Chapter 249 Cost Issues

Chapter 249 Cost Issues

Chapter 249 Cost Issues
Outside the window, the northwest wind is biting.

Even though the area around Minqin County has been transformed into endless soybean farms, sand and dust from more distant areas are still carried in by the strong northwest wind.

“…” Jiang Miao listened to Zhang Shuli’s report.

“…The above are the research results of our laboratory.” Zhang Shuli’s face was filled with excitement and a hint of nervousness.

Jiang Miao put down the report in his hand and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, Dr. Zhang and the researchers of the 511 laboratory. The reward will be based on the company's regulations."

"Thank you, boss." Zhang Shuli's heart suddenly started beating fast.

Although this research is derived from silicon carbide nanotubes, it is undeniable that Zhang Shuli's team did play a huge role in it. Therefore, their team will obtain related products of this technology and 5% of the gross profit as patent incentives.

Don't underestimate the 5% gross profit. If this thing is produced on a large scale, the gross profit generated each year will be a considerable amount.

Many people will subconsciously think that the first application direction of this thing must be seawater desalination.

Seawater desalination is indeed the first application direction that will be put into use soon.

However, after reading all the reports from the 511 laboratory, Jiang Miao quickly discovered a second application direction, which is a very important application direction, even comparable to seawater desalination.

Jiang Miao ordered: "Dr. Zhang, when you go back, go find other laboratories to borrow equipment and say that I approved it. I'll think about it..."

After a pause, he continued, "Laboratory 506 has several sets of high-powered vacuum equipment. Let's borrow their equipment. I want to do an experiment. You should also prepare the vacuum evaporator."

"Okay." Zhang Shuli had already guessed what Jiang Miao was going to do, which was to verify the efficiency of water pumping under different vacuum degrees.

The next afternoon.

Only after coordinating the equipment borrowing did Zhang Shuli call Jiang Miao.

When Jiang Miao rushed over, the testing work was already underway.

Under high vacuum conditions, the sewage in the glass sewage tank was decreasing at a speed visible to the naked eye. In less than 3 minutes, one cubic meter of sewage was drained.

"Go on." Jiang Miao watched them continue the experiment.

Zhang Shuli and others also began to increase the vacuum degree, thereby increasing the negative pressure on one side.

As the negative pressure continues to increase, the efficiency of the nano evaporator in pumping water becomes higher and higher.

However, the good times did not last long. As the negative pressure increased, harmful components in the sewage also entered the water purification tank. At the same time, some large particle pollutants also blocked the silicon carbide nanotubes little by little.

Everyone had expected this.

I readjusted the experimental plan and was busy until about 11:30 in the evening.

They finally found an optimal efficiency. Under a specific negative pressure, the water purification efficiency of silicon carbide nanotubes achieved a relatively good cost-effectiveness. Almost 87 cubic meters of ultra-clean water can be produced per kilowatt-hour of electricity, which is more than twice the previous amount.

However, Jiang Miao did not ask Zhang Shuli's team to stop their research, and they still needed to continue the experiments.

However, the experimental direction is no longer the efficiency of pure water extraction, but the energy required to extract each cubic meter of ultra-clean water from silicon carbide nanotubes of different lengths.

Five days of experimentation.

Zhang Shuli's team also understood Jiang Miao's idea at this time.

Since the length of silicon carbide nanotubes is difficult to exceed 1 meter, Zhang Shuli's team used welding to weld a sealing metal ring to the silicon carbide nanotube bundle so that the two strands of silicon carbide nanotubes can be connected together.

Using this method, they continued to extend the silicon carbide nanotubes.

In five days, the silicon carbide nanotubes were extended to 150 meters.

The experiment was very successful.

Even if extended to 150 meters, the silicon carbide nanotubes can still effortlessly draw pure water from the sewage tank to the other end.

However, they also found problems during the experiment.

That is, at the beginning, it should be placed vertically so that water vapor at room temperature can float up, but the vertical length cannot be too long. Once it exceeds about 4.5 meters, the water vapor will be easily affected by the earth's gravity and will not be able to continue to float up, thus condensing inside the pipe at that height.

Therefore, after the first section of the pipeline exceeds 3 meters, it must turn and become parallel to the horizontal plane or slanted upward, which allows the normal temperature water vapor inside the pipeline to flow quickly.

