Dozens of large jars are placed at the entrance of a newly built small factory in the eastern suburbs of Fanjiazhuang. Each of those large jars is more than one meter high and heavy. Looking from the side, they look like large wine tanks.
Cai Huaishui opened the lid of a jar and said, "Your Majesty, this is the fierce fire oil you want."
Li Zhi walked to the side of the jar and looked inside the jar.
Sure enough, Li Zhi saw thick black crude oil.
In the Ming Dynasty, some people had already developed and utilized oil in China: Cao Xuequan of the Ming Dynasty recorded in "Sichuan Guangji": "In the last year of the Zhengde Dynasty (1521), salt wells were opened in Jiazhou, and occasionally oil and water were obtained, which could illuminate the night." "Recently, several wells were opened again.
, the main person in the lawsuit." It has become relatively common to drill wells to extract oil in Sichuan. He Yudu's "Yi Bu Tan Zi" records that "oil wells are located in Jiazhou, Meizhou, Qingshen, Jingyan, Hongya, and Qianwei counties.
.”
In the Ming Dynasty, oil was also used as fuel to make fire-breathing chariots, which were called fierce fire oil chariots.
Therefore, Li Zhi did not encounter any difficulties when he wanted to find oil. Cai Huaishui went to Sichuan and bought dozens of jars of crude oil.
Cai Huaishui came close to Li Zhi, looked at the oil in the jar with Li Zhi, and said: "Your Majesty, this oil is very powerful. It burns very brightly. So the people in Sichuan call this oil fierce fire oil."
It just has a smell and makes people uncomfortable after smelling it for a long time.”
"My lord, what are you doing looking for this fierce fire oil?"
Li Zhi smiled and said: "Cai Huaishui, this oil is not called fierce fire oil, it is called petroleum!"
Cai Huaishui was stunned, wondering why Li Zhi wanted to change the name of this fuel.
"The prince said it's oil, that's oil."
Li Zhi laughed and said: "This oil is found everywhere in the world. It is an underground mineral deposit with large reserves. Especially in the Middle East, which is to our west, where Asia, Africa and Europe meet."
Although Cai Huaishui was a technical cadre in Fanjiazhuang, he also took the time to study Li Zhi's various middle school textbooks on his own. He had a certain concept of geography and knew what Li Zhi was talking about in the Middle East.
"Of course, there are many places in Ming Dynasty that produce oil, but it is not easy to extract. In the future, we will develop oil-loaded ships to mine shallow crude oil in the Middle East."
Li Zhi continued: "This oil is a treasure."
Cai Huaishui was stunned and asked: "Your Majesty, this oil can only be used for burning. How can you say that everything is a treasure?"
Li Zhi laughed loudly and said, "You ask someone to move two jars of oil into the refinery, and I'll show you a trick."
Cai Huaishui hurriedly asked people to carry out preparations and carried two heavy jars of oil into the refinery. As soon as he entered the tall factory building of the refinery, Cai Huaishui saw a towering fractionation tower.
The main body of the fractionating tower is made of cement, and steel is used in a few places. The entire fractionating tower is five stories high, with stairs going up and down. There are openings at different levels of the fractionating tower, and various conduits protrude from those openings.
Connect to various jars.
There is a place under the fractionation tower where crude oil can be stored, which is a large iron can. Under the iron can is a stove, and the bottom of the stove is filled with coal.
Now due to the continuous development around Fanjiazhuang, almost all the woods have been cut down, and firewood has become difficult to obtain. On the one hand, it is because the continuous reclamation of new fields takes up more and more places, and the woods have been turned into farmland. On the other hand, it is also because
With the expansion of the city, Fanjiazhuang's industrial areas and residential areas also began to open up land in the woods.
Today's Fanjiazhuang is no longer limited to the area surrounded by city walls. Because of King Qi's confidence in the military force, no one believed that the enemy could attack Fanjiazhuang, so many smart private factory owners built factories on the outskirts of Fanjiazhuang where land prices were cheap.
Once the factory was established, small residential areas emerged next to the factory.
With factories and residents, commercial areas have gradually gathered, so the suburbs of Fanjiazhuang are now developing rapidly.
According to official statistics from Fanjiazhuang, the total population near Fanjiazhuang and Tianjin Acropolis reached 730,000 at the end of last year. There are numerous private factories and workshops.
So now Fanjiazhuang has greatly reduced the use of firewood. On weekdays, steam boilers burn coal, while people burn charcoal for heating. In other words, some firewood is burned when cooking, which needs to be imported from Beizhili.
Li Zhi pointed to the iron can above the stove and said to Cai Huaishui: "Pour the oil into the iron can."
Cai Huaishui quickly asked the porter to pour oil.
Soon, the stove under the iron pot started burning. The thermometer on the stove began to heat up. When the oil on the stove began to boil, Li Zhi gave an order and asked the staff to open the gate between the boiler and the fractionator.
The hot petroleum crude oil turns into gas and enters the fractionator.
Cai Huaishui opened his eyes wide and looked at the pipes and jars up and down the fractionator.
After about a quarter of an hour, viscous liquid began to flow out of the bottom tube.
The liquid was black and looked thicker than flowing petroleum. Because the temperature was still very high at this time, it could still flow in the pipe. But Cai Huaishui suspected that as soon as the temperature dropped, the sticky stuff would solidify.
Li Zhi pointed to the sticky black stuff and said happily: "Cai Huaishui, look, this first product is asphalt."
"My lord, what is asphalt?"
"Asphalt is a waterproof material and can also be used for anti-corrosion. Of course, the biggest use is for paving roads. Roads paved with asphalt have a certain degree of elasticity, making it more stable and comfortable for driving and horse riding than cement roads. Moreover, roads paved with asphalt are easy to maintain.
, if it breaks, just lay a layer of asphalt and it will be fine.”
"Of course, the more important thing is that this asphalt can be obtained by direct fractionation from petroleum, which is low-cost and cheap. It does not require high-temperature firing like cement, and the cost is high."
Cai Huaishui was amazed and looked at the asphalt with his eyes.
Li Zhi raised his head and looked at the second layer of pipes in the fractionation tower. Sure enough, not long after, the product began to flow out of the second pipe.
Li Zhi took Cai Huaishui to the second floor of the refinery to see the products flowing out of the second pipe.
"Your Majesty, why does this oil turn into something different when it enters the fractionator?"
Li Zhi said: "This oil is originally a mixture. It is not one thing, but a variety of things mixed together. After the high temperature turns into a gas, it condenses at different temperatures, and the different components are separated."
Cai Huaishui suddenly realized it and said: "That's it!"
Li Zhi pointed to the viscous oil condensed in the second layer of tubes and said, "This second product is lubricating oil."
"This petroleum-produced lubricating oil is far superior to ordinary animal and vegetable oils. When used on the bearings of machines and carriages, it can greatly reduce the friction at the joints, which has a great effect on improving the performance and efficiency of our machines.
"
Cai Huaishui was very surprised when he heard this and said, "How can the oil that comes out of the ground be of such great use?"
