Material Empire

In central Saudi Arabia, a city called Qazar.

This is a huge desalination plant. On one side of the huge cistern, four pipes with a thickness of one meter are gushing seawater, and the other end of the pipe stretches for hundreds of kilometers, piercing deep in the Red Sea like a water-absorbing dragon. Several pumps continuously pump seawater from the reservoir into the filtration workshop, filtering the seawater through a superfiltration membrane. When this water flows out of the filtration plant through the canal, it is no longer bitter, but becomes sweet and delicious, and can be used for drinking and irrigation.

With the help of the large amount of fresh water produced by seawater filtration, an oasis has formed in the sparsely sparse Ghazal desert, and Ghazal has become a bustling city. Prince Fredin is now the master of the city, and all the industries on the city and the surrounding oasis belong to him.

"Look, this is the factory you helped us build. Without your seawater desalination technology, I can hardly imagine that Ghazal can have the full-scale reading of Wei Wu Cao Cao, the three great prairie kingdoms."

Flanding accompanied Qin Hai and his party to walk in the plant area of ​​the seawater filtration plant, and they introduced to them the changes in the Ghazal desert over the years.

Qin Hai knew Flandin a decade ago. At that time, due to a tanker oil spill on the coast of France, Flandin was almost in bankruptcy. Qin Hai used the self-developed super-filtration membrane to solve the problem of seawater purification, and made Flinders out of the predicament. After that, Frantin invited Daqin Group to set up this desalination plant in his territory, the Ghazal Desert. This plant has also become the best demonstration sample of Daqin's seawater filtration technology.

It has been seven or eight years since the factory was built, and this is the first time Qin Hai has visited the factory. Prior to this, Frantin had sent out many invitations, and Qin Hai also promised. But all failed for a variety of reasons. However, the economic ties between the two sides have not been interrupted, and Flandin purchased filter membranes from Daqin Group. The Daqin Group purchases crude oil from Franding, and the two parties are very close trading partners.

Desalination is achieved by a filtration membrane. Filter membrane is a kind of consumables, and the purchase cost of filter membrane paid by Dading Group to Daqin Group is tens of millions of dollars every year. That is to say, Saudi oil tyrants have such confidence, and it is absolutely powerless to replace them with poor countries such as Jordan and Yemen.

As for the oil that Daqin Group bought from Franding, the quantity is even greater. The annual crude oil transaction volume between the two sides amounts to more than 10 million tons and is worth US $ 34 billion. It can be said that half of the buildings in the city of Ghazal were covered with the money paid by the Daqin Group.

Qin Hai came to Saudi Arabia this time, on the one hand, to negotiate with Flanding for a crude oil supply agreement for the next ten years. To ensure the supply of crude oil for the upcoming rx project, on the other hand, it is to sell the new technology of Daqin Group to Frantin. The unpleasant point is to find a local tyrant to fight the autumn wind.

"Prince Frederin's courage is indeed admirable. Although I have not been to Gaizal before, I heard from the group's staff who went to Gaizar that Gaizar was a desert completely ten years ago and I can't see What green, and now, the oasis around the city is almost a dozen square kilometers? "Qin Hai asked in admiration.

"It's 15 square kilometers," Flandin said proudly. "The environment is comparable to Europe."

"It's good." Qin Hai said, "In ten years, from almost zero. It has been an amazing achievement to increase to an oasis of 15 square kilometers. I believe that in ten years, this oasis will definitely grow to 150 Square kilometers are enough to attract the attention of the world. "

"This ... I'm afraid it's a bit difficult." Flanding was embarrassed. He certainly believed that Qin Hai's words were sincere, but he didn't have such a big ambition. The desert area has a huge amount of water evaporation. It is an amazing feat to maintain 15 square kilometers of oasis by irrigating with desalination. If you want to expand the oasis to 150 square kilometers. He will need to build another 10 desalination plants, with annual electricity bills, filter membrane consumption, labor costs, and so on. All are astronomical figures. Rao is a rich country. Can't afford such consumption.

"How? Isn't the desert around you your territory?" Qin Hai pretended not to understand what Flandin meant, and asked in amazement.

"Of course, even a larger range belongs to me," Flandin said. "However, to continue to expand the oasis, the economic pressure is too great."

"Desert greening is a global problem. If Prince Franking can be satisfactorily resolved, then you will be able to make a name for yourself." Qin Hai continued to fill the soul soup.