Another problem is the temperature.

At first, they were doing experiments inside the laboratory and naturally did not notice the temperature problem. It was not until the length exceeded the space inside the laboratory and they took the experiment outdoors that problems arose.

It was early November in Minqin County.

The temperature is still around 10 degrees during the day, but close to zero at night.

The room-temperature water vapor inside the silicon carbide nanotube will suddenly turn into liquid at around zero degrees Celsius. The consequences of this mutation are very serious. The viscous liquid water causes the pipeline to be blocked, and the efficiency of extracting pure water drops to about one thousandth of the previous level.

In further experiments, the water vapor inside the silicon carbide nanotube will quickly condense from the water vapor state into solid ice once the ambient temperature drops below minus 23.6 degrees Celsius, directly blocking the inside of the silicon carbide nanotube.

In other words, silicon carbide nanotubes cannot be used in an environment below zero degrees Celsius, otherwise the efficiency will drop sharply or even stop working directly.

But this experiment was also very successful.

The reason is that they have verified the idea of ​​long-distance and low-cost water transportation through experiments. Since a 150-meter pipeline does not require much additional work to extract and transport ultra-clean water, they can consider continuously extending the pipeline and experiment with low-cost water transportation from the coast to the inland.

Especially when transporting water from low-altitude coastal areas to high-altitude areas, the energy consumption of silicon carbide nanotubes that use water vapor as a transport form is actually similar to that of transporting water in plains.

Zhang Shuli's team has tested increasing the inclination angle of the pipeline. As long as the inclination angle does not exceed 30 degrees, it does not affect the efficiency of extraction and water delivery.

After all, water vapor will automatically float to high altitudes. At a certain inclination, the buoyancy of the water vapor itself can offset the gravity of the earth. At the nanoscale, this offset is even more significant.

As for the problem of low-temperature condensation and freezing, it is actually not a big deal in the northern region. After all, agricultural production in the north is concentrated in spring, summer and autumn. In winter, apart from greenhouses and agricultural factories, not much water is used.

It is entirely possible to extract and transport pure water at full capacity in spring, summer and autumn, and stop work for maintenance in winter, or simply bury the pipeline deep underground and add an insulation layer.

Generally, if the burial depth is greater than 3 meters, it can basically ensure that the temperature inside the pipeline is above zero degrees Celsius all year round.

According to laboratory results, the current daily water delivery efficiency of the pipeline is the cross-sectional area of ​​the pipeline multiplied by 1914, that is, the pipeline can deliver 1914 cubic meters of water per day for every square meter of cross-sectional area, and 698610 cubic meters of water per year.

A pipeline with an internal diameter of 10 meters can transport 5493 million cubic meters of ultra-clean water every year.

However, Jiang Miao also knows that pipeline cost is a very critical issue for the implementation of this technology.

The current manufacturing cost of this type of silicon carbide nanotube is estimated to be around RMB 11 per ton, and its density is 1.8 grams per cubic centimeter.

In the water pumping and purification pipes, about one-third is silicon carbide nanotubes and two-thirds is epoxy resin.

For a pipe with a cross-sectional area of ​​one square meter, 0.79 tons of epoxy resin and 0.59 tons of special silicon carbide nanomaterials are required per meter of length. In addition to sealing alloy connectors and protective casing, the total cost is about 5 yuan per meter.

Suppose we need to build a 10-meter-diameter water pipeline from the coast of Bohai Sea to the upper source of Laoha River, with a total length of about 350 kilometers.

The investment cost of the pipeline alone is 1.37 trillion yuan, and it is expected to be used for about 40 years. The annual depreciation cost is at least 342.5 billion yuan. However, with such a large investment, only 5493 million cubic meters of ultra-clean water can be obtained, and the depreciation fee for each cubic meter of ultra-clean water is 623 yuan.

This is obviously not a worthwhile investment.

But there is a solution.

That is to adopt the cascade reservoir and height difference natural water transfer mode.

For example, in coastal areas, we look for mountains of suitable height, transport water to the top of the mountains, use the drop and terrain to let the water flow northward, and use the surrounding rivers and reservoirs to continuously transport water to the north.

