Chapter 354: Talking nonsense and imagining

Gao Zhendong was in a good mood when he received the call. He was also in a good mood when he listened to President Song talking about the benefits of this fuel on the phone.

As for whether it was appropriate to chat in the confidential channel? What was inappropriate? We were discussing rocket fuel. Don't make a fuss. President Tsai couldn't contain her joy. What was wrong with saying a few more words?

After finally listening to what Mr. Cai said, Gao Zhendong couldn't help but make a joke with him. Actually, it wasn't a joke, it was true.

"Boss Cai, guess what's the best way to put out a fire with this thing?"

Such high-energy organic fuel must require very advanced fire-fighting methods, right?
Mr. Cai guessed several ways, and Gao Zhendong said with a smile: "This thing is best used to put out fires with water! Hahahaha."

This is going to completely frustrate Mr. Cai. Is it that simple?

Then I realized, does this mean that the base that installs this thing does not need special fire-fighting facilities, equipment and designs?

It saves both trouble and money!
After all, although water is very expensive in some places, it is not as expensive as those strange fire extinguishing agents. Sand is everywhere, but you can't throw it up, and sand is not a good fire extinguishing agent for UDMH.

The two chatted for a while, and Gao Zhendong remembered something he had seen before, and asked casually: "If we use the liquid phase chloramine synthesis method, what is the yield?"

President Cai was excited: "It's very high, it can reach more than 45%."

Hmm? That's high?

Gao Zhendong did not know how high the yield of UDMH was in industrial production, as he had not done any in-depth research. However, he had seen data on the yield in the laboratory, and he remembered that it was more than 80%.

Without hearing Gao Zhendong's reply, Mr. Cai realized that there might be something wrong.

"Director Gao, is there a problem with this yield rate?"

Gao Zhendong hesitated for a moment and asked him, "Mr. Cai, is there sodium hypochlorite in the raw materials?"

He had completely forgotten the other things, otherwise he would have told Mr. Cai directly last time.

However, he remembered this thing because sodium hypochlorite was the main difference between laboratory and mass synthesis, so it left a deeper impression on him.

Factories use liquid chlorine and sodium hydroxide to synthesize sodium hypochlorite, while laboratories often use sodium hypochlorite directly. Maybe this is the difference?
This question stumped Mr. Cai. It's not that he couldn't tell the story. Gao Zhendong could still tell the story.

The main reason is that he doesn't know either.

He thought for a moment and said, "Director Gao, let me tell you, I don't know the answer to your question. I'll call a researcher over and you can talk to him. Don't hang up and wait."

Gao Zhendong waited for less than two minutes before he heard a voice from the other side: "Hello, comrade. I am the researcher in charge of fuel synthesis here."

Neither of them said their names. Gao Zhendong just repeated his question and added, "Theoretically, if sodium hypochlorite is used as the raw material, the yield can reach more than 80%, so I'm asking."

Researcher Yue was secretly shocked. He did use sodium hypochlorite as the raw material for synthesis. In the laboratory, it is more convenient to use sodium hypochlorite directly than to synthesize it with chlorine and sodium hydroxide. If it is synthesized in large quantities, the situation is just the opposite.

The other party could tell us the raw materials he used and the difference between the two. As expected, the person who proposed this fuel option was not an ordinary person.

In fact, he didn't know. Gao Zhendong only vaguely remembered this incident and knew nothing else. The main thing was that the productivity in the paper he saw at that time was very high, more than 30% higher than the citation data mentioned in the paper, so he was deeply impressed.

"Yes, I did use the substance you mentioned, with a molar concentration of."

Just as Researcher Yue said this, Gao Zhendong remembered what happened in the meeting a few days ago and shouted, "Stop! You don't have to say this, haha. I'll just talk about some of my inferences and ideas. If you think they are of reference value, just listen to them."

This comrade is quite disciplined, Researcher Yue thought.

"Well, okay, please tell me, I'm ready."

Gao Zhendong tried to recall, and said slowly: "The reaction temperature is not the higher the better, the best reaction temperature is 25 degrees. The concentration of the reactants is not the higher the better, based on the concentration of sodium hypochlorite, 0.8 mol/L is appropriate. In addition, it is slow."

He only remembered these two numbers. At this point, Gao Zhendong was stuck. "Sustained release"? "Slow response"? Why can't he remember? This thing is too biased. He didn't care about it at all. He forgot it completely. Should he spend 4 lottery chances to find that paper?

However, Researcher Yue immediately resolved his dilemma: "Comrade, please continue. I can follow you. You just mentioned the buffer, right?"

After saying this, I was still admiring in my heart that the comrade opposite me was so thoughtful, when he was talking about the key points, not only did he wait for me to record them slowly, he also stopped on purpose to give himself enough time.

