Sail across the sea

Chapter 257 You Can Definitely Calculate It

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, has the molecular formula C6H8O6 and can be used as medicine, health product, feed additive and food additive.According to the estimates of US BusinessWIRE, the total global sales of vitamin C in 2020 will be 22 to 23 tons, and the market size will be about 11 billion US dollars.

Another data is that in 2020, China's domestic vitamin C production will be 21.3 tons, and the export volume will exceed 16 tons.

In human terms, by the 21s, China has basically monopolized the global production of vitamin C.

However, in the early 20s, China's vitamin C production was still in a very weak state. In 80, the total output of vitamin C in China was about 1982 tons, less than 3500% of the total global output.

The raw material needed to produce vitamin C is very simple, mainly glucose.The earliest synthetic method of vitamin C was invented by Swiss chemist Reichstein, known as the Reich method.The process is to first reduce glucose to sorbitol at high temperature, then ferment it into sorbose, then add acetone to make diacetone sorbose, oxidize it with chlorine and sodium hydroxide to become diacetone gulong acid (DAKS), and then catalyze Recombinant production of vitamin C.

In the 20s, Chinese scientist Yin Guanglin invented the two-stage fermentation method, commonly known as the "two-step method", that is, on the basis of Leyer and a half, an additional fermentation process was added, using acetone, chlorine and sodium hydroxide to produce DAKS The process is replaced by another fermentation, directly from sorbose to 70-ketogulonic acid (KGA) and then to vitamin C.

A major advantage of the two-stage fermentation method is that it reduces the use of chemical raw materials, simplifies the production process, reduces equipment investment, and also reduces the pressure on industrial waste treatment.

At the time point of the early 80s, the two-stage fermentation method was still a newly proposed method, and the process flow was far less mature than the Reyes method, which had a history of nearly 50 years. There were many problems in the production process, so that some domestic Newly constructed vitamin C units are still using the Leyle method.

The fact that other companies do not master the technical essentials of the two-stage fermentation method does not mean that Gao Fan does not master it either.He was well aware of the advantages of the craft and how it would improve over the next few decades.

Before that, he did not directly put the production of vitamin C on the agenda because the production equipment of vitamin C was indeed relatively expensive.He couldn't even apply for a loan of 200 million yuan, so how could he dare to think of a loan of 1 million yuan?
However, now there is a solution to the funding problem, and that is to find the rich and powerful Hatch Group.

Doesn't the Hatch Group have a stake in the vitamin factory?Then this matter is my own business. To provide a loan of 5000 million US dollars, for the Hatch Group, it is just a matter of pulling out the hairs on the legs of an elephant. 10% of the money earned later belongs to the Hatch Group. , what reason does it not agree to?
"Two-step method? I heard the engineer from the North Pharmaceutical Factory talk about it." Hai Qingwen was really knowledgeable. He recalled, "It seems that there are still many problems with this method, and the product quality is not stable enough. By the way, they said the most important thing The most important point is that the concentration of the fermentation substrate is low, and the number of fermentation tanks has to be increased several times for the device with the same output, not to mention the large area occupied, and the energy consumption is also higher.”

"Teacher Hai is tall!" Gao Fan gave Hai Qingwen a thumbs up from the bottom of his heart.This man is not in this field, but he can remember it so clearly after listening to it casually, and there is no corruption in the expression, which is really remarkable.

"What I am drawing here is an improved fermenter. The stirring machinery in the original fermenter is canceled, and the compressed air is directly used to achieve stirring, so that the volume of the fermenter can be increased, the number of fermenters can be reduced, and there are Very obvious energy-saving effect." Gao Fan pointed to the blueprint he brought, and introduced it to Hai Qingwen and Zhou Xiaoyun.

Hai Qingwen nodded. Using compressed air to stir liquids is not a new technology, but a very mature chemical process.He also pointed at the drawings with his fingers, and commented: "Using compressed air to achieve stirring is completely feasible. However, the design of the tank, ventilation volume, airflow density, and airflow speed must be calculated accurately, otherwise... ..."

Speaking of this, he suddenly stopped, and when he raised his eyes to look at Gao Fan, he found that Gao Fan was looking at him with a smile, and he immediately understood:

"You don't want me to calculate these formulas for you, do you?"

Gao Fan repeatedly denied: "No, you can ask your graduate students to do the calculations. I fully believe in the level of the brothers and sisters."

"At best, they can help." Hai Qingwen said, "This fluid model is very complicated, and I dare not say that I can calculate it, let alone them."

"You can definitely calculate it." Gao Fan said firmly, in fact, he denied what he said earlier about letting graduate students calculate.

"What about the rest?" Hai Qingwen pointed to the remaining blueprints and asked.

"Similar to this, it's a process optimization plan I've come up with." Gao Fan said, and he explained to the two of them one by one: "This is a scraper-type bottom discharge centrifuge for separating sodium sulfate and coarse VC crystals. , used to replace the traditional three-legged centrifuge, which can greatly improve efficiency; this is a piston centrifuge, used to separate fine VC crystals; this is a continuous crystallizer, used to replace the currently used crystallizer, the production efficiency It can be increased by more than three times..."

"You don't want me, an old man, to help you complete all these designs, do you?" Hai Qingwen raised his eyes.

Gaofan's drawings only proposed the design ideas of the equipment, but a lot of work still needs to be done to transform it into the final design.For example, a centrifuge for liquid-solid separation needs to be designed considering the density and viscosity of the liquid, the density and particle size of the solid particles, what else is there in the Stokes zone, Charshav force, cough cough, cross it out..., Anyway, there is a lot of content that needs to be calculated, which is extremely troublesome.

Of course Hai Qingwen would do these calculations, but he made an estimate and felt that if he was to complete these designs by himself, he would not have to do other things while staying in Cangtang, and he would just work for Gao Fan.

But he is clearly here to study coal liquefaction, okay?

"Letting Professor Hai do it alone is definitely not enough." Zhou Xiaoyun quickly smoothed things over. She flipped through the blueprints and asked Gao Fan, "Xiaofan, how long do you expect to complete these designs?"

"One month, is it?" Gao Fan asked.

"At least 20 engineers with solid foundation are needed. Professor Hai is responsible for arranging the tasks, and I can also provide some support." Zhou Xiaoyun said.

"What do you mean by a solid foundation, can you be an engineer in the technical department?" Gao Fan asked.

Zhou Xiaoyun shook her head: "Our technical department can have at most three to four people to meet the requirements, you must find foreign aid."

(End of this chapter)