Vijay nodded in understanding after listening to the problems ntioned by Balachandra. Temperature resistance and fuel efficiency of coal were always a problem even in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the Industrial Revolution was at its peak. Stay tuned for updates on empire
Vijay was curious about the solution obtained by Balachandra because the problem of heat resistance and coal was not simply a bottleneck brought by technical capabilities but due to there being no suitable materials. For instance, the reason for the temperature issue in the blast furnace was because a high-temperature-resistant material had not yet been invented in the Bharatiya Empire. As for the effectiveness of the coal, it is self-explanatory—unless the way coal is processed is changed, the chance of the blast furnace increasing in effectiveness is next to nothing.
Balachandra was not aware of what Vijay was thinking; but he went forword and ordered his lab assistants to disassemble the prototype of the 4th generation blast furnace.
Soon enough, the blast furnace was taken apart, and its internals were visible to the naked eye.
As soon as he saw the interior of the blast furnace, Vijay's eyebrows were lifted. "This is!" He moved forward, touching the brick layer on the interior that had been absent in the previous versions with a surprised expression.
Looking at his majesty like this Balachandra imdiately felt proud. "It is made up of bricks imbued with a high purity of silica, Your Majesty," he said as he reminisced. "A few months ago, I was invited by Pillai Optics Company to design a unique blast furnace for their purposes, and during this trip, I saw how the glass was made. I was surprised at how high the temperature had to go for the glass to be ford, and looking at this process, I was inspired."
"I imdiately tried to instill silicon dioxide into the bricks, and amazingly enough, it did work. The bricks had excellent load-bearing capacity at high temperatures and were very Ideal for our purposes."
Moreover, with the existence of silicon bricks, the temperature resistance of the blast furnace could be made a secondary concern. Instead, the tensile strength and structural integrity could now be made the primary concern, as these are the areas where a bottleneck is very likely to occur, and it will be the area that will stop the blast furnace from increasing its volu and capacity.
Overall the first problem of temperature resistance was solved.
Balachandra took out a black object that was quite porous and looked like a soap bar.
Vijay's eyes imdiately widened as he recognized what it was. 'Well, this is quite unexpected. Has the coke been improved so quickly?' he thought, quite surprised.
Until now, the Bharatiya Empire had been using processed coal called coke for slting purposes. But the coke used currently in the empire was not very efficient either; it was only a slight improvent over raw coal.
The only place where it is useful on a major scale is in the centation process, where slted wrought iron is turned into steel by stacking it within layers of coke. While traditional coal brought problems of varying temperatures due to its unexpected shapes, coke was quite an improvent due to its standardized shape and pores for better airflow.
This is currently the process used in the Bharatiya Empire to make blister steel. For stronger steel, the blister steel is broken into smaller pieces and lted in clay crucibles within the blast furnace once again. Usually, this is a very cumberso process because this process is used to make military-grade steel. Although the resultant product is the best steel the Empire could produce, the disadvantage is that the blast furnace's lifecycle is reduced drastically from a few years to a few months.
Fortunately, this would no longer be a problem with the adoption of silicon bricks as an inner thermal lining of the blast furnace.
Getting back to the main topic and bringing his wandering mind back to the present, Vijay looked at the coke in his hand. "Explain," he ordered.
"Definitely, Your Majesty," Balachandra obliged.
"After research, bituminous coal was found to be the best coal for our purpose."
"This coal will be crushed and blended with a small quantity of anthracite."
"The blended mixture is loaded into airtight ovens."
"These ovens are heated up to 1100 degrees Celsius for an extended 36 hours."
"Our company invested a sum of money in the Bharatiya Institute of Technology Hoysala for research on what happens to coal during the heating process, and we discovered that as the coal is heated, volatile substances are released as gases. Amazingly, a few of these gases are flammable and could theoretically be used as fuel."
"Currently, we have identified three of the gases: hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. However, the other gas, which is the most flammable, we are not able to identify yet. This has beco the research topic in the chemistry departnt of BIT Hoysala," Balachandra explained.
Vijay's eyebrows were imdiately raised. 'This is quite an unexpected developnt,' he thought. 'But still, it's pleasant that the discovery of CH4 has been made.' Vijay felt very happy in his heart because the gas was nothing but thane, the natural gas that could be used for various purposes. With its discovery, Vijay could introduce it as fuel for household purposes and industrial uses. Thinking about it made Vijay quite excited.
Balachandra did not understand how significant the discovery of thane was, but as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. Not knowing what he had just done, he continued, "The next steps were quite straightforward. The material after the heating process is transford into coke, turning hard and carbon-rich. Finally, it is quenched with water to stop the Coaking process and prevent it from burning. It is left to dry and then stored in dry storage rooms, ready to be used anyti."