Ah, yes, that's it! Buffer!
Gao Zhendong immediately continued: "Well, okay. The amount of buffer cannot be too large, just enough. I suggest that if conditions permit, you design an orthogonal experiment with buffer, reaction temperature, reaction time, and reactant concentration to see which one is the best. I think the yield of your synthesis method should be able to reach more than 80%." Orthogonal experiments use different combinations of conditions to design multiple groups of experiments to find the factors and arrangements that have the greatest impact on the experimental results, and the best combination can be combined based on the results.

This time I can speak more fluently, and that's all I can remember. I remember that the paper conducted an orthogonal experiment and selected the most suitable combination of conditions.

As for what it was specifically, he didn't know. What he said just now sounded a bit nonsense, but he had tried his best.

Fortunately, he didn't need to remember, because Researcher Yue opposite him had figured it out on his own. He was a real expert in chemistry.

"Well, comrade, you are right. The chlorination of ammonia by sodium hypochlorite is an exothermic reaction. When the temperature is high, chlorine, ammonia, and chloramine will all volatilize, which does have an impact on the yield. It is really not good to be too low or too high."

Gao Zhendong was confused: What did I say? I didn't say anything, you were the one talking.

He could only agree with them with "hmm" and "ah".

"I increased the concentration a little because I considered that if the concentration of the reactants was low, it would be difficult for dimethylamine and chloroammonia to condense, and it would be troublesome to distill and concentrate them later. I didn't expect this. Your suggestion is very good. You use the concentration of sodium hypochlorite as a standard to determine the concentration of sodium hypochlorite, and then determine the concentration of other reactants."

Gao Zhendong: Haha, what you said is right. Whatever you said is what it is. Is this thing useful?

In fact, neither of them knew that, without considering other factors, there was literature abroad that showed that the lower the concentration of the UDMH reactant, the higher the yield.

Well, but that paper was published 4 years later.

At this point, Researcher Yue was in high spirits: "I will design an orthogonal experiment right away and must find a suitable combination of conditions."

The reaction conditions and results in the laboratory are of great guiding significance for batch synthesis processes. No wonder Researcher Yue is so happy.

"Thank you so much, comrade! Your guidance has been of great help to us. If you have the chance, please come and visit us."

Gao Zhendong: No, no, I don’t understand this! It’s just torture if I come.

Anyway, the result was good. The two said goodbye with a smile. Mr. Cai took the phone and also said goodbye to Gao Zhendong. The confidential call, which was longer than the standard, was then disconnected.

After hanging up the phone, Researcher Yue said to General Manager Cai: "This comrade has done a lot of research in this area. He used a few important core points to immediately point out the direction and methods for improving the synthesis process. If it weren't for discipline, I would have asked you to tell me who he is and go visit him."

If Gao Zhendong could hear this, he would definitely say righteously: Comrade, please strictly observe discipline!

Mr. Cai smiled and said, "He has indeed made great achievements. If the yield is higher, will the cost be lower?"

Researcher Yue smiled and said, "Of course. If the yield is really increased from 45% to more than 80% as he said, the cost of raw materials will be very high, not to mention other changes brought about by high yield. For example, for the same output, time is saved, right? The reaction vessel is smaller, right? These are all state funds."

The two of them chatted and laughed as they happily prepared to do the experiment.

Gao Zhendong wiped the cold sweat from his head and then started laughing again.

Hehe, not long ago in the National Defense Working Committee, I learned that some things have been advanced. Today, I can confirm from Mr. Cai and that researcher that another thing should also show signs of being advanced. I’m so happy!

When he returned to the office from the confidential room, Director Yan was still waiting for him.

The two of them were having a small meeting just now. Although Butler Yan didn't care about Chief Engineer Gao and took on the construction of the third branch factory alone, many things still needed to be discussed by the two of them. I can execute it, but you have to nod, right?

Not long after the meeting started, Gao Zhendong was asked to leave by the comrades from the confidential office, so Director Yan waited for him in his office. Fortunately, Mr. Gao's tea was good, so he would go to see him later.

Seeing Gao Zhendong come back, the two continued their meeting. There was not much nonsense between them. Gao Zhendong was busy, and Director Yan was even busier. If Gao Zhendong's busyness could be controlled to some extent, then Director Yan's busyness was completely out of his control.

After everything was said and signed, Director Yan was packing up the documents and preparing to leave when Gao Zhendong remembered something.

"Director Yan, there is something you need to take care of. I have recruited three college students who just graduated this year from Wudaokou College to strengthen our technical force. They will graduate soon, so bring them back."

Director Yan was delighted: "Wow? You can ask for three students from Wudaokou at once? Mr. Gao is awesome. I will make it happen right away."

For college students these days, even if they want to stay, they may not be able to do so; and even if the employer wants them, they may not be able to get them. All factors must be considered, not to mention that these are students from China Europe International Business School.

(End of this chapter)