Taking the Laoha River project envisioned by Jiang Miao as an example, a water pipeline can be built along the coast near Shanhaiguan, and then to Zushan, northwest of Shanhaiguan. With the help of the Qinglong River channel, a stepped reservoir can be built to transport water northward in the opposite direction. Among them, only about 5 kilometers of water pipeline will be built in the Zushan section.

To reach Sanshijiazi Town at the source of Qinglong River, and then to the northwest across the mountains, a 5-kilometer water pipeline can be built to reach Huangtuliangzi Town at the source of Laoha River. In this way, only about 10 kilometers of water pipelines need to be built along the entire line, plus low-cost pumping stations for each cascade reservoir.

However, the cost is still high.

If it is really to be used in long-distance, low-cost water transportation, we can only hope that the cost of special water pipelines can be reduced after the technology matures and improves. Otherwise, long-distance water transportation will definitely not work.

Of course, this is not really the case.

For example, by digging tunnels, replacing special transmission pipelines, and adding stepped reservoirs to pump water upwards step by step.

Silicon carbide nanotubes only need to provide a steady supply of fresh water along the coast and build dozens of meters of pumping pipes in the stepped reservoirs.

The usage of silicon carbide nanopipes will drop to about a few hundred meters. For a 10-meter diameter water pumping pipe, the investment cost per meter is about 392.5 million yuan. It can be further reduced in later large-scale production.

However, the infrastructure investment has been increased.

The investment in transmission tunnels and cascade reservoirs will probably cost tens of billions of dollars.

If 100 such pipelines are laid out, 54 billion cubic meters of water can be transported annually. According to the most economical plan, the investment in the entire project will be around 2000 billion yuan. The project is expected to operate efficiently for 40 years, with an annual depreciation of 50 billion yuan and a profit of 54 billion cubic meters of fresh water. The average investment cost per cubic meter of fresh water is 0.925 yuan.

Obviously still too high.

Unless the cost of special water pipelines drops to about one-third of the original price, the investment cost per cubic meter of fresh water will drop to 0.39 yuan.

Jiang Miao was not too disappointed about this situation. After all, one must eat one bite at a time. He instructed Zhang Shuli's team:
"The next task for your team is, on the one hand, to cooperate with the company to industrialize and mass-produce this product."

"No problem, boss." Zhang Shuli was like a chick pecking at rice.

"Another task is to find a way to reduce the production cost of silicon carbide nanotubes and special water pipes, which also requires cooperation with the production department."

"Yes."

Hailufeng Company has a special technical industrialization management department, namely the Technology Application Department.

In the past few days, people in the Technology Application Department have taken action. On the one hand, they have organized relevant researchers to study high-efficiency, low-cost mass production processes; on the other hand, they have asked the Human Resources Department to arrange personnel as soon as possible to form a new business unit to lead the in-depth development and commercial operations of the project.

At this time, the department manager Wang Anguo and deputy manager Song Xiaojie were also here.

Wang Anguo, who also comes from technology research and development but has been engaged in industrial mass production management for a long time, has more experience in technology mass production than the pure scientific research team. He has studied the technology of special silicon carbide nanotubes in recent days.

"Boss, this is a preliminary improvement plan, please take a look."

Jiang Miao looked at it and asked, "You guys are really efficient. You came up with three improvement plans in less than three days."

"Every profession has its own expertise. Dr. Zhang has not led any professional technology production planning or process improvement." Wang Anguo said with a smile:

"The first improvement is the simplest and easiest to implement. Silicon carbide nanotubes only account for about 30% of the water pipeline, and the remaining 70% is epoxy resin. However, epoxy resin does not necessarily need to completely fill the inside of the pipeline. Our engineers plan to use foaming foam as the filling material in the middle, which can not only play a role in heat preservation and support, but also reduce the overall weight and cost."

Jiang Miao has already seen the estimated parameters of this improvement plan; reducing weight by 32% and reducing costs by about 8000 yuan per cubic meter.

"The second solution is the shell and the sealing alloy ring. The original process is harmless in the laboratory, but it is obviously not suitable for industrial mass production." Wang Anguo continued to add:

"So we used the company's new material, diatom bean silk, which can be formed in one piece. After adding the sealing ring, it fully meets the requirements. It is expected to reduce the overall weight by another 35%, and the cost per cubic meter will be reduced by another 7000 yuan."

