Chapter 503 We Can't Do It This Way: We're Going to Join the WTO
Joining the WTO was a major event for China.
The agreement reached with the United States is the core of this major event.
The university atmosphere in 1999 was still quite concerned about national affairs.
Almost instantly, news of the WTO spread throughout the entire campus.
After finishing her milk tea, Wang Xiao returned to the research institute and saw the young man who had told her earlier that the people in charge were in a meeting, discussing the WTO with the old man in the gatehouse.
The old man was living a carefree life, with Yue opera playing on the radio.
As for what exactly it was, Wang Xiao didn't understand either.
The old man probably wasn't paying attention, because he was talking animatedly to the young man: "I told you the Americans wouldn't stop us, they'd definitely pull us into the WTO, absolutely!"
The cleaning lady just came in from outside, opened the door to the gatehouse, and went in to collect the recyclables to sell.
Upon hearing this, she casually replied, "You've said too much already; you should be the President of the United States."
The old man's eyes widened: "I really did say that, Xiao Cao, you can be my witness, right?"
The young man with glasses perched on his nose chuckled and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, I have."
The old man then became smug, proudly raising his chin: "I told you long ago, with Kosovo around, Russia and Europe can't see eye to eye. What can Russia do? If the west is not bright, the east is bright, so it will definitely want to join forces with our country. Once they join forces, the United States certainly can't sit idly by. It has to lend a hand and can't let us only be on good terms with Russia."
As the auntie brought out the old newspapers, she made no attempt to hide her disdain: "Oh dear, I seem to remember you saying earlier that Europe and Russia would have the best life together, one has factories, the other has energy, it's perfect for them to live together. You think you know everything? There's not a single smart person in Europe or Russia who can't see that?"
The old man glared at him: "Aren't you talking nonsense? So what if you know that it's better to stick together? Europe should dare to do it. Look, Europe has only produced two powerful figures who have fought all the way to Moscow: Napoleon and Hitler. In the end, neither of them gained any advantage."
Wang Xiao and his group listened with great interest.
Lyuba sighed inwardly, thinking that China was truly full of international political commentators.
They can comment on any international news that comes out.
After finishing his comment, the old man didn't forget to mention Lyuba, laughing in their direction: "Hehe, you Russians are too good at fighting, you've scared all the Europeans."
They completely disregard whether the other person understands or not.
The young man with glasses nodded: "Indeed, Russia is being too aggressive."
Before Lyuba could even roll her eyes, the old man retorted, "If we don't speak up and let Kosovo become independent, what will Russia do? That's definitely not acceptable. How will it stand on its own two feet in the future?"
Before the young man could finish speaking, a middle-aged man rushed down the stairs, holding a phone in one hand, and asked the young man, "Has a General Manager Wang come to the office?"
The young man looked completely bewildered: "Ah, I don't know, up ahead..."
Because of the backlighting, the middle-aged man couldn't clearly see Wang Xiao and the others' faces when he was standing on the stairs.
By the time he got down, he was itching to slap the young man on the head. "You big-headed devil!"
Previously, the city leaders said they would recommend a business owner to them to see if they could cooperate, and he agreed verbally but didn't take it too seriously.
Waste disposal has become a hot topic in recent years, especially after the State Planning Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the "Notice on Further Supporting the Development of Renewable Energy" in January of this year, many companies have approached them wanting to cooperate.
Moreover, the city leaders didn't specify when they would come.
Before the meeting was even over, a city leader called to ask if Mr. Wang had arrived.
He was confused at the time, which Mr. Wang?
Mayor Huang was so angry that he started cursing: "Which other General Manager Wang is there? General Manager Wang from the Trade City, our Xiaozhou Goddess of Wealth!"
These days, all factories are operating at full capacity, so there's no worry about production capacity.
Therefore, the person who can sell the goods is the richest.
Good heavens! You can offend anyone but the God of Wealth.
He hurriedly rushed out of the conference room to greet the God of Wealth.
The middle-aged man smiled broadly and extended his hand to Wang Xiao: "I'm so sorry, Mr. Wang, I had a last-minute meeting and didn't even know you would come in person. I'm so sorry for the neglect. My surname is Hou, you can just call me Lao Hou."
