I lost my vegetative state, and I became the richest man in the world

Chapter 1372 Desalination Technology!
1992 12 Month 4 Day.

Friday.

This morning.

After Yang Ming finished breakfast, he did not return to work at the Empire State Building headquarters.

Instead, they took Lin Xiuzhi, He Chaoluo and others by boat from Repulse Bay Port to Lantau Island and the Kau Yi Chau reclamation area to inspect.

These places are constantly being built.

In addition to the millions of low-income people who have already moved in, as the population of Xiangjiang continues to skyrocket, there are even more low-income people.

In the past, these low-income groups could only live in cage houses or rental houses with poor environment. However, now, as long as they belong to the [-]% low-income group in Hong Kong, they can apply to live in the housing provided by Empire Group and Yang Ming Foundation. HDB flats.

This time, Yang Ming came to inspect and wanted to see the situation here.

When Yang Ming and others came here, they saw more and more tall buildings.

Basically, they are commercial buildings hundreds of meters high. However, in the eyes of Xiangjiang citizens, these commercial buildings are not luxury houses but are better than luxury houses.

Because except for the houses with one bedroom and one living room, two bedrooms and one living room, and three bedrooms and one living room, except for the very cheap water and electricity bills, everything else is free.

In other words, it is precisely because of that that they can live like normal people.

However, before Empire Group and Yang Ming Foundation provided these HDB flats, they had no chance to live in such houses.

Their gratitude to Yang Ming and the Imperial Group is indescribable.

Of course, if someone has a high income, they still have to move out and let other low-income people move in.

However, as the population of Xiangjiang skyrockets, the low-income class will definitely also increase.

This means that when Imperial Group builds these HDB flats, it will also build more.

In addition to the Kau Yi Chau area, construction is also underway near Lantau Island.

Lantau Island has been being bombed and developed. In addition to providing a large amount of land for reclamation, part of it has even been taken to the Haojiang River for reclamation.

In other words, the land here on Lantau Island continues to provide reclamation materials for Xiangjiang and Haojiang.

Now, when Yang Ming came here, he first looked at Jiaoyizhou.

Now there are not only kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools, but also shopping malls and parks, as well as various sports venues. It is indeed much better than before.

Moreover, the kindergartens and primary and secondary schools here are not only convenient, but also almost free of charge.

So will this create a group of lazy people?

In fact, Yang Ming knew that he not only referred to the historical policies of Singaporean HDB, but also considered these issues, which meant that neither the Imperial Group nor he could raise lazy people.

Although he is helping the weak and reducing social conflicts, he cannot support these people in vain.

Among them, many of those who can move in are elderly low-income people, and some are new immigrants. These people have just arrived, have no fixed place to live, and have very low incomes.

It was with the help of the Imperial Group that they quickly adapted to the new life in Xiangjiang. When their income increased and they were no longer among the [-]% of Xiangjiang citizens with the lowest income, they had no choice but to move out.

Yang Ming saw that this place was really good. He Chaoluo, Lin Xiuzhi and others were all surprised. They felt that Yang Ming had indeed changed many people, at least for these people now. It was hard to imagine what the place where they lived before was like.
Yang Ming did not stay in Jiaoyizhou for long. He left Jiaoyizhou and took a boat to Zhimawan Peninsula and Shiguzhou.

Originally, this place was separated by a large sea area before this.

However, it has long been connected, and Shiguzhou is not an island. The surrounding land has been reclaimed.

In addition to the planning and construction of commercial buildings and office buildings, there are also various corresponding supporting measures.

Moreover, the area further here has been gradually developed into a new port by the Imperial Group.In the future, this area will include the main island of Lantau, the new Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, etc.

Although the most important role in Victoria Harbor is as a deep-water port and a safe haven.

However, in Yang Ming's view, Victoria Harbor must gradually be replaced by external ports.

Then wouldn’t this have the greatest impact on him?
After all, Wharf, etc., many ports are inside.

However, Yang Ming knew that historically, whether it was Bao Yugang or Li Jiacheng, after they acquired Wharf and Hutchison Whampoa respectively, many ports were directly converted into high-rise buildings.

