Chapter 108： Industrialized ammonia

While Edel was waiting for the Balkan countries to pass on his ideas, a message from Germany made Edel wait for the news. Professor Harz in Germany finally solved the problem of industrialization of synthetic ammonia, and now His Royal Highness is holding a telegram from the German side.

"Are you sure about the Carust news?" Even if Edel received the telegram, he still checked with the head of the guard.

"Yes, your Highness, this news is sent by someone close to Professor Huber, so it's absolutely certain."

The chief guard knows why the crown prince has such an attitude. Before he saw the crown prince attaches great importance to this technology, he also specially studied the information.

Ammonia is one of the important inorganic chemical products, and it occupies an important position in the national economy. Among them, ammonia can be used to produce chemical fertilizers and can also be used as a raw material for other chemical products. Ammonia is mainly used to make nitrogenous fertilizers and compound fertilizers, such as urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphate, ammonium chloride and various nitrogen-containing compound fertilizers, all of which use ammonia as a raw material. Ammonia is used as industrial raw material and ammoniated feed. The main raw materials of synthetic ammonia are natural gas, naphtha, heavy oil and coal.

Now ammonia can also be used as a raw material for explosives, which is the most critical now. After watching the ammonia effect, the chief guard can also understand the crown prince's fancy to this technology.

"How is the professor we sent to study?" Edel asked.

"I heard that he and Professor Hubble chatted very speculatively, and he was very popular with the Germans." The chief guard said the answer he knew.

The professor in the two populations is a 30 or 40-year-old chemist named Bolvin. He was born in a grain merchant's home in Constanta. He was very clever since he was a child, and was fascinated by chemistry when he was studying, and did many ridiculous things for this. For example, when I was 3 years old, I was a little obsessed with alchemy and wanted to transform gold, so it goes without saying. Later, under the strict supervision of his chemistry teacher Gabia when he was in middle school, he gave up the evil path of alchemy and embarked on the avenue of chemistry. The chemistry teacher thought that his classmate Bolvin was so talented that it would be a pity to go on an evil path, so he pulled him out of the alchemist's dream.

Later, with Bolvin’s own efforts, he was admitted to the University of Bucharest as a chemistry student, and four years later he went to Berlin University for further studies. During his seven years at the University of Berlin, he obtained a master's degree and a doctorate degree respectively.

After finishing his studies, he returned to Romania and became the deputy head of the Department of Chemistry in Bucharest. I usually teach and teach students when I have time, and at other times I study the experiments I am interested in, and live a leisurely life. However, when teaching, he often wears a white lab coat to class. He has to endure the pungent smell of chemical potions when he is in class, plus the messy hair that has not been taken care of for a long time. The whole image is a Frankenstein.

Later, he was recommended by the principal Big Schler to the head of the guard who was looking for a chemist. At that time, the head of the guard saw him as a lunatic. Later, the two sides had a conversation to overthrow his idea and he was considered a genius. Of course, when meeting Edel, how could the crown prince be so ignorant. In fact, I was mainly confused by the image of this Bolvin. The classic white coat and messy hairstyle, except that the hair and beard are not white, it is the classic Einstein style of later generations. Of course, the face does not look like it, but it still gives He was deeply impressed. After enduring a conversation with the pungent smell, Edel also felt that this Balvin was a buried chemical genius, so he was sent to Germany to study, and now he is the most important chemical synthesis ammonia operation in Romania.

After placing the fake Einstein in the laboratory of Professor Harz, the two men were impressed by each other's fantastic ideas and profound knowledge. This Professor Balvin was in the Hartz laboratory like a fish in water, and his life was quite moist.

However, the most important contributor to the industrialization of synthetic ammonia this time is not the two of them, but the solution of the German BASF engineer Bosch.

Before BASF saw the prospects of the synthetic ammonia industry, it planned to purchase Professor Haber’s synthetic ammonia technology for industrial improvement. During the discussion, it was discovered that the Romanians had already taken the lead, and they could not be left behind. This made BASF disgusting, and almost failed to negotiate. However, in the face of the prospect described by the company’s consultant Engel, BASF eventually purchased Haber’s synthetic ammonia technology and researched it with Romania.

In terms of expenses, Romania will provide 20% of the funds, and the rest will be settled by the investment of BASF. However, Romania can only use synthetic ammonia technology in its own country, and technology transfer is prohibited. After receiving the news in China, Edel immediately agreed to BASF's request. The ability to obtain synthetic ammonia technology before World War I was already the biggest gain. You must know that this was Germany's top secret in World War I, and Edel was not so kind to remind the Allies. Knowing that the British now monopolize the world's export of nitrate ore, he doesn't want to change to live Lei Feng.