Franding nodded: "I know this, but the oasis uses too much water. Don't look at my factory that can produce nearly 10,000 tons of fresh water every day. Compared with the water consumption, it is not worth mentioning at all. Most of the oasis species outside our city are drought-tolerant plants, otherwise water consumption will increase by more than three times. "

"We have a tropical desert climate, and the evaporation is much larger than yours in China. We can only water the plants at night. At dawn, all of this water is evaporated." Fletcher's assistant Drake Whispered to Qin Hai.

"It turned out that you were worried about this." Qin Hai seemed to understand the problem just now. He smiled and pointed at the engineer Yu Lihong who came to him with a finger and said, "I ask the engineer to ask you this question. Explain the Throne of Wuhun. "

"We have invented a superabsorbent polymer material that can be used in the desert to retain water and ensure that the water used for irrigation does not evaporate." Yu Lihong couldn't wait to say to Flandin and Drake, even before it was too late Do some pavement.

"What do you mean?" Both Flandin and Drake stunned, and for a long time, Qin Hai said that it would not be a polite word to build a 150 square kilometer oasis, but a plan.

Yu Lihong didn't care about the attitude of the two people. He gestured with his hand and said, "The product we invented is a small particle, about the same size as a rice grain. It is mixed with sand. Once there is water in the environment, it will It will absorb water into its own body, and at the same time its volume will increase, up to more than 10 times its original volume. When the external environment becomes dry, it will gradually discharge water and provide it to the surrounding Plants. In this way, you don't have to worry about water evaporating when you water. "

"In fact, this principle is similar to diapers for babies, except that we have reduced some cleanliness requirements and reduced the cost to an acceptable range." Qin Hai added.

"Has the effect of this particle been tested?" Drake asked earnestly.

"Of course." Yu Lihongdao, "We have carried out experiments in the desert areas of China, so that after such particles, the water in the sand can be maintained for more than one month, which can fully guarantee the water requirements for plant root growth. "

"So, how much does it cost?" Drake asked again.

"In terms of cost ..." Yu Lihong was somewhat helpless.

"The cost is totally affordable." Qin Hai snatched the words, and he knew that the honest man Yu Lihong wanted to tell the truth again, so he had to quickly interrupt him.

"The annual consumption per square kilometer does not exceed 50,000 US dollars, and experts have estimated that after 10 years of use, the local vegetation will be able to solidify, and then no longer need to use this kind of particles for water conservation." Qin Hai Said.

50,000 US dollars per square kilometer is equivalent to 400,000 yuan, which of course is a heavy expense for China. There are millions of square kilometers of desert in China. Even if such particles are used on 1% of the area, the cost is billions of dollars. It is not as good as organizing manpower for grass planting and sand fixing as now. But for Saudi Arabia, the situation is different. This is a country where labor is extremely scarce and there is too much money. What can 10 million US dollars be worth to an oil tycoon like Flanding?

Sure enough, I heard that the annual consumption per square kilometer was only 50,000 US dollars, and Flandin was a little tempted. Being able to expand the area of ​​the oasis is certainly a great thing for him. Qin Hai planned for him a 150 square kilometer long-term plan. According to this plan, it would cost 7.5 million US dollars a year, and it would be enough to sell one or two million barrels of oil.

"This is a good idea." Flandin laughed ~ www.readwn.com ~ Mr. Qin, I am willing to accept your suggestion, please arrange an engineer to make a detailed plan. "

"That's great, I knew that Prince Flandin would be satisfied." Qin Hai laughed.

"It seems that the purpose of Mr. Qin's trip is not just to sign an oil import agreement, are there other ideas? Is this located in Mr. Qin who is engaged in super absorbent polymers, then this Mr. and this lady, they are doing What? Mr. Qin can introduce me? "Asked Franking, pointing at the other two Qin Hai's entourage.

"I'm trying to introduce it to you." Qin Hai said, "This is Mr. Ka'an, a tenured professor at Anhe Material College. He was a professor at the Brazilian Institute of Aeronautical Technology. He is the world's first graphene supercapacitor. Inventor. As for this lady, she is my wife, Serenity, and is now a researcher at the Superconducting Research Center of Jingcheng University. "

"Prince, I am very glad to meet you." Serenity took a step forward from Qin Hai, and owed him gracefully. "I would like to especially thank you for the diamond ring you gave my husband. Because he forwarded it to me again. This time, Mr. Kaan and my husband came to Ghazal with my husband, and I wanted to introduce you to a great idea of ​​Mr. Kaan, which is the collection of thunder and lightning. I think if we want to say the world Whoever is most interested in this technology, it must be Prince Fleming, who has a discerning eye. "(To be continued)