Chapter 248 Coal Substitutes Oil
The structure of a hot air balloon is much simpler than an airship. It only requires a huge air bag and a hanging basket, plus a blowtorch that can spit out flames. All in one hot air balloon.
As for the fuel, Purficott had someone cut a hole in the ground. She directly made a device on site that could collect the gas leaking from the ground, and filled it into a steel The cylinders are used as fuel for hot air balloons.
Seeing how easily Purficott completed the preparations for the hot air balloon, everyone was amazed but also took it for granted.
After all, with Purficott’s reputation, it’s news that she can’t handle it.
After getting this done, Perficott began to prepare for aerial exploration.
But it encountered obstacles.
"No, Lord Earl." Samantha, who came with Perfectcott, and other knights of the guard stood in front of her, preventing her from boarding the hot air balloon.
Although the security force around her has been greatly improved as the White Bear Knights were armed by Purficott, the last time her things were stolen still made the old housekeeper and others Everyone felt that the security force around Purficott was not enough.
Especially when it comes to handling details, although Claudia claimed to have experience in protecting important people, after she made a mistake, the old housekeeper and others did not believe in her ability to protect people.
Moreover, the assassin is the dagger hidden in the darkness, and the knight is the shield guarding him.
So after some debate and even a competition, Purficott's personal security job was still handed over to Samantha instead of Claudia.
Claudia, who was freed from the job of protecting Purficott, was assigned a new job by Purficott.
Now that Samantha is the knight protecting Perfecticot, it is natural for Samantha to prevent her from entering dangerous areas and trying some dangerous behaviors.
Coming to Death Valley itself is already a dangerous thing. If it weren’t for Purficott’s insistence that only she could handle the situation here, Samantha also felt that she could protect Purficott. In the event of an accident, she stopped Perfectcourt before setting off.
And now, how could Purficott let Perfectcott go up in a hot air balloon that looked very unsafe at first sight?
Faced with Samantha's obstruction, Purficott frowned, but did not insist too much. Instead, after thinking about it, he asked an exploration team member who was proficient in drawing and a white bear knight to take a hot air balloon. Conduct surveys and map the entire Death Valley.
And she herself was waiting in the camp, waiting for them to complete their survey before considering what to do with the valley next.
Perficott now has a basic understanding of the situation in Death Valley. The reason why she wanted to survey the terrain and conditions of the valley was mainly because she was curious about the valley and wanted to find the exposed areas. Oil on the surface.
However, judging from the current situation, there may be no natural oil self-explosion wells.
The reason why Purficott judged that there was oil here was because she detected hydrogen sulfide in the air. This substance happens to be one of the associated products of natural gas associated with oil. If natural gas containing hydrogen sulfide exists, then the surrounding Oil is likely present.
If oil can be found, it will play a big role in the industrial development of the north.
Contrary to the perception of most people in the original world, the greatest role of oil for the countries and human civilization in the original world is not actually used as fuel.
Although in most people's minds, petroleum is used to refine gasoline and diesel and then burn them. But if you really think so, it would be too shallow.
In fact, the biggest use of oil for human civilization is petrochemical industry.
For example, synthetic fibers, plastics, synthetic resins, synthetic rubber, etc. that are common in daily life are all inseparable from petroleum.
Although refined oil obtained through fractionation and used as fuel to supply vehicles, ships, airplanes and other means of transportation account for 60% of the main uses of petroleum, the remaining 40% of uses are more closely related to people’s lives. .
The main reason why Purficott is looking for oil is to use oil to produce lubricating oil.
After all, considering that if the world is frozen in the future and the ocean freezes, whaling will be impossible, it is impossible to let all industrial machines use butter as lubricant, right?
Under the extreme cold apocalypse, even she would not be able to raise enough livestock in the north to provide animal fat.
In comparison, synthetic lubricants produced by the petroleum industry are more reliable and suitable.
Considering the future development of the petrochemical industry, synthetic fibers can provide raw materials for clothing for ordinary people, synthetic rubber and synthetic resin can be used in industrial production, and high-performance plastics can replace some metals in extreme cold weather. It is used as a better cold-resistant material under the weather conditions.
You must know that even common epoxy resin can still maintain its original performance at a low temperature of -50°C.
It can be seen that in this environment, plastic and other synthetic materials are far more practical than steel.
As for what to do if no oil has been found, or the oil is buried too deep and there is currently no way to extract it, Purficott has a backup plan to replace oil with coal.
In the original world, she happened to be involved in related industries before traveling through time, and she still had a certain understanding of this. Coal-to-oil technology was a problem that various countries brought about in related fields after the oil crisis in the 20th century in the original world. And a technology that is vigorously developed.
After all, the main oil production areas in the world are concentrated in that desert, but coal is found in every country.
Thinking of this, Purficott was no longer in a hurry to enter Death Valley. Instead, he began to recall the petrochemical and coal chemical industry knowledge he had come into contact with, and stored these things deep in his memory. Look it up everywhere and see if it can be applied to the current northern industrial system.
At the same time, the exploration team members and the White Bear Knight flying in the sky were looking at the Death Valley ahead with trembling legs.
Although they are not unfamiliar with flying in the sky, they are flying in safe and well-protected flying vehicles like airships, not hot air balloons, which are ventilated from all sides and have nothing but a hanging basket under their feet.
However, the two of them quickly calmed down and began to raise their telescopes with a little trepidation to observe and map the Death Valley.
The topography of Death Valley is not complicated. It is a concave topography. It seems that such a valley was formed due to geological collapse.
The mouth of the valley is not big, but the inside is like a pocket, and at the lowest point of the valley is a lake, a black lake.
(End of this chapter)