Sail across the sea

Chapter 491 Which Option is Favored?

Gao Yiping took a sip of tea and said, "Actually, it's not a big deal. The province wants to develop a large-scale fertilizer project, but there are two different opinions. Director Xu can't make up his mind and wants you to give him some advice."

"Isn't that giving me too much credit?" Gao Fan laughed. "Is it appropriate for a private entrepreneur like me to advise on decisions that even you big shots can't make up your minds about?"

Gao Yiping naturally knew that his son was just being modest. Every time he said that, someone would correct him, saying that he was not an ordinary private entrepreneur, but a very remarkable one. He would then derive great satisfaction from such flattery.

As his biological father, Gao Yiping wouldn't indulge Gao Fan's bad habit, so he didn't take the bait and continued to explain:
"In recent years, farmers' incomes have increased, and their demand for fertilizers has continued to rise. The production capacity we previously generated from the ammonium sulfate to urea fertilizer conversion project is completely insufficient to meet the farmers' needs. The province also has to spend 30 to 40 million US dollars a year to import fertilizers from abroad, which puts a lot of pressure on foreign exchange reserves."

"In addition, the country has been saying that it is necessary to increase the self-sufficiency rate of fertilizers. Our province has such a large fertilizer shortage, which is inconsistent with the country's requirements."

"Therefore, the province has been planning to develop large-scale fertilizer production for the past two years. Previously, due to the poor economic situation, the province did not have extra financial resources. This year, the province's financial situation has improved, so this issue has been put on the agenda."

"So that's what you were talking about." Gao Fan nodded. The province's plan to develop large-scale fertilizer production wasn't something new; he'd heard his father mention it before, so he wasn't surprised.

He asked, "So, what's the controversy now?"

Gao Yiping said, "There are two opposing opinions in the province right now. One side believes that we should adopt the 30-ton synthetic ammonia plant imported from abroad, while the other side believes that we should build it ourselves, using the 1830 scheme recommended by the Ministry of Chemical Industry."

Gao Fan understood what was going on as soon as he heard it.

The so-called "1830 Project" refers to a plant that uses coal as raw material to produce 18 tons of synthetic ammonia and 30 tons of urea annually. This is a domestically developed medium-sized nitrogen fertilizer technology, which has some origins in domestic small-scale nitrogen fertilizer technology and can be seen as an upgraded version of the ammonium-to-urea conversion.

The imported 30-ton synthetic ammonia plant refers to a facility with an annual production capacity of 30 tons of synthetic ammonia and 52 tons of urea, falling under the category of large-scale fertilizer production. Currently, China does not possess the manufacturing capacity for large-scale fertilizer equipment, so the 30-ton synthetic ammonia plant must be imported from abroad.

A key difference between imported and domestically produced ammonia production equipment lies in the fact that most imported large-scale fertilizer plants use petroleum or natural gas as feedstock, referred to as oil-based or gas-based ammonia synthesis, respectively. In contrast, the domestically produced 1830 process uses coal-based ammonia synthesis.

"Which option does the fertilizer company prefer?" Gao Fan asked.

The fertilizer company's inclination he asked about was actually Gao Yiping's inclination, just expressed in a more subtle way.

Gao Yiping said, "My attitude is that both plans have their merits. However, your Aunt Zhou is firmly in favor of the 1830 plan."

“Of course!” Gao Fan said with a smile.

The Aunt Zhou that Gao Yiping mentioned is Zhou Xiaoyun, an engineer at the former Canghai Fertilizer Plant, who is now the chief engineer of the fertilizer company.

Gao Fan knew perfectly well why Zhou Xiaoyun was so determined to adopt the 1830 plan, because it was precisely the result of Gao Fan's brainwashing.

Ten years ago, Zhou Xiaoyun, in an effort to help Canghai Fertilizer Plant overcome its difficulties, attempted to design a solution for converting ammonium to urea. Gao Fan, who had just transmigrated from the past, provided Zhou Xiaoyun with considerable guidance based on his experience in his previous life, which led to the Ministry of Chemical Industry approving Canghai Plant's ammonium to urea conversion plan. During discussions about the ammonium to urea conversion plan, Gao Fan and Zhou Xiaoyun discussed the country's synthetic ammonia development strategy. At that time, Gao Fan proposed that China's synthetic ammonia technology should be more based on the coal-based route, because China is a country rich in coal resources, while the supply of oil and natural gas is very tight. If oil-based or gas-based synthetic ammonia is pursued, the raw materials will largely depend on imports.

China is a major agricultural country with a huge demand for urea in agricultural production. If China's synthetic ammonia industry is based on imported natural gas as raw material, China will be in a very passive position should the natural gas supply be interrupted.

Gao Fan clearly remembers that at some point in later years, due to the artificial interruption of natural gas supplies from Russia, many synthetic ammonia companies in Western Europe were forced to shut down, which even triggered a urea crisis.

Gao Fan couldn't tell Zhou Xiaoyun about things decades later, but his analysis was still accepted by her.

In recent years, apart from providing technical support for the ammonium-to-urine conversion project at the fertilizer company, Zhou Xiaoyun has spent the rest of her time researching coal-water slurry gasification, a key process in coal-to-ammonia synthesis technology.

Zhou Xiaoyun's research received strong support from Professor Hai Qingwen of Peking University. Hai Qingwen's research topic is coal liquefaction, the first step of which is coal-water slurry gasification.

Years ago, Gao Fan invited Hai Qingwen to the Canghai Fertilizer Plant to build an experimental coal liquefaction device using old equipment discarded from the plant's ammonium-to-urine conversion project. Hai Qingwen, along with a research team of Peking University faculty and students, has achieved considerable results after several years of effort. These results, with slight modifications, can be used in the design of coal-based ammonia synthesis units.

Having learned of the fertilizer company's attitude, Gao Fan asked again, "So, Director Xu is inclined towards the 30-ton import plan?"

Gao Yiping said, "How could that be? Director Xu is from the Chemical Industry Bureau, after all. Besides, she and Xiao Zhou have a very good relationship. They often discuss issues together. It's impossible for her to make such a professional mistake."

"That's strange," Gao Fan said in surprise. "Since both Director Xu and the fertilizer company support the domestic solution, shouldn't there be no disagreement?"

Gao Yiping said, "How could there be no disagreements? Do you think that an investment of over a billion yuan can be decided by just the Provincial Economic Commission and the fertilizer company? The provincial leaders and the Provincial Planning Commission also need to participate in the discussion, and their opinions are even more important."

"So, it's the provincial leaders and the Provincial Planning Commission who opposed the domestic production plan?"

"They're not against domestic production. Their opinion is that we shouldn't use the coal-based route. The provincial leaders said that the country is currently in negotiations to rejoin the GATT, and we need to have an international perspective and align ourselves with international standards. Internationally, natural gas is used, and if we use coal, we'll fall behind the times."

"But what does this have to do with the times?"

"Of course there's a connection. I heard that the Provincial Policy Research Office released a report saying that the global energy structure is shifting towards natural gas as the primary energy source. Coal is an outdated energy source, highly polluting, and has already been phased out in developed countries."

"I..." Gao Fan almost swore, but realized the occasion was inappropriate and quickly swallowed the words back. Swearing in front of his own father would inevitably get him a scolding.

"I guess the Policy Research Office is full of liberal arts students, right?" Gao Fan guessed maliciously. "I bet they don't even know the difference between burning natural gas and coal."

(End of this chapter)