As he spoke, he led the man into the office while glaring at the young man.
What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and pour some tea!
Wang Xiao waved her hand: "It's nothing, it's nothing. We just took a walk around the school. No need to trouble you, we just had milk tea, we're not thirsty."
"Yes, yes, we want to drink it. It's not a famous tea, but a variety cultivated by our university's College of Agriculture. It has a very unique taste."
Upon hearing this, Wang Xiao was truly filled with emotion.
Universities are becoming increasingly economically conscious these days, and each one has its own unique products.
They were drinking milk tea at the coffee shop just now, and the milk they used was milk produced by Jiangbei University.
When the young man brought the tea, his mentor, Professor Hou, who was also hosting Wang Xiao and the others, apologized on his behalf: "I'm sorry, it's my fault for not teaching him well. This kid is a bit stubborn and lacks discernment."
Wang Xiao smiled and thanked him for the tea: "It's nothing, it's nothing. This handsome young man made us sit and wait; we wanted to go out for a stroll ourselves. Well then, Professor Hou, let's not stand on ceremony. Why don't you show us how a fluidized bed incinerates waste?"
Professor Hou's position was somewhat similar to that of the institute's chief manager. He immediately stood up and led the person to the conference room: "Then let me introduce our fluidized bed project to you, Mr. Wang."
The term "fluidized bed" is an abbreviation; its full name is Integrated Technology for Clean Incineration Power Generation from Municipal Solid Waste in Circulating Fluidized Bed.
As Wang Xiao and her group were about to enter the conference room, the door opened, and an elderly man with gray hair, who was leading the group, shook hands with her, saying, "Welcome, welcome, Mr. Wang, for your guidance."
Professor Hou quickly introduced them: "This is our Professor Yan, Professor Yan."
Wang Xiao smiled and shook hands with the man: "You're too kind, Elder Yan. I'm here to broaden my horizons and see how our fluidized bed generators burn waste to generate electricity."
As a potential client, she was ushered in, seated in the head seat, and then the curtains of the conference room lit up.
Every project investor has to go through this unavoidable part, and the PPT presentation was displayed on the screen.
The bodyguards who went in with her secretly marveled at how fast times were progressing.
A few years ago, when they went to work on projects with their boss, they used handwritten projector slides. Now they just use computer-generated PowerPoint presentations.
Wow, I have to say, their PowerPoint presentation was pretty solid.
As mentioned at the beginning, urban household waste in China faces three major problems: it cannot be burned properly, it cannot be burned completely, and it is easily toxic.
Professor Hou pointed to the PPT with a metal rod and explained: "The advantage of our technology is that it is not a single boiler, but a system engineering project that integrates waste pretreatment, flue gas treatment, slag sorting and recycling systems, and controls the entire process from waste entering the site to ash and slag leaving the plant."
The slides played one after another, fully demonstrating the superiority of the technology.
For example, what should you do if household waste has a high moisture content and cannot be burned?
According to experimental data from the research institute, when cabbages with a water content as high as 89.4% were put into an incinerator at 900°C, the furnace temperature only dropped temporarily and then slowly rose again.
"Of course, this will inhibit the combustion rate. Therefore, the waste pretreatment system comes into play in our technical solution. By mixing the waste evenly and then subjecting it to biological drying or fermentation, the moisture is drained. This significantly increases the overall calorific value of the waste, making it easier to burn. Moreover, the organic matter undergoes preliminary degradation, and the odor produced after entering the furnace is also significantly reduced."
After explaining the entire process, he concluded, "This system tames waste through pretreatment, efficiently utilizes waste through a density fluidized bed, and achieves clean emissions through end-of-pipe purification."
Looking at the investors he was trying to win over today, he earnestly emphasized, "Most importantly, it breaks the foreign technology monopoly in the field of waste incineration and provides an economical, reliable and environmentally friendly path for the treatment of urban domestic waste in our country."
Is that correct?
Mayor Huang repeatedly emphasized that this General Manager Wang has a strong sense of national pride and has always been committed to the localization of high-tech industries.
His words probably suited her taste.