Vijay took a deep breath and nodded in appreciation. "Good, very good," Vijay said, quite happy with what he saw. If he was not mistaken, the current progress of the Bharatiya Empire had already touched the mid-18th century in terms of blast furnaces.
He looked at the short, middle-aged man with kind eyes. "Balachandra, you did a very good job this ti. As a reward, your research grant will be increased by 100 percent, along with your salary."
"Also, I am sure the contributions you have made will be counted in the rit system, and it should be enough for you to step into the ranks of nobility. Congratulations," Vijay patted Balachandra on the back.
Balachandra was overjoyed. "Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you for your trust and your training. I will never forget the kindness you have shown," he said, bending down in a namaskar, tears almost threatening to break out of his eyes.
"There is no need for gratitude. This is sothing you deserve, and no one has the right to take it away from you," Vijay smiled and gestured for Balachandra to straighten his back.
"I will leave two new tasks for you."
Balachandra imdiately beca alert, intently staring at His Majesty with his ears perked up.
"The first task is to develop a standard blast furnace that is capable of producing 1,000 tons of iron per year."
"And the second task is to develop a steelmaking device that is much more efficient than the current centation process and the crucible process."
Balachandra fell into deep thought. "The first task, now that the heating issue and the fuel issue are solved, is not too hard to achieve, as the only thing holding us back is experience. But the second task is a little bit..." He hesitated to speak out because steelmaking was a much more complicated process than ironmaking. Not even the Bharatiya Empire, currently the tallurgical superpower of the world, could master it. So, out of nowhere, how could he find a thod to refine steel in a much more efficient way? He was troubled and, at the sa ti, nervous, not knowing what to say to His Majesty. He felt a little panicked because just now he had said that he could do anything for His Majesty, but the next mont, how could he disappoint him? He frowned, feeling ashad.
Vijay smiled and took out a docunt from a bag, handing it over to Balachandra.
Balachandra's brows wrinkled as he took the docunt with so doubt.
"A study of Oxidation in Iron." Balachandra imdiately understood that it was a research paper from a senior student at the Bharatiya Institute of Technology, Warangal. He stared at His Majesty, not understanding why His Majesty gave him the research paper.
Vijay went on to explain, "Currently, the main impurities in iron are carbon, silicon, and manganese. This paper describes an oxidation process where carbon is oxidized to produce carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. These gases exit the iron as air. Silicon oxidizes to form silicon dioxide, which combines with other impurities to form slag, and finally, manganese oxidizes to form manganese oxide, which forms its own slag."
Vijay looked at Balachandra, who was in deep thought. "I am quite confident in this research direction, so it is best for you to either recruit the student and conduct the research yourself or run a joint research project with the Chemistry Departnt of BIT Warangal."
"My requirent is not too much. Make a working prototype within four months and a sample iron-to-steel converter with a capacity of one tonne."
Balachandra imdiately put on a serious expression. "I will get it done, Your Majesty. I will not disappoint you," he solemnly promised.
After casually inspecting the research facility one last ti, he left for the capital.
---
What Vijay asked to make was a Besser Converter. The reason Vijay chose the Besser Converter instead of other options was that it was the first inexpensive industrial process for the mass production of steel. The converter could transform molten pig iron straight out of the blast furnace into steel through the principle of oxidation.
It was invented by Sir Henry Besser in the mid-1850s, revolutionizing the steelmaking industry of the British Empire.
The Besser Converter was one of the main reasons why the British Empire beca such a dominant behemoth in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Right now, as the Bharatiya Empire stood on the brink of an industrial revolution, Vijay saw it as the perfect ti to push for the steelmaking capabilities of the Empire to be improved, especially since railway tracks required a lot of steel, and the Besser Converter was an ideal component for it.
As per the research paper, it was not sothing Vijay fabricated; a student from BIT Warangal had indeed studied the oxidation process of iron, but it was more of a study of the oxidation of various elents in iron and less focused on figuring out a way to make steel from iron.
Vijay simply suggested the idea to Balachandra and nothing else. They would have to figure out the specifics on their own, but Vijay was not worried, as he had blessed Balachandra with knowledge containing rich tallurgical and chemical insights, which would manifest during the research process in the form of intuition and enlightennt.
Just thinking about a day when the Bharatiya Empire would be capable of producing a few thousand tonnes of steel per day sent shivers of excitent down his spine.
P.S. Thank you DaoSlayer, for the IceCola
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