"Ren Siheng, Lu Qing, what kind of oil are you using for this internal combustion engine now?"
Looking at the internal combustion engine that was running fiercely, Liu Jin thought for a while and asked.
"Go back to Mr. Liu!"
"We are using fierce fire oil for it now. This strong fire oil was originally dark. After retorting and refining, we got this clearer fierce fire oil, which is very suitable for internal combustion engines."
When Ren Siheng heard this, he also ordered someone to bring a barrel of oil over.
"Fierce oil?"
When Liu Jin heard this, he also looked at it carefully.
Fierce oil is actually petroleum, which was mainly used in warfare in ancient times. However, it was rarely available in the Ming Dynasty, so it was not used on a large scale.
Although the barrel of fierce distillation oil in front of you looks relatively clear, it still contains a lot of impurities, and you can clearly see the presence of black substances in it.
It's no wonder that the smoke emitted by the internal combustion engine is very black. This is related to insufficient combustion, but it is also related to the oil, which cannot be refined well.
In later generations, both gasoline and diesel were refined very well. They were as clear as water, which not only facilitated combustion, but also produced no black smoke.
"We have tried using various oils as fuel, and finally found that the retorted fierce fire oil is the most suitable, but this kind of fierce fire oil is really too small, and our output in Daming is too small."
Ren Siheng saw Liu Jin thinking and continued.
"This is actually oil."
"Petroleum contains a lot of combustible substances, but it also contains a lot of impurities. It is best to be refined before it can be used better."
Liu Jin thought for a while and said.
"So that's it. We bought this oil from the market. It is said to be a retort technology developed by Imperial College London. Now there is a specialized trading house that is buying and selling this oil. Many people will buy it for lighting."
When Ren Siheng heard this, he understood immediately, thought about it and said again.
"Yes, I actually forgot about this."
After hearing Ren Siheng's words, Liu Jin remembered that he seemed to have asked Imperial College to study the refining of oil, and it seemed that preliminary results had been obtained.
"You should study slowly and strive to improve its reliability, safety and stability, and also increase its power. I will be of great use to you then."
Thinking of oil smelting, Liu Jin decided to go to Imperial College and give instructions to Ren Siheng and Lu Qing.
"Your Highness, let's go, go, go do some big business."
He picked up Zhu Houzhao and walked towards Imperial College.
"What big deal?"
Zhu Houzhao was having a discussion with a group of professors and students when he was pulled out by Liu Jin, looking a little unhappy.
But when I heard there was a big deal, I immediately started asking.
"You will know later. If this deal is completed, it will be a continuous money-making project in the future."
Liu Jin deliberately lost his appetite.
"It's really meaningless to say that half of it should be kept and half of it should be kept."
Zhu Houzhao immediately curled his lips.
Imperial College London and the School of Mechanical Engineering are very close to each other, and the colleges and universities run by Liu Jin are basically all here in the South District New Town, and they are all clustered together.
Soon, Liu Jin brought Zhu Houzhao to Imperial College and found Imperial College.
"I didn't know that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Mr. Liu were arriving, so I was a bit disappointed in their welcome. Please forgive me!"
Upon learning that Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao were coming, Huang Chong, He Wenyuan, Xie Geng and others also hurriedly came to greet them.
"How did it go when I asked you to help me research the refining of oil?"
"The School of Mechanical Engineering has already made internal combustion engines."
Liu Jin didn't waste any time and asked directly.
It seems that he was the one who asked them to study internal combustion engines and smelt oil. It seems that because of the skyrocketing price of rubber, the Ming Dynasty set off a wave of rubber planting. After he made a lot of money, he thought of oil, and he also assigned such a task.
.
"Mr. Liu, please come with us. We have never forgotten this matter and are constantly conducting research. Now we have begun to smelt a lot of things from oil."
"We even opened a trading house to sell the smelted oil."
When Huang Chong heard this, he quickly took Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao to a laboratory at Imperial College.
Soon, everyone came to a remote place. Before they arrived, Liu Jin smelled a strong and pungent smell. This smell was very familiar and was very similar to the smell emitted by asphalt roads in later generations. At the same time,
It is also mixed with a stench, which is similar to the smell of burning plastic.
"It stinks so much. What kind of big business can there be here?"
Zhu Houzhao covered his nose and said.