Besides, he wasn't exaggerating. Before the emergence of circulating fluidized bed clean incineration power generation technology, all waste incineration plants in China used imported equipment.
Wang Xiao nodded, a smile on her face, and said politely, "Thank you, it's been a lot of work introducing us."
Professor Yan spoke up: "Mr. Wang, is there anything you would like to know more about?"
Wang Xiao smiled and made a request: "Could you show me your equipment? Just a pilot-scale demonstration will do."
It sounds really good; it's very well thought out.
But her intuition told her that the technology would definitely not be as good as it appeared in the PowerPoint presentation.
The reason is very simple.
If there really are no problems at all, given the personalities of the Xiaozhou Municipal Government and the Jiangdong Provincial Government, they will definitely help the university and research institutes to promote it and apply it nationwide.
But before she time-traveled, when she was in junior high school, her teacher showed them a documentary called "Garbage Siege," which was filmed after the Beijing Olympics, when the city's garbage problem was still unresolved.
Moreover, before the pandemic, the country seemed to have been promoting a garbage sorting system for a period of time. Later, with the rapid development of waste-to-energy incineration technology, there wasn't enough household waste to go around, and the garbage sorting system was abandoned.
This shows that waste-to-energy incineration technology still has a long way to go.
Wang Xiao had never ridden this track before, so she couldn't figure out what the problem was and had to find out for herself.
The research institute was quite accommodating and took her directly to see the equipment.
This pilot-scale test rig is already a small-scale waste-to-energy plant, using the university's own household waste as feedstock. The electricity generated is used to power the experimental equipment throughout the research institute.
It's like using yourself as an experiment, which gives you a lot of confidence.
Wang Xiao stared at the boiler for a long time, then suddenly remembered something: "What are your dioxin emissions?"
She was deeply impressed by the fact that burning garbage produces dioxins, which are carcinogenic and have been criticized for many years.
Professor Hou's ability to become the chief administrator of the research institute is a testament to his shrewdness.
He clapped his hands, and a torrent of flattering words rolled out: "Mr. Wang, you clearly know your stuff. One of the biggest advantages of our circulating fluidized bed system is that it can burn off dioxins. Yes, the temperature field inside the fluidized bed is uniform and stable, which can easily maintain the temperature in the core combustion zone above 850℃ and ensure that the flue gas residence time exceeds 2 seconds. This fundamentally meets the internationally recognized conditions for the high-temperature decomposition of dioxins."
He praised himself while taking a jab at his competitors, saying, "As for those imported mechanical grate furnaces, it's not that foreign technology is bad, it's just that they're not suitable for our country's municipal solid waste situation. Their furnace temperatures are uneven, and there are very likely to be low-temperature zones of 400-600℃, which are the breeding ground for dioxin synthesis. Our technology is to nip dioxins in the bud from the combustion mechanism, rather than waiting for them to be generated and then painstakingly treating them at the end."
Fearing that Mr. Wang might not understand, he even gave an example as an analogy: "It's like dishwashers are very popular abroad, and they do work quite well for people. But since foreigners cook differently than we do, it's difficult for us to use them."
Wang Xiao hadn't really thought much of it at first, but after Professor Hou said that, she disagreed: "That's not to say that dishwashers are unsuitable for our country, it's just that they aren't specially designed for the characteristics of our country's kitchens."
She had bought a dishwasher before she time-traveled. It was a domestic brand and worked very well. It could wash vegetables and fruits, as well as pots and pans and dishes, which was quite convenient.
She couldn't accept that the entire dishwasher project was rejected simply because foreign-made dishwashers were unsuitable.
To be honest, although she now stays away from the kitchen and can only eat but not cook, she still misses her incredibly smooth dishwasher.
Hey, this is something we should really do.
She still remembers the general appearance and functions of domestically made dishwashers; she'll draw a diagram later and have the factory make them.
The investor objected, and Professor Hou, slightly embarrassed, had no choice but to follow her lead: "So the principle of waste incineration power generation is still correct, but it must be implemented according to the characteristics of our country."
Wang Xiao smiled, looked ahead, and suddenly frowned: "What's that?"
It's all black, it can't possibly be sludge, there's so much sludge.
