Chapter 461: Chapter 374: The Most Advanced and The Most Suitable
Mr. Lavoisier, noticing the Crown Prince’s eyes gleaming with excitent, hurriedly explained, “Your Highness, if you only need a few thousand kilograms of casein glue each month, then an investnt of 5,000 livres should suffice. However, if you require 50,000 kilograms, we would face a severe shortage of raw materials such as soda ash and water glass. Oh, the current soda ash production in the vicinity of Paris is only enough to produce 1,000 kilograms of casein glue per month.”
“So, you must first invest in a workshop for the production of soda ash, and the scale would be extrely large.
“You see, to produce soda ash, we must first build a Reverberatory Furnace and a workshop for the production of sulfuric acid. This alone would require at least 800,000 livres. Plus, producing water glass, purifying quickli…”
“Wait,” Joseph raised his hand to interrupt him, “Did you just say that producing soda ash requires a Reverberatory Furnace? If I understood correctly, is it the sa kind of furnace used for forging steel?”
“That is correct, Your Highness.” Mr. Lavoisier nodded, “You may not be very familiar with the latest mass production thod for soda ash.
“It is a thod recently invented by Dr. Leblanc. Mixing salt and sulfuric acid, then after distillation, adding listone and coal and placing it into the Reverberatory Furnace to calcine into a molten state. This process requires reaching the lting temperature of iron, which is why the Reverberatory Furnace is so suitable…”
As he continued to explain, Joseph began to understand that in this era, soda ash was still produced using calcination and the crystallization thod.
Just the high temperature of over 1,000 degrees needed for the process would consu a trendous amount of coal. Moreover, the corrosive effect of the sulfuric acid on the Reverberatory Furnace at these high temperatures was severe, requiring a complete replacent every few years—such costs were astronomically high!
Therefore, soda ash was still considered a luxury chemical product. The kind sold by the gram!
No wonder Mr. Lavoisier was prompting him to invest a million livres, to set it up like a steel mill—this money might not even be enough.
Joseph quickly rembered, isn’t soda ash just sodium carbonate?
That is, soda ash.
As one of the five pillars of the chemical industry, back in the day, countless chemists went insane trying to reduce the cost of its mass production…
He couldn’t help but sigh.
Indeed, all profitable comrcial products ultimately relied on the production of basic raw materials.
Fortunately, thanks to his roommate from the chemistry departnt, he hadn’t returned all his chemical knowledge to his teachers.
For example, he knew the “Solvay process”!
Wasn’t that enough to instantly outclass those “primitive thods” of the late 18th century?
Previously, he hadn’t been able to spare the energy to delve into the chemical industry, but now seed like the perfect opportunity to start with soda ash.
Wasn’t it just a million livres? If it could drive the chemical industry in France, that amount was nothing more than a trifle.
Not to ntion the significance of soda ash for the furniture revolution and bulletproof inserts, even selling it directly could earn back ten tis the profit.
Joseph imdiately recalled the Solvay process in his mind and looked at Lavoisier, “In fact, I have a completely new thod for producing soda ash, which should cost less than a tenth of the thod you just described.”
Mr. Lavoisier’s eyes widened in astonishnt. Had anyone else made such a claim, he would likely have scoffed. However, coming from the “Child Blessed by God,” he had to take it seriously.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, it generally involves salt, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.” Joseph didn’t keep it secret, the esteed “Father of Chemistry” wasn’t likely to steal his technique, or rather, he wouldn’t dare. Besides, knowing the principles was one thing, but implenting them in a specific mass production process still required Lavoisier’s expertise.
“You start by passing ammonia gas into saturated brine to form ammonium chloride. Then, carbon dioxide is introduced to produce…”
Having explained the Solvay process, he waited for Mr. Lavoisier’s exclamations of surprise.
However, after a good half minute, the “Father of Chemistry” frowned and shook his head, “Your Highness, your thod is good in theory, but it seems unfeasible.”
Joseph was montarily stunned, “What? Are you sure you heard correctly? This is the Hou Process for producing soda ash!”
Mr. Lavoisier continued, “Your thod requires the consumption of a large amount of ammonia. If I rember correctly, the price of sodium nitrate is about 7 livres per kilogram. Thus, the soda produced in this way will not be much cheaper than Dr. Leblanc’s thod.
“Most importantly, the entire supply of sodium nitrate in Europe would hardly satisfy the consumption needed for producing 50,000 kilograms of casein per month.”
Joseph blinked, “Sodium nitrate? What is that?”
“It’s the mineral used to produce ammonia…”
As Mr. Lavoisier explained further, Joseph couldn’t help but begin to look gloomy—sodium nitrate must be ammonium chloride. With the current chemical technology, it was not possible to synthetically produce ammonia, one could only obtain it by calcining this expensive mineral.
The price was through the roof.
Only then did he rember that the synthetic ammonia process wasn’t perfected until the end of the 19th century, and Dr. Hou’s thod of producing soda ash was invented in the 20th century when the price of ammonia had beco incredibly cheap.
And producing synthetic ammonia, if he rembered correctly, required high-temperature, high-pressure reaction technology, sothing completely unfeasible in the 18th century…
So, what about the chemical industry, what about the furniture revolution—were they all just wishful thinking on his part?
Seeing his changed expression, Mr. Lavoisier hurriedly comforted him, “Your Highness, your line of thinking is very innovative, it’s a thod I’ve never thought of before.
“However, sotis the old ways might still be useful…”
Joseph smiled bitterly. He hadn’t expected that Dr. Hou’s world-shaking improved thod for producing soda ash would lose to the reverberatory furnace in the 18th century.
He couldn’t help but recall the docuntary he had watched about Dr. Hou, how he had improved the Solvay process step by step under very harsh conditions, ultimately achieving success.
Hm?
Suddenly, he thought of sothing. What was Dr. Hou’s improvent? It seed to involve joint soda production—producing soda ash and fertilizer at the sa ti, thus enhancing output and raw material efficiency.
And how was the Solvay process for producing soda ash done?
Joseph desperately recalled the docuntary he had watched, murmuring to himself, “Salt plus ammonia plus carbon dioxide, dissolved in water. Remove the precipitate, add listone, heat the reaction…
“Ammonia and carbon dioxide are generated, and the sinter contains soda ash and calcium chloride, then it’s purified through crystallization…
“Such a thod for producing soda ash wastes the chlorine in the salt and the calcium in the listone, which is why the production efficiency and cost are not as good as the Hou Process for producing soda ash…”
Joseph suddenly stopped, wait, during the process both ammonia and carbon dioxide are released, and they can be reintroduced into the next reaction!
If that’s the case, the consumption of ammonia would be very, very small. Although without the fertilizer production of the Hou Process, it bypasses the chasm of ammonia.
Thank goodness…
He suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. He had really fallen into a trap, always wanting to jump straight to the most advanced technology. But the most advanced isn’t necessarily suitable for this era!
“Mr. Lavoisier,” he smiled again, “if I have another thod that does not require the consumption of ammonia, please help design the mass production process.”
Mr. Lavoisier’s eyes suddenly widened, was the Crown Prince truly inspired by the gods?!
To produce soda ash, such a cutting-edge technology, and he had co up with two approaches in less than half an hour!!
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