Yang Ming knew that under those circumstances, these ports would no longer have the same role as before, and they would definitely be like that.

So when we first acquired these two foreign banks, now, the value of the land has increased countless times.

In addition, Yang Ming's deep-water port will be put outside at that time. In fact, his port and shipping industry will not be affected much.

At this time, Yang Ming, He Chaoluo, Lin Xiuzhi and others were watching, and He Chaoluo and Lin Xiuzhi were even more surprised.

They still remember clearly that when they came here for the first time, they saw nothing but trees and seaside cliffs.

However, it has now been developed into large tracts of houses.

But this time, Yang Ming came here not just to see these changes.

He mainly went to see a very important industry.

Desalination.

In the early 80s, Yang Ming noticed the importance of seawater desalination.

On the one hand, Xiangjiang's fresh water has long been unsatisfied. When Yang Ming purchased the Xiangjiang Water Company, although it allowed the mainland to increase water supply, it was actually not enough.

Especially as the population of Xiangjiang increases and the development of science and technology industry requires more and more fresh water.

In recent years, the semiconductor industry of the Imperial Group, especially after the establishment of Xiangjiang Integrated Circuit Company and the production of chips, has required more and more fresh water.

At this time, some people from the Imperial Group and the Xiangjiang Science and Technology Park have already pointed out that the fresh water problem in Xiangjiang can no longer meet the current development and manufacturing of chips in Xiangjiang, and a better place with more abundant fresh water must be found.

In addition, there is a large amount of electricity, which is also needed.

Therefore, some people proposed to keep the R&D center in Xiangjiang, and move the production and manufacturing to Pengcheng, Guancheng, Huicheng and other places.

Yang Ming did not agree or object.

In the future, chip manufacturing plants will definitely be established in many domestic cities.

However, according to the current population and technological industry development in Xiangjiang, the demand for fresh water is definitely increasing.

Although the country can continue to increase supply, Yang Ming feels that it would be better to develop seawater desalination.

In terms of seawater desalination technology, Su Lian has been considered a leader before, but later there was no more funding to support their research.In the late 80s, Yang Ming also recruited many talents in this field of seawater desalination technology in Sulian. After they arrived in Xiangjiang, Yang Ming immediately established a seawater desalination technology project.

In fact, this desalination technology project is the same as the original artificial sun project.

The artificial sun project is still far from commercial use.

However, desalination technology projects have been improving.

The fresh water obtained through seawater desalination technology is still relatively expensive, perhaps several times more expensive than the fresh water coming in from China, but Yang Ming feels it is of great significance.

Because once the commercial price of seawater desalination technology is similar to the price of fresh water provided from the country, it means that the seawater desalination technology has developed to a very mature level.

In addition to being provided in large quantities to local citizens or companies in Xiangjiang, this seawater desalination technology can also be used in Far East City.

Even domestic coastal cities.

Nowadays, in many cities in the country, even if there are rivers in some places, there will be water shortages, and the basements have been seriously over-exploited, especially in the coastal cities in the north.

It is precisely because of that that China adopted the South-to-North Water Diversion Project. However, in Yang Ming's view, it is still not enough, so the role of seawater desalination technology is still very important for the country.

In addition, countries in the Middle East and even Africa are in very short supply of them. In many large countries in the Middle East, fresh water may be more expensive than oil and natural gas.

In this case, their demand for seawater desalination technology is greater.

"Boss, these are all fresh water. One is Dongjiang water imported from China, and the other is fresh water desalinated by our company. Both of them can be drank directly."

A person in charge said to Yang Ming.

Yang Ming took it and drank it. He found that the taste was bland, and there seemed to be no difference.

In fact, if the other party hadn't said it now, he really wouldn't be able to tell which one was natural fresh water and which one was desalinated fresh water.

"Now the price of fresh water imported from China and handed over to the public is about 3 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter, while our current seawater desalination price is still 15 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter."

15 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter?
This is 12 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter, which is still very expensive.

However, compared with the price of fresh water obtained by other desalination technologies in the world, this is already the lowest.

For other companies, it may cost 20 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter, or even higher.