“It’s coal,” Professor Hou explained. “Mixing it into the garbage can increase its calorific value and ensure complete combustion.”
Wang Xiao had already realized that it was indeed coal.
Her only feeling was summed up in two words: "Heh."
It's touted as a new energy source, claiming to generate electricity by burning waste, but in the end, it still uses coal, just like a regular thermal power plant.
So what were you busy with all that time? Was it just for nothing?
The fire in the furnace was still burning fiercely, and the air was filled with an indescribable metallic smell.
Seeing Wang Xiao's expressionless face, Professor Hou quickly explained, "We mixed in 20% coal, only 20%, the rest is household waste."
Wang Xiao sighed: "But you still mixed in coal, so it's hard to say what exactly you're generating electricity from."
In her memory, before she traveled through time, there was a period when the Yunnan Baiyao toothpaste incident caused quite a stir.
Because one of the functions of this toothpaste is to stop bleeding, and Yunnan Baiyao is known for its hemostatic properties, people subconsciously assume that it stops bleeding using traditional Chinese medicine. However, one of its ingredients is tranexamic acid.
Tranexamic acid is a widely recognized and very inexpensive hemostatic drug with extremely wide clinical applications.
If you have tranexamic acid, can Yunnan Baiyao toothpaste explain exactly what it uses to stop bleeding? If your traditional Chinese medicine works well, why would you add tranexamic acid?
Professor Yan laughed beside him: "President Wang, this solution is designed to suit the characteristics of our country's waste. And it is precisely where our technological progress lies. Grate furnaces can't even use coal; they rely on oil injection for combustion. That's burning oil, which is very expensive, costing more than twice as much as burning coal."
He emphasized, "Moreover, this is because of the impact of the financial crisis. Oil prices have been relatively low in the past two years. Once oil prices rise again, the costs will be even more uncontrollable."
Professor Hou chimed in, "Indeed, cost control is the highlight of our technology. Our country has abundant coal resources, which allows us to produce and sell our own coal, thus controlling costs. However, our country now needs to import oil from abroad, which is affected by fluctuations in international crude oil prices, making cost control difficult."
However, Wang Xiao still shook his head: "With economic development, oil prices will rise, and coal prices will rise as well."
Are you kidding me? Do you know who the earliest synonym for "nouveau riche" was? Coal mine owners. It meant someone owned a mine, and that mine was a coal mine. For a long time in China, the so-called "black gold" didn't refer to oil, but to coal.
You think coal prices will just stop rising? You're dreaming.
Mr. Yan still insists: "No matter how much coal prices rise, they will not be higher than those of fuel oil, and its cost will still be much lower than that of fuel oil. Cost control is crucial for our domestic waste incineration plants."
Okay, Wang Xiao said he could understand.
Because she combined her memories from before she traveled through time and made a comprehensive analysis, she predicted that international crude oil prices would indeed soar in the 21st century—her good days were coming, as she was now a legitimate person with a considerable number of oil and gas fields.
But precisely because oil prices have risen, this circulating fluidized bed project is now in danger.
Wang Xiao looked at Professor Yan earnestly: "Professor Yan, tell me the truth, under the current circumstances, without national subsidies, I mean special subsidies, can waste-to-energy incineration make money? Or, in other words, can the money from selling the electricity cover the costs?"
Professor Yan remained silent, but Professor Hou quickly interjected, "This is a comprehensive issue of benefits, not just a simple one..."
Wang Xiao interrupted the other person directly: "Professor, just tell me if it's possible or not?"
The answer is obviously no.
That's perfectly normal.
If it could, it wouldn't be trying so hard to attract investment as a new project. Everyone knows they should make money if they have it.
Wang Xiao nodded: "I understand. In other words, without national special funds and subsidies from local governments, it would be difficult for waste incineration power generation to operate."
"The government will definitely provide subsidies later." Professor Hou was afraid that the investors would run away, so he quickly painted a rosy picture. "This is the general trend. In fact, the information we have received is that the relevant departments are already discussing this issue."
In theory, everyone had reached a consensus, but unfortunately, the international financial crisis dealt a heavy blow to China's export-oriented economy, and the government could not come up with the money in a short time, so it had to be postponed for now.
