Chapter 187: Chemistry

Shang Wen was a little discouraged. Tax reform will be a shortcut. It can quickly promote the development of the commodity economy, and the earlier it develops, the more it can provide an opportunity for capital transformation. But now, King Qin insisted on not allowing it. Could it be that this is kingship, because capital challenges the authority of kingship.

The current King Qin is too superstitious about power. Superstitious enough to ignore the functions of the government. Li Si too. Not aware of the authority of the various functions of the government. It still relies on the original tradition. There is no careful observation of social changes. This is really something that makes people feel. Helpless. Shang Wen couldn't describe his feelings now. that's terrible. Without the support of taxes, the next plan would require a lot of effort to break through the only line of defense.

Shang Wen was really annoying about this matter. Difficult to fall asleep in bed. Since he couldn't sleep, Shangwen got up and did some experiments.

There is too much work that has been busy with production and improvement recently. It's been a long time since I opened the door of chemistry. Since you can't sleep now, open this door.

Shangwen got up and put on a piece of clothing, and went out to get some materials for experimentation.

Shang Wen took out his notebook. Turn to the chemistry page. Shangwen began to produce a large amount of raw materials. The first is fierce oil, which is crude oil. The use of fractionation technology to refine and process crude oil is an effective way to obtain some raw materials. But this must rely on some equipment, such as fractionation towers. Moreover, many raw materials produced also require fractionation towers, such as alcohol, acid, alkali and so on.

Shangwen bit his notebook with his mouth and began to check the glassware he sent recently. These are all used in my own experiments. Mainly some utensils, there is also a small part of glass pipes, these pipes are made shorter, mainly made by hand, and most of them are blown with iron pipes. This may already be the limit of current production.

Shang Wen looked at these utensils carefully. Because of the immature technology, the utensils are made thick and thin. Shangwen looked at it and felt that these utensils might be broken. But it can only be used.

The first technology used is fractionation technology. The fractionation of crude oil is obviously not enough. Because of the utensils. Shang Wen felt that some acid should be processed.

Such as sulfuric acid. Because at present, sulfuric acid is indeed needed, because with the large-scale use of drilling technology to make barrels. The inner wall of the barrel needs to go through a pickling process, without this process, it is almost a great restriction on the production of the barrel. Thinking of the barrel, I don’t know what happened to this technique.

The process of industrial production of sulfuric acid is like this. Preparation of sulfur dioxide (boiler furnace)

Burning sulfur or treating pyrite at high temperature to produce sulfur dioxide S+O? = ignition = SO?

4FeS?+11O?=High temperature=8SO?+2Fe?O?

Contact oxidation to sulfur trioxide (contact chamber)

2SO?+O?=Vanadium pentoxide catalyzed and heated=2SO? (reversible reaction)

Absorbed with 98.3% sulfuric acid

SO?+H?SO?=H?S?O? (pyrosulfuric acid)

add water

H?S?O?+H?O=2H?SO?

Purification

Industrial concentrated sulfuric acid can be distilled to obtain commercial sulfuric acid with a concentration of 95% to 98%.

There is also the production of sulfur dioxide (boiling furnace)

Burning sulfur or treating pyrite at high temperature to produce sulfur dioxide S+O? = ignition = SO?

4FeS?+11O?=High temperature=8SO?+2Fe?O?

Dissolve sulfur dioxide in water and turn it into sulfurous acid.

Sulfurous acid oxidation produces sulfuric acid. However, these two have something in common. Both are based on burning sulphur and sulphur-containing substances.

In fact, the method of producing sulfuric acid by dry distillation has been discovered in ancient times. However, this was only in the Tang Dynasty, which was hundreds of years later than the Warring States Period. From 650 to 683 AD (the Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty), the alchemist Gugangzi recorded in the book "The Yellow Emperor Jiuding Shen Dan Jing Jue" Volume Nine that "the method of refining stone gallbladder to extract the essence", namely dry distillation of stone gallbladder ) To obtain sulfuric acid. If expressed by a chemical equation, it is:

CuSO?·5H?O=heating=CuSO?+5H?O

CuSO?==High temperature==CuO+SO?↑

SO?+H?O=H?SO?

The method adopted by Shangwen is a simple dry distillation method. There is no way, that's all the appliances. There is not even an alcohol lamp.

Shang Wen got up to look for a lot of food. Proceeding to fermentation, now it's cold. It can only be carried out during the day, or placed on the side of the stove for fermentation, which promotes the production of bacteria. Shang Wen just writhed like this and didn't sleep all night.

Through combustion, sulfur dioxide is obtained, which is then passed through a glass tube. Heating up. Obtain disulfur trioxide. Then it dissolves in water and is worth sulfuric acid.

There is no rubber tube, and the seal is too bad. The experiment almost ended in failure, and Shang Wen felt suffocated by the smell of sulfur. Great irritation to the respiratory tract. Shang Wen spent a lot of effort to get a small bottle of sulfuric acid, as for the concentration. Shang Wen has no way to check.

The sealing effect must be resolved. Otherwise, the experimenter will die of suffocation sooner or later.

Shangwen stopped making sulfuric acid, and these must wait until the leak tightness of the experimental equipment was solved before it could be restarted. When the busy schedule is over, it's dawn. The temperature in the morning is still very low. It is not conducive to the start of fermentation. Shangwen could only continue to put it beside the fire and continue to ferment.

Similar experiments with sulfuric acid cannot be carried out. Because chemistry has just started. Most of the methods used are dry distillation, and these methods require good sealing. The solution is to use a lot of linen as the sealing material. For the interface, Shangwen can only do it with graphite. Graphite has now risen to the position of a strategic resource. The search for graphite is being carried out on a large scale. However, more and more places are using graphite. Such as smelting. Casting artillery molds, crucibles. There is no other way but to use this strategic resource.

For heating equipment, only the alcohol can be fractionally distilled. Should the experiment be carried out using a large stove?

However, there is one invention that can be made, and that is cement. Shang Wen swiftly draws on the notebook. In 1824, British construction worker Joseph Aspdin invented cement and obtained a patent for Portland Cement. He used limestone and clay as raw materials, mixed in a certain proportion, calcined the mature material in a vertical kiln similar to burnt lime, and then pulverized it to make cement. Because the color of the hardened cement is similar to the stone used for construction in Portland, England, it is named Portland Cement.

What Shang Wen has to do is this kind of cement. This cement is also called Portland cement. The production is simple and can be produced in large quantities.