got a shocking news. Executive President Song sent a message saying that as long as he, Song, could become the chairman of Wynn, he would become the chairman of Wynn. He immediately assigned the Bank of China branch in New York to sign the guarantee agreement.
Fan Xudong naturally rejected this shameless request without hesitation, and the Executive Yuan immediately sent back a "disapproval" reply.
The father of the poor generation of chemical industry was so angry that he died.
Even Fan Xudong ended up like this. How could any ruthless person not named Jiang, Song, Kong, or Chen be able to make his business bigger and stronger in the Republic of China without being cared about by others?
Of course, Chen Muwu's surname is indeed Chen, but his Chen is Yu Chen, but not Ma Xing Chen, so it still doesn't work.
The more he thought about it, the more upset he became. He had no appetite, so he just asked the waiter to randomly bring two guests of fried pork chops. After eating, he lay down on the bed and fell asleep.