Professor Hou was on tenterhooks, afraid that Wang Xiao would press him for details about when the "next" would be. Today is the "next," and so is the year of the monkey and the month of the horse.
However, to his surprise, Wang Xiao nodded quite readily: "Okay, let's assume for now that the government will be able to provide subsidies in three to five years. But by then, our fluidized bed will be even more dangerous."
The room full of experts and scholars were stunned, feeling that this young boss was being a bit unreasonable.
The government is providing subsidies, so this should be the beginning of a golden age for their circulating fluidized bed waste-to-energy projects. Everyone would be eager to cooperate with them on technology. How can it be considered dangerous?
Isn't this a bit alarmist and alarmist?
Wang Xiao said slowly and deliberately, "I'm not trying to scare people, but based on my analysis, all subsidies must have some kind of threshold."
She pointed to the boiler's dashboard, "For example, what's the basis for subsidies for this waste incineration power generation? Is it considered a new energy source? The country has been encouraging new energy sources. But once you use coal, you can't clearly say whether the electricity is generated by burning coal or by burning waste."
Professor Hou's perspective on the issue veered back to square one, and he quickly waved his hand: "This cannot be the basis for determining whether or not subsidies are granted. A grate furnace requires oil injection, so if we explain it this way, it's also unclear whether the electricity is generated from burning oil or from burning garbage. If we say that, then no one will be able to get subsidies for waste-to-energy incineration."
“But oil is expensive,” Wang Xiao said seriously. “According to what you just told me, the current or future trend should be that the cost of fuel oil power generation > waste incineration power generation > coal-fired power generation, right?”
Professor Hou hadn't caught up with her thought process yet, and could only nod in agreement: "That's true, so the cost of our fluidized bed combustion power generation is much cheaper than that of grate furnaces."
Wang Xiao sighed: "OK, so that means—"
She pointed to the boiler, "If this furnace is filled entirely with coal, it costs less to produce the same amount of electricity than burning garbage. Isn't that right?"
The bespectacled young man who had previously abandoned Wang Xiao and the others looked at Wang Xiao with surprise, feeling that the boss had asked a stupid question.
Isn't that obvious? Coal-fired power generation is definitely the cheapest option. To reduce costs, they'll naturally choose cheaper fuels for combustion.
Wang Xiao looked around and asked, "So, what do you experts think? If the government is to subsidize waste-to-energy incineration, will it subsidize the electricity price, or something else?"
Her voice was light and airy as she raised a finger, "If the subsidy is based on the amount of garbage processed, is it calculated by weight? Then what if someone sprays water into the garbage dump to increase the weight and make more money? What if someone doesn't burn the garbage at all and just drags it to the countryside to dump it somewhere? That way they can still get paid."
Similar things are actually happening right now: garbage surrounds the city, and what's outside the city? It's the countryside.
Wang Xiao's gaze returned to Old Yan's face: "I don't understand these things. I'm just considering the policy implementation from a businessman's perspective. I guess, just a wild guess, that the government might subsidize electricity prices, because the power grid is under the government's control, and local governments have very limited control over it. This would effectively prevent local governments from colluding with waste treatment plants to obtain government subsidies."
This statement is quite politically incorrect, but everyone in society knows an unspoken rule: the power struggle between the central and local governments can never disappear in any country.
Every government needs to find ways to raise money, otherwise it simply cannot function.
Although universities are known as ivory towers, university professors have already rolled up their sleeves and taken action to attract investment and develop projects. How could the professors present be clueless novice rabbits?
But precisely because they knew these rules of government operation, they couldn't bring themselves to refute Wang Xiao.
I could only stand there helplessly as she tore off the last veil.
“But once electricity prices are subsidized, the government can no longer subsidize fluidized bed waste-to-energy power generation, because among the three, coal-fired power generation has the lowest cost. In other words, the more coal I mix into the furnace, the lower the cost of power generation, and the higher the subsidy I receive.”
"In this case, driven by profits, waste-to-energy plants may directly replace waste with coal for power generation, or mix in large amounts of coal."
