Chapter 546 Coal Mining Plan (Please vote and subscribe)
Luo Chong is naturally very familiar with coal, the most common mineral, but for the sake of safety, he threw one of the pieces into the stove and burned it for an experiment.
The coal burned very vigorously, and the flames were blue, but the smoke was also very strong. The room was filled with a smell of sulfur, which scared him to open the windows and doors for ventilation.
However, this situation is understandable. This is unprocessed raw coal, and the quality is not the best. It is normal to have some smoke.
Luo Chong doesn't know much about coal mining, but he still knows the basic common sense. For example, the coal sold on the market is all selected coal, or washed coal, which is very different from the original ore.
Coal, a mineral, is mainly composed of carbon, but most of it also contains a lot of sulfides, so some coal of relatively poor quality will have a sulfur smell when burned. It can be roughly divided into two types: anthracite and bituminous coal.
Especially in ancient times, coal was basically not used as fuel because the ancients did not have the technology for large-scale mining and selection. It's not that they didn't know how to do it, but they didn't have the conditions.
There are a lot of gangue (ganshi) in coal mines. This is a mineral mainly composed of calcium oxide, but it is not very pure. There are still a lot of carbon components in it. It is not that it cannot be burned. It is just that it is not burned so thoroughly, and the heat released is not as much as pure coal.
It can be said that using gangue as fuel is very useless. Not only is it much heavier than coal, it wastes transportation power in vain, and the efficiency of combustion heat release is also low.
But if it is not used, it is indeed a kind of coal, but the quality is relatively poor. With the thrifty character of the Chinese, it is a pity not to burn it first and then throw it away.
People who have burned coal must know this disgusting thing. It looks like coal, but it is not easy to burn.
That's right, gangue and pure coal look the same in appearance, which is also the biggest problem in ancient coal selection.
After the development of modern science and technology, people not only mastered the water washing technology, or have the conditions to carry out the water washing step, but also have a quick way to distinguish coal from gangue, that is, heavy liquid flotation technology.
In simple terms, it is to take advantage of the fact that the density of gangue is greater than that of pure coal, and the weight is heavier, so they are thrown together into a kind of artificially prepared heavy density liquid. Because the density of the two minerals is different, the gangue will sink to the bottom, and the pure coal will float on the surface of the liquid.
This is heavy liquid, flotation.
Luo Chong really doesn't know the formula of heavy liquid, he is not an expert in this field, but it is not impossible for the Han tribe to get similar liquids. The most common liquid with a higher density than normal clean water is seawater, because there are a lot of salt in seawater.
It is well known that salt water has a higher density than fresh water. For example, the Dead Sea on Earth is the famous salt lake. Even if people don't paddle in it, they will only float on the water and will not sink.
With the current level of technology in this era, it is most appropriate to use seawater to wash and select coal, but the Han tribe is not currently near the sea, but there is a salt lake at the iron mine in Xingang County, surrounded by heavy metal mining areas, which is obviously not suitable for mining salt, but using the water from the salt lake to wash coal is the most suitable.
As for the use of gangue, this calcium oxide mineral is generally mixed with coal mines and used in thermal power plants or as building materials, because calcium oxide is actually similar to quicklime and is an important raw material for cement production.
The preparation method of quicklime (calcium oxide) is to heat and burn limestone (calcium carbonate) to decompose it into a large amount of carbon dioxide and (quicklime) calcium oxide. The quicklime absorbs moisture and becomes slaked lime (calcium hydroxide).
Luo Chong quickly combed through the knowledge related to coal mines in his mind. It was not a random thought, but because these are all useful knowledge for the subsequent mining of newly discovered coal mines, how to maximize their utilization, and how to reduce pollution risks.
Take the current situation of the Han tribe as an example. It is impossible to achieve the goal of switching to coal burning for all people. It can only be used for special purposes and supply the departments that need coal the most, such as the metallurgical plant and steel mill in Xingang County.
However, if it is used for steelmaking, ordinary coal is not very effective and must be refined into coke.
Therefore, if the Han tribe wants to use this coal mine, it must not only build a coal washing plant, but also a coking plant, otherwise it will be meaningless.