"The third improvement plan is that Dr. Zhang's team previously used a direct sintering deposition process, and then used even finer silicon carbide nanotubes to drill through little by little. This process is too complicated and the yield rate is too low. We plan to use multiple sintering, sintering only one-eighth of the inner wall each time, and sintering eight times in a row."

Jiang Miao did not deny this plan, because the Technology Application Department had conducted supercomputer simulation calculations and concluded that this inner wall structure does not affect the evaporation of water molecules at room temperature.

If the third option is adopted, the cost per ton of special silicon carbide nanotubes is expected to drop from 11 yuan to about 6.7 yuan.

This will reduce the cost of special water pipelines by 1.3 yuan per cubic meter. Combined with the previous two improvement plans, the total cost can be reduced by 2.8 yuan, bringing the total cost down to 2.2 yuan per cubic meter.

Although it has not yet reached one-third of the ideal state, there is still a lot of room for improvement if we continue to improve in the future.

For example, the cost of bean threads, energy costs, and water costs will all decrease, and these costs will affect the production costs of downstream products.

"Your technical application department should arrange the implementation of the technology as soon as possible."

Wang Anguo replied solemnly: "Leave it to us, we will definitely live up to the boss's trust."

"Well, thank you for your hard work." Jiang Miao looked at the time on his watch and said goodbye to everyone because he had to rush to the capital.

It is November 7th.

The results of this year's election of academicians will be officially announced in Beijing in two weeks.

Not only Jiang Miao was awarded as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, but Lin Shuya was also awarded as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

It was mainly because the sponge battery technology in which Shuya was named triggered industrial changes in China. Plus, it was the first half of the year, so after internal discussions by the selection committee, in June, Lin Shuya’s name was added.

Jiang Miao already knew the results of the selection.

As the couple could not take a plane, and considering that it would be easy for others to find out the time if they went there shortly before the due date, they went there at different times.

Shuya had taken the high-speed train the night before and headed to Beijing in a low-key manner under the secret escort of the security team.

He stayed in Minqin for an extra week mainly to see the research results of special silicon carbide nanotubes and discuss some follow-up arrangements with the Technical Application Department.

Now that the time is almost up, we hurried to the high-speed railway station in Liangzhou City.

Jiang Miao's departure did not affect the research work of Wang Anguo, Zhang Shuli and others.

Using silicon carbide nanotubes as cutting wires, they cut the special pipes into slices. Each slice is 2 cm thick. Each meter can be cut into 50 slices, and each slice can be used as an independent water purifier.

Then use other materials to make pipes, and only need to install a water purifier at the head of the pipe.

Inside the sewage treatment plant in Minqin County.

In a temporarily modified container, a water purifier of a device is placed close to the sewage pool. After the sewage has undergone initial sedimentation, it is attached to the surface of the water purifier. As the negative pressure equipment is started, a steady stream of normal temperature water vapor is pumped up by the water purifier, and then the normal temperature water vapor coming out from the other side quickly condenses into water droplets.

These water droplets settle at the bottom, and the four pumping pipes on the bottom quickly pump the pure water away from the bottom.

In this reciprocating cycle, pure water is continuously extracted from the equipment.

The director and several technicians of the sewage treatment plant were stunned.

"Too fast." The director of the sewage treatment plant looked at the outlet in disbelief.

The technician responsible for testing the water quality quickly collected some water and went to the testing room in the factory for testing.

More than an hour later.

When the test report came out, the technician came over with a hint of shock and said, "Director, it meets the standards. No pollutants were detected. It is purer than purified water."

"Really?" The factory manager grabbed the test report and his eyes widened. He then turned around and asked, "Xiao Li, what is the energy consumption? How much water is produced?"

"About 80 cubic meters per hour, and the power consumption is about 1.4 degrees per hour." Xiao Li looked at the meter reading.

The factory manager was so shocked that he blurted out: "Damn! If the price of this equipment is not high, it can instantly kill all the current sewage treatment equipment."

Another old employee nodded slightly: "Indeed, our factory's maximum daily processing capacity is 2 cubic meters. This set of equipment can process 1914 cubic meters a day. Ten units can replace most of our factory's sewage treatment equipment."

"Hailufeng Company's technical strength is truly formidable." The factory director couldn't help but exclaimed.

(End of this chapter)