"If everyone does this, who will still burn garbage? Wouldn't the original purpose of using waste to generate electricity disappear? Wouldn't all the special funds that the country painstakingly saved up be used to subsidize nothing?"
Upon hearing this, everyone's expression changed.
Now even Professor Hou couldn't bring up the grate furnace.
Because they burn fuel oil, which is expensive, the more fuel they use, the higher their costs become. Even with government electricity price subsidies, they still suffer heavy losses.
After all that, in the face of national subsidy policies, the biggest advantage of their circulating fluidized bed waste incineration power generation projects has actually become their biggest disadvantage?
Isn't that absurd?
They clearly designed the fluidized bed waste incineration project based on the characteristics of domestic waste in China, and it is clearly the most suitable method for treating domestic waste in China.
Wang Xiao sighed and shook his head, saying, "Although I don't understand how the government does things, I know that management is about achieving the most important goal with the least cost. It can't differentiate between this situation and that situation, because if it does, it will leave huge opportunities for rent-seeking."
The government's primary pursuit has never been efficiency, but stability.
The room was quiet except for the sound of the exhaust fan turning.
Professor Yan remained silent for a long time before finally speaking with difficulty: "So, does that mean we've made a mistake with this fluidized bed waste-to-energy incineration project?"
Wang Xiao quickly waved his hand: "You can't say that. I'm a businessman, and I can only consider things from an economic perspective. As for other comprehensive benefits, that's my job, and I can't think about it."
But she has made her point very clear: without economic benefits, no laboratory project can truly be transferred to the factory floor.
Silence, a deathly silence; the brilliant minds present fell silent.
After a long pause, a naive young man finally spoke up: "If that's the case, then let's spray oil into the garbage too, everyone spray oil."
His mentor nearly fainted from anger: "What nonsense are you spouting? The purpose of our project is to reduce the cost of waste-to-energy incineration! It's not a competition to see who spends the most money!"
The naive young man was so frightened that he immediately shrank back.
Wang Xiao shook his head: "We can't do oil spraying at all. The reason grate furnaces can do that is because the equipment and technology are all imported, and there are people willing to pay for it. The only thing our domestically produced equipment can do to enter the market is to offer high quality at a low price. Only if the quality is better than the imported goods and the price is lower than the imported goods can we possibly win the market."
Looking at the hot-headed young man who had just been scolded, she said seriously, "This requirement is indeed very demanding, but it is an inevitable result of our country lagging behind international advanced technology by decades. Let's not even talk about factories; when you are doing scientific research, don't you give more credit to equipment produced by developed countries?"
The young man nodded and said honestly, "The foreign ones are indeed easier to use."
Professor Hou subconsciously tried to salvage the situation: "There are also domestically produced ones, which are of good quality and inexpensive, cheap and convenient."
Wang Xiao laughed: "But the reputation of our domestic products has been ruined. Everyone has already accepted that domestic products are inferior to foreign products. Under the same conditions, most people will choose foreign imports."
The young man immediately chimed in, "That's exactly right. My mom works in the operating room at a hospital, and their new operating room uses domestically made operating tables. One of them broke down, so the doctors have to bend over to perform surgery. Actually, they bought dozens of these in one batch, and the rest of the operating tables are fine. But everyone's saying, 'Don't buy any more domestically made ones in the future. Whoever buys them should have to perform the surgery themselves!'"
Building a brand's reputation takes time and effort; it requires the work of a generation or even several generations.
If you don't treat yourself with high standards and strict requirements, or even be harsh on yourself, you will be eliminated by the market.
Before she transmigrated, everyone said that China was too complicated, ridiculously so.
But that was the only option available.
In the pouring rain, what can a child without an umbrella do but run for his life?
Old Yan sighed, "If we keep doing it this way, our country's waste incineration power generation will have no future."
His original idea was to increase production capacity with government subsidies. With a larger market, costs would naturally decrease, and in the long run, even without government subsidies, waste incineration power plants could survive on their own.
Once their technology and equipment for waste-to-energy incineration are fully developed, they can even be exported to generate foreign exchange.
Listening to the old professor's sigh, Wang Xiao was quite moved, but still coldly shook his head: "I doubt that your current standards will meet the requirements of the European Union. Moreover, not to mention exports, you might also have a hard time beating imported grate furnace equipment."