"Your Highness, please forgive me. This is our experimental site specially used to study the smelting of oil. However, after the oil is smelted, it has all kinds of pungent smells."
Xie Geng, a professor who is mainly responsible for researching petroleum refining technology, also quickly explained.
Soon everyone arrived at the petroleum smelting laboratory. They saw a large jar here. Students were lighting a fire under the jar. There were pipe outlets around the jar, from which liquid was continuously flowing out.
"Your Highness, Mr. Liu, this is the distiller we developed for smelting petroleum. Its structure is not complicated at all, and is almost the same as an ordinary distiller."
Xie Geng also introduced the distiller to Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao.
"The smelting of petroleum is a very dangerous thing, because toxic gases are emitted during the distillation process, so we had to make various modifications."
"In addition, we also discovered that the oil distilled from this petroleum is not the same. When the distillation temperature is different, the oil produced is also completely different."
“Some oils are lighter, we call them light oils, some oils are heavier, we call them heavy oils, and there are also some things that, after distillation, there will be some dark, viscous substances left.
, we call it waste.”
As Xie Geng explained, some students also brought the corresponding things over.
"This dark stuff is petroleum, also known as fire oil. Currently, these things are only found in the Luyan area of Shaanxi Province in the Ming Dynasty and the Jiuquan area of Gansu Province."
"In ancient times, some people mined this thing for lighting and making fire. In addition, when marching and fighting, they also stored some oil and used it to make fire oil for fire attacks."
Xie Geng pointed to a dark oil barrel and said.
"Is this oil?"
Zhu Houzhao looked at the dark oil and wanted to dip some of it with his fingers, but in the end he gave up the idea out of disgust.
"Yes, this is oil. The current production is not large. We also transported some by train specifically for research. I didn't expect that after this oil is distilled, various different things can be obtained."
"This kind of clearer and more translucent oil is called light oil. Light oil is clear and translucent and does not produce much odor or smoke when it burns. Therefore, it is the best oil smelted from petroleum and can be used with
It’s comparable to whale oil, and it’s the best-selling one now. It’s cheap and very popular.”
"This slightly turbid and heavier oil is what we call heavy oil. Heavy oil is also very suitable for burning, but the smell is stronger and the smoke is bigger."
"As for these pasty-like things, they are waste residue. These waste residues can also be used to burn, but the smoke is very strong, pungent smell, and poisonous, so it is of no use."
Xie Geng explained in detail.
"In that case, this dark oil is a treasure, and it can actually be smelted into many things."
Zhu Houzhao touched his chin and said.
"This is a pretty good thing."
"It may look dark, but it is indeed a treasure."
"It's very good for burning and lighting. Now that whale oil is getting more and more expensive, and fewer and fewer whales are being captured, this oil can also be smelted into light and heavy oil, which is a very good substitute for lighting."
Xie Geng nodded solemnly and said.
"Old Liu, isn't this the big business you're talking about?"
"What a big deal this can be. It doesn't cost much to use oil now."
Zhu Houzhao looked at the oil in front of him, thought about it and said.
"This is indeed a big deal, and this oil has great uses."
"Now we have only studied how to extract light and heavy oils, but the role of oil should not be this. In my opinion, these waste residues can be further refined or added with other things, and they can be of great use."
"It is true that there are not many places that use oil now, that is, some are used for lighting. But if the internal combustion engine technology matures, when the internal combustion engine burns flowers, there will be more places that use oil. This will be a real big business."
Liu Jin nodded solemnly and said.
If oil trading is not a big deal, then what else is a big deal?
This is energy, the blood of industry.
It is not only used for refining oil, but can also be used to make dozens of chemical products, from clothes and shoes to car tires, to beauty products, lubricants, leather, oilcloth, etc. There are so many places where oil is used, absolutely
It is an essential raw material for industry.
"Is there any big use for it?"
When Xie Geng heard this, he immediately became interested. He has been studying this oil for a long time. Apart from these things obtained by distillation, he really has not discovered any other uses of oil.
"Of course, this petroleum is a university subject. You need to set up relevant majors here to study this petroleum, from petroleum exploration, mining, transportation, smelting, chemical industry, use, etc. to conduct comprehensive multi-faceted studies.
Research and discover the many uses and functions of petroleum.”
Liu Jin nodded solemnly and said.
"yes!"
Upon hearing this, Xie Geng, Huang Chong, and He Wenyuan quickly replied respectfully.