The coal washing plant is easy to build. Just get the water from the salt lake, build a flotation pool, and a storage yard and drying yard. It is not very difficult. With the current situation of the Han tribe, it is completely possible to do it.
The coking plant is not very difficult either. It is actually very easy to turn coal into coke. Just dry distill the coal, that is, put the coal in a container and burn it on the fire, but do not let the coal burn.
This is very easy to do. Just introduce a large amount of carbon dioxide into the dry distillation container to prevent the flame from burning.
Carbon dioxide can extinguish fire. In the presence of a large amount of carbon dioxide, the flame cannot burn. This is also common sense.
As mentioned earlier, heating limestone will release a large amount of carbon dioxide, and quicklime can be obtained in the end.
So as long as these two projects are combined, coke can be refined.
Luo Chong's idea is to build two adjacent distillation towers. The distillation towers are divided into two layers. The lower layer burns coal to provide heat, and the upper layer is used to place the raw materials that need to react, one for coking and the other for refining quicklime.
Then, from the upper part of the distillation tower that heats limestone, a ventilation pipe is connected to the upper part of the coking tower, and a large amount of carbon dioxide produced by heating quicklime is passed into the coking tower to prevent the upper coal of the coking tower from being burned.
The principle is actually very simple and easy to build. Just use blue bricks to build two towers. The ventilation pipe in the middle can also be made of bricks. If it doesn't work, burn some ceramic pipes and connect them one by one. These are all things that the Han tribe can do at present.
As for the location of the two factories, Luo Chong has also thought about it. Considering the transportation conditions of all parties and the problem of pollutant emissions, it is best to build the factory directly in Dazeli, east of Liuyang County.
Swamps have the function of diluting and degrading pollutants. They are known as the 'kidneys' of the planet. This has been mentioned before. They are the best choice for dealing with pollution emissions under current natural conditions. In addition, the current mining and production volume of the Han tribe is not large, so there is no problem at all.
It is a wetland swamp lake terrain. First of all, the water transportation conditions are convenient. The mined raw coal can be loaded from the deer tribe mentioned by You Fu, and can be directly transported to the lake island in the big lake via the Liuyang River.
Then the coal is directly sorted on the lake island, and the coal and gangue are sorted out. After drying in the yard and drying yard, the selected coal is transported to the coking plant for coking. Part of it is used as fuel and part is made into coke.
Finally, it can be loaded again, followed by the Chaoyang River downstream into the Ruyang River, and then directly transported to the steel plant in Xingang County, and the water from the salt lake can be taken back along the way.
Although this waterway takes a big detour, it is easier than going by land no matter how slow it is.
The straight-line distance by land is relatively short, but to transport a sailboat's coal, at least seven or eight four-wheeled ox carts are needed, and a solid road needs to be built, because the truck carrying coal is very heavy, and the road's bearing capacity is very high.
Considering these conditions, it only costs 20,000 yuan to build a sailboat for water transportation, but it takes hundreds of kilometers of hardened road to build eight four-wheeled ox carts, and the matching oxen. According to the calculation of one cart with two oxen, the comprehensive cost of land transportation is simply an astronomical figure.
The water route may be two days slower, but the carrying capacity is the largest and the transportation cost is the lowest. It is basically self-evident which one to choose. Anyone with a brain knows that water transportation should be chosen. Moreover,
the road from the Deer Tribe to the Lake Island can only be taken by water.
But no matter how it is arranged, this is not something that can be done in a short time, because the steel mill in Xingang County has not been built, the tribes on the Lake Island have not been completely cleared, the map of the Great Lake has not been figured out, and the coking plant and coal washing plant have not been built.
Even if construction starts now, it will be next year when it is all completed.
Therefore, Luo Chong immediately wrote back to You Fu, and the content of the reply was: This black mineral is called coal, which is a very important mineral. It can be used as firewood. It is easier to burn than charcoal and can be used to smelt iron. You can trade a small amount with the Deer Tribe first.
The purpose is to stabilize them, find out the specific location of the coal mine, and then find a way to send a few people to the coal mine to conduct an on-site survey.