She made a gesture, "I know that the imported grate furnaces are simply not suitable for China's household waste. But the present does not represent the future. We just heard today that the United States has reached an agreement with our country to accept us into the WTO."
She pointed out the window, "This is great news for most of our country's labor-intensive industries. It means we will soon have a larger export market and will no longer have to worry about serious overcapacity."
She pointed to the boiler again, "But for our domestic high-tech industries, it is definitely a double-edged sword, even a one-sided crushing force. Our technology is behind the international advanced level. Without the support and protection of national policies, we simply cannot compete with them."
"Moreover, our market is open, and a population of 1.2 billion is a huge attraction for any industry. As Professor Hou just mentioned, our country's cities generate nearly 100 million tons of domestic waste every year. That's such a huge market that it's enough to entice foreign giants to improve their technologies to meet our country's needs, specifically targeting the characteristics of our domestic waste."
"They are wealthy and powerful, experienced, and have a good professional reputation and a long history."
Wang Xiao frankly said, "As a business operator, I would also choose such equipment. Even if the import cost is a bit higher at first, at least it is easy to use, the technology is guaranteed, and the stability is reliable."
Her eyes then turned to the professors. "In this situation, how can our equipment compete with theirs?"
Professor Hou was so exasperated by her words that he smiled bitterly and said, "Then tell me, what should we do? You're the boss, you make your request, and we'll find a way to meet it."
Wang Xiao was blunt: "The first rule is that coal cannot be used. As for what you will do, you'll have to figure that out yourselves. The second rule, if I may ask, has anyone done a specific analysis of the municipal solid waste that you are going to incinerate? I don't mean which types of waste will end up in the trash cans, but rather the characteristics of the waste that actually reaches the incineration plant. What kinds of waste are there? And which kinds are the most numerous? You need to analyze all of that."
She said earnestly, "Because in our country, garbage recycling is a huge industry, and many people, especially migrant workers, make a living from waste. The mountains of garbage piled up outside the city are their homes, their workplaces, and the places where they live and work."
"What kind of trash do they pick up? What kind of trash do they leave behind? Are there differences in this across the country, or are there regional characteristics? We need to collect data and analyze it."
"Don't be lazy, don't just take the data from the recycling station. The garbage that the recycling station collects is not necessarily all brought by scavengers. The latter also care about efficiency when picking up garbage, and they will definitely prioritize the garbage that can make more money. Those that sell for less money and require a lot of time are likely to be abandoned by them."
"In the future, as our country's productivity develops, the recycling price of this waste will decrease, and the amount of waste being recycled will also decrease significantly. It will be sent directly to incinerators."
"This means that we must leave room for technological upgrades to cope with changes in the composition of incinerated waste."
Everyone present secretly gasped.
Professor Hou and the others were filled with admiration. Good heavens! She hadn't even started in this field yet, and she already knew so much and analyzed things so deeply.
No wonder they can make money, and a lot of money at that.
Even though they're both bosses, their requests are always more to the point than other bosses'.
————————!!————————
The integrated technology for clean incineration power generation of municipal solid waste using circulating fluidized bed incineration, mentioned in the article, is based on a project from Zhejiang University. This integrated technology is a waste incineration treatment technology developed primarily by Zhejiang University, with a core team of 10 people including Ni Mingjiang, Yan Jianhua, and Cen Kefa. It won the second prize of the 2006 National Science and Technology Progress Award.
This technology integrates systems such as waste pretreatment, flue gas treatment, and slag sorting and recycling to form a heterogeneous circulating fluidized bed incineration power generation technology that burns raw waste. Its comprehensive test bench has a daily processing capacity of 10 tons, and pollutant emissions meet national standards.
The main technology currently used in our country is the grate furnace.
As for why circulating fluidized bed technology might be superseded by grate furnace technology in the novel, that's all Wang Xiao's own analysis. Before she transmigrated, she didn't even understand what the mainstream technology in the country was. *cough* [winking emoji] In other words, this is just A Jin's own analysis; the truth may not be so. But I really can't find more detailed information to give an accurate answer. [laughing emoji]
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