In the end, both parties invested heavily in research and improvement. Under the proposal of the German chemist A. Mitas, BASF conducted 6,500 tests with 2,500 different catalysts last year and this year, and finally successfully developed a cheap and easily available iron containing potassium and aluminum oxides as promoters. catalyst. Some of the problems encountered in the industrialization process, such as the corrosion of steel by hydrogen at high temperatures, the life of the carbon steel ammonia synthesis reactor is only 80h, and the manufacturing method of the nitrogen-hydrogen mixture for the synthesis of ammonia, have all been learned by the company’s engineers. Implemented to solve. This person named Bosch used facts to prove that scientists are far less useful than an engineer on the road to industrialization of technological products.

Now that I get the news that synthetic ammonia can be industrialized, Edel intends to wait for Bolvin and his team who studied technology in Germany to return to China, and immediately start the construction of the synthetic ammonia plant. According to Edel's own estimation, the synthetic ammonia plant cannot be built with too high a production capacity without 20 million lei, so he plans to invest all the remaining funds of the royal family into this plant, which is vital to Romania.

There are still 43 million lei in the Romanian royal family's funds, which is more than 16 million lei from the previous rubber crisis, plus the balance of the Romanian royal family in the past two years. Now part of the money earned by the royal family has been repaid to Rockefeller and Morgan loans, and part of it is used as daily expenses, and only a small part is saved. It needs to be noted here that Edel’s wedding cost 8.7 million lei, which is still relatively small.

A week later, Professor Bolvin and his team returned to Romania, and Edel individually summoned the buried Romanian chemical industry expert.

"Hello Professor Balvin."

Edel knows that these scientists are generally not very courteous, and this Professor Balvin is a leader, so Edel greets the chemist first, so as not to embarrass everyone.

"Hello, Your Royal Highness."

Professor Bolvin faced the crown prince’s greetings, as casual as saying hello to a friend. Fortunately, he remembered adding a honorific title to his Highness.

"How about going to Germany this time?"

Edel knew the professor's habits, and couldn't help but care too much, and began to chat.

Professor Bolvin, who listened to Edel's question, told me about his experience in Germany. “I felt very good during my stay in Germany. Harper and I were very speculative. I didn’t expect that he and I were alumni. We are discussing various chemistry problems every day. We all put forward our own solutions and came up with the most reasonable solutions after debate. I feel that I have learned a lot of useful things during the two years of getting along with Hubble, and I plan to return to my laboratory to verify my ideas."

Hearing this Professor Balvin talk about his gains in Germany, Edel could only interrupt him by asking a question.

"Then what do you plan to study recently?"

"I'm going to study insecticides." The Professor Balvin said his goal with a serious face, and he also explained his purpose to Edel. "When I was young, I watched my father sort the grains purchased Only the grains with fewer diseases and insect pests can get the first-class price, and some grains are not accepted at all by the father. Later I asked him and my father told me These are grains, which are very harmful to diseases and insects, and they cannot be sold if they are bought. From this moment on, I want to do something for these farmers, and now I plan to study a medicine that can kill these pests and preserve the food."

After listening to Professor Bolvin’s thoughts, Edel certainly supports it. He saw in the report that many areas have reduced production due to plant diseases and insect pests. For Romania, a good pesticide is absolutely necessary.

"Professor Bolvin, I admire your idea very much and plan to fund you 1 million lei to realize your wish."

"Thank the crown prince for his generosity."

Borwen had planned to ask the crown prince for some funds to do his favorite projects, but he knew that the crown prince was very generous in funding science. Before, he just suffered from no way out. Now that he knows this big benefactor, how can he bear it.

Professor Bolvin, who was funded by the crown prince, began to feel restless. Edel saw in his eyes and knew why these scientists were, and soon ended this call, so that the professor could devote himself to his research as soon as possible.

In the next few days, Edel got a news that Serbia and Bulgaria signed an agreement. This let him know that the Balkan League is slowly forming, Romania's opportunity to fish in troubled waters is slowly coming, and Edel is also waiting.

(Thank you for your tips, it’s almost done. Mantou here to tell me, this book is on the shelves in March. I don’t know what date it is for the time being. I hope it will be the 1st. The reason is that everyone knows it, so I hope you all next month. I can give you a monthly pass for the steamed buns. Two changes are guaranteed for the steamed buns on the shelves. Are you surprised or surprised.)