The first is the geographical features, whether it is a plain or a mountainous area, and whether it has the conditions for large-scale mining. In short, it can be summed up in one sentence, whether the road is easy to walk and whether it is possible to open to traffic. Luo Chong did not intend to let people carry baskets out of the mine one by one, which would be too inefficient and consume too much manpower.
The second is whether it is easy to mine, that is, whether the coal mine is buried deep, whether it is easy to dig, what equipment is needed, and whether explosives are used.
The third is the direction and radiation area of the ore vein, as well as the reserves of the coal mine. With the current detection technology, it is to radiate from the discovered mine point in all directions, dig wells everywhere, and dig every few hundred meters or a mile to see where there is a mine.
The method of scouting reserves is to dig deep wells and see how deep the coal mine is. Of course, this depends on your ability. There is no need to go into extremes. Just get a general idea.
Finally, pay more attention to diamonds. Collect as many as you can. However, Luo Chong did not say in the letter that it was used for decoration. Instead, he said that this kind of stone is very hard and can be used to make some special tools. It is very useful.
The reply was quickly sent back by Luo Chong using the flying eagle. It arrived in You Fu's hands in the afternoon of the next day. However, the content of Luo Chong's reply made him happy and worried.
First of all, he was happy because of the discovery of this new mine. Luo Chong introduced in the letter that this is a kind of coal similar to charcoal, but much better than charcoal. It is a high-efficiency fuel.
In addition, there is that kind of gemstone. The leader said that it can be used to make special tools. You Fu doesn't know what kind of tool it is, but if the leader calls it special, it must be a better tool than a magnifying glass.
But what made him embarrassed was that he couldn't complete the task assigned by the leader. There were not many mobile personnel on his three ships. There were indeed a few experienced people from the mines, but it was a bit difficult for him to form a special address exploration team.
So Youfu quickly sent another letter back, saying that the communication with the Deer Tribe could be handed over to him, but Luo Chong's manpower support was needed. It would be better to send a special geological exploration team, otherwise it would be difficult for him to handle it. Moreover, their fleet did not carry those professional mining tools, such as steel-headed pickaxes, long-handled hammers, steel chisels, and various measuring tools. After
the reply letter reached Luo Chong, he quickly transferred people from the iron ore area and the copper ore area. When it comes to mining and prospecting, Dali is naturally the best choice. He has been in charge of the mining work in the iron ore area. However, if he is transferred away, there will be no one Luo Chong can trust in the iron ore area, so he had to send Feather to lead the team.
Yu Mao had worked in the Babaoshan mining area for a year before, and was familiar with all kinds of mining matters. He was also an early internal staff of the Han tribe. Although his ability was not particularly outstanding, Luo Chong was very confident in him, so he directly let him lead the team.
This exploration team had 60 people and carried a lot of special tools. Luo Chong also transferred a sailboat from You Ye to transport these people and be responsible for the logistics supply of this team.
The sailboat was dispatched very quickly, and unlike You Fu's previous sailing method, this ship did not stop at all in the middle of the journey, because according to the hydrological conditions reported by You Fu before, this section of the waterway was unobstructed and there was no danger to pay attention to.
Before, You Fu's fleet moved forward, because they had to scout the hydrological conditions, so they had to let the reconnaissance boat go first, and the large sailboat followed at a high speed, and they only sailed during the day, and anchored at night to rest, because there was insufficient light at night, and if they really encountered any special situation, they would not have time to react.
But the geological survey ship was different. They came later and followed the "old way" to find out the situation. So in order to catch up, they sailed at full sail all the time, and sailed at night, without stopping at night.
Anyway, they were sailing by water, and the river was more than 100 meters wide. There was no need to worry about getting lost, or going in the wrong direction. They could just go downstream, and there was no chance of running off the road. If they wanted to drive the sailboat ashore, they would need some skills. So in general, sailing at night was actually very safe, safer than on land.
That is, with the geological survey ship rushing, this ship traveled day and night. It only took one and a half days from departure to arrival at the Deer Tribe. To be exact, it took one day and one night, plus half a day. It was very fast.
That is, when the fourth large ship of the Han Tribe arrived, the people of the Deer Tribe were stunned. They realized that the Han Tribe might be more powerful than they thought. Such giant ships appeared one after another. How many such ships were there?
(End of this chapter)
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