Chapter 375 The most advanced and most suitable
Lavoisier saw the crown prince's eyes glowing green and hurriedly explained: "Your Highness, if you only need one or two thousand kilograms of casein glue every month, then you only need to invest 5,000 livres. But if it is 5,000 livres, 10,000 kilograms, then there will be a serious shortage of raw materials such as soda and water glass. Oh, the current soda production around Paris is only enough to produce 1,000 kilograms of casein glue per month.
“So you have to first invest in a workshop to make soda, and it’s going to be huge.
"You know, the production of soda requires the construction of a reverberatory furnace and a workshop for the production of sulfuric acid. This requires at least more than 800,000 livres. In addition, the production of water glass and the purification of slaked lime..."
"Wait a minute," Joseph raised his hand to interrupt him, "You just said that a reverberatory furnace is needed to produce soda? If I understand correctly, it is the kind of reverberatory furnace used for steelmaking?"
"That's right, Your Highness." Lavoisier nodded, "You may not be familiar with the latest method of mass production of soda.
"That's a preparation method that Dr. Lu Brand just invented. Mix salt and sulfuric acid, distill it, add limestone and coal, and then put it into a reverberatory furnace to calcine it into a molten state. This process needs to reach the temperature of melting iron, so the reverberatory furnace very suitable……"
As he told it, Joseph realized that the mass production of soda in this era still used calcination and crystallization methods.
Just burning it to a high temperature of more than 1,000 degrees consumes a huge amount of coal. Moreover, under high temperatures, sulfuric acid corrodes the reverberatory furnace very seriously. It is necessary to replace a set of reverberatory furnaces every two years. The cost is so low that it is genius!
So now soda is still a chemical luxury product. The kind sold by Gram!
No wonder Lavoisier asked himself to invest a million livres to build it like a steel mill. The money might not be enough.
Joseph immediately thought about it again, isn't soda just sodium carbonate?
That is soda ash.
As one of the five pillars of the chemical industry, in order to reduce the cost of mass production, I don’t know how many chemists were driven crazy...
He couldn't help but exhale.
Sure enough, all commercial products that make money must ultimately fall into the production of the most basic raw materials.
Fortunately, thanks to my roommate in the chemistry department, I haven't given back all my chemistry knowledge to the teacher.
For example, I know the "Hou's method of making alkali"!
Isn’t this just going to kill those “local methods” you used at the end of the 18th century?
I have never been able to spare the energy to engage in the chemical industry. Now I am taking this opportunity to start with soda ash.
Isn’t it just a million livres? If it can boost France's chemical industry, this little money will be nothing more than drizzle.
Not to mention the importance of soda to the furniture revolution and bulletproof inserts, even if you sell it directly, you can make ten times the profit.
Joseph immediately recalled Hou's process, looked at Lavoisier and said, "Actually, I have a brand new method of producing soda, and the cost should be less than one-tenth of the method you just mentioned."
Lavoisier's eyes suddenly widened. If someone else had said this, he would probably laugh back immediately. But from the mouth of the "God's Son", he must seriously consider it.
"Are you serious?"
"Well, salt, ammonia and carbon dioxide are roughly used." Joseph did not hide it. The "Father of Chemistry" would not steal his own technology, or in other words, he would not dare. Moreover, I only knew the principles. To implement the specific mass production process, I had to consult Lavoisier.
"First pass ammonia gas into saturated brine to form ammonia salt water. Then pass carbon dioxide into it to produce..."
After he finished explaining Hou's alkali-making method, he waited for Lavoisier to exclaim. However, after half a minute, the "Father of Chemistry" frowned and shook his head: "Your Highness, your method is good, but it seems impossible to achieve it."
Joseph was stunned immediately, what? Are you sure you heard clearly? This is Hou's method of making alkali!
Lavoisier continued: "Your method requires a large amount of ammonia. If I remember correctly, the price of ashes seems to be 1 kilogram and 7 livres. The cost of soda produced in this way is not Much lower than Dr. Lubrand's method.
"The most critical thing is that the supply of sand in Europe is difficult to meet the consumption of 50,000 kilograms of casein gum per month."
Joseph blinked: "Rinsha? What is it?"
"It's the mineral used to refine ammonia..."
As Lavoisier continued to explain for a long time, Joseph couldn't help but start to turn black - the iron sand should be ammonium chloride. Current chemical technology is unable to synthesize ammonia artificially and can only be obtained by calcining this expensive mineral.
The price is sky-high again.
Only then did he remember that the ammonia synthesis process did not mature until the end of the 19th century. Dr. Hou invented the alkali production method in the 20th century. At that time, ammonia was already cheap.
As for the synthesis of ammonia, it seems that ultra-high temperature and high pressure reaction technology is used, which was not even necessary in the 18th century...
So, the chemical industry and the furniture revolution are all just wishful thinking?
Seeing his strange expression, Lavoisier hurriedly comforted him: "Your Highness, your idea is very novel, and that method is something I have never thought of.
"It's just that sometimes the old methods may still work..."
Joseph smiled bitterly, he did not expect that Dr. Hou's improved alkali production method that shocked the world could not even be used by a reverberatory furnace in the 18th century.
He couldn't help but think of the documentary he had watched about Dr. Hou, how he improved the Solvay method step by step under very difficult conditions and finally succeeded.
Um?
He suddenly thought of something. What are Dr. Hou's improvements? It seems to be a joint alkali production - producing soda ash and chemical fertilizers at the same time, which improves output and raw material utilization.
How does Solvay process alkali production?
Joseph desperately recalled the documentaries he had watched before, muttering to himself in a low voice: "Salt, ammonia and carbon dioxide are added to dissolve water. Remove the sediment, add limestone, and heat the reaction...
"Ammonia and carbon dioxide are generated, and the sinter contains soda ash and calcium chloride, which are then purified by crystallization...
“Such an alkali production method wastes the chlorine in the salt and the calcium in the limestone, so the production efficiency and cost are not as good as the Hou’s alkali production method...”
Joseph paused suddenly. Wait a minute. Ammonia and carbon dioxide are precipitated during the reaction and can be re-added for use in the next reaction!
In this case, the consumption of ammonia will be very, very small. Although there is no fertilizer output from Hou's, it has bypassed the natural chasm of ammonia.
fine……
He suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. He had really fallen into a misunderstanding. He always wanted to go directly to the most advanced technology. But the most advanced ones are not necessarily suitable for this era!
"Mr. Lavoisier," he smiled again, "If I have a method that does not require the consumption of ammonia, please help me design the mass production process."
Lavoisier's eyes suddenly widened. Was the Crown Prince really inspired by God? !
With such a cutting-edge technology for producing soda, he came up with two plans in less than half an hour! !
(End of this chapter)