“When can it drop below HK$5?”

"Boss, we have to continue research."

Now, in addition to a large amount of seawater desalination technology from Sulian, there are also seawater desalination technologies from Europe and the United States, even from Selay, Oriental seawater desalination technology, etc.

These countries have been conducting or researching seawater desalination technology, with the goal of reducing the price of seawater desalination to the lowest possible level.

If one day the price becomes similar to that of natural fresh water, that is, river water, lake water, etc., then the water problem will probably be solved by then.

There are more than 20 types of seawater desalination technologies in the world, including reverse osmosis, low multiple effects, multi-stage flash evaporation, electrodialysis, pressure steam distillation, dew point evaporation, hydropower cogeneration, hot film cogeneration, and the use of nuclear energy, solar energy, and wind energy. , tidal energy desalination technology, etc., as well as multiple pre- and post-treatment processes such as microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and nanofiltration.

From a broad classification point of view, it is mainly divided into two categories: distillation method (thermal method) and membrane method. Among them, low multiple-effect distillation method, multi-stage flash evaporation method and reverse osmosis membrane method are the mainstream technologies in the world.

Generally speaking, low multiple effects have the advantages of energy saving, low requirements for seawater pretreatment, and high quality of desalinated water; the reverse osmosis membrane method has the advantages of low investment and low energy consumption, but requires high seawater pretreatment; the multi-stage flash evaporation method has the technical It has the advantages of maturity, reliable operation and large device output, but its energy consumption is relatively high.

"The most advanced seawater desalination technology in the world now is mainly the reverse osmosis method, which is used in Europe, America, Japan, and Israel. Sulian has also accumulated a lot of technology in this area before. We are in Sulian Seawater Researched on the basis of dilution reverse osmosis method.”

Reverse osmosis, also commonly known as ultrafiltration, is a membrane separation and desalination method that was only adopted in 1953.

This method uses a semipermeable membrane that only allows solvents to pass through but does not allow solutes to pass through to separate seawater and freshwater.Under normal circumstances, fresh water diffuses to the seawater side through the semipermeable membrane, causing the liquid level on the seawater side to gradually rise until it reaches a certain height. This process is called osmosis.

At this time, the static pressure of the water column above the seawater side is called osmotic pressure.If an external pressure greater than the osmotic pressure of seawater is applied to the seawater side, the pure water in the seawater will reverse osmosis into the freshwater.

The biggest advantage of reverse osmosis is energy saving.Its energy consumption is only 1/2 of electrodialysis and 1/40 of distillation.

Therefore, since 1974, developed countries in Europe, America, and Asia have successively shifted their development focus to reverse osmosis.Reverse osmosis seawater desalination technology is developing rapidly, and project construction and operating costs continue to decrease. The main development trends are reducing the operating pressure of the reverse osmosis membrane, improving the recovery rate of the reverse osmosis system, cheap and efficient pretreatment technology, and enhancing the anti-pollution ability of the system.

At present, seawater desalination technology is mainly based on reverse osmosis.

However, Yang Ming feels that he can still continue to develop other directions.

For example, seaside wind energy and tidal energy are relatively developed. Wind energy and tidal energy can be converted into electrical energy and then used for seawater desalination technology.

Yang Ming is not an expert in this field, but he has read information on this field in his previous life.

In addition, now Yang Ming also wants to conduct research at all costs.

Visited Yangming for a long time.

He is quite satisfied with the research and development of seawater desalination technology here.

However, he feels that the research process is still a bit slow.

Before leaving here, Yang Ming said: "Am I giving you 5 million U.S. dollars in research funds to try to reduce the price of seawater desalination to less than 10 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter?"

At this time, US$5 million is equivalent to 40 billion Hong Kong dollars, which is naturally a large amount of money.

However, in Yang Ming's view, it is still very worthwhile to use it to study seawater desalination technology.

At noon, Yang Ming had lunch at a restaurant in the reclamation area of ​​Lantau Island.

In the afternoon, Yang Ming and others took a boat to Chicken Hill on Lantau Island.

This was originally an island, but now it is also being reclaimed.

And here, looking into the distance, that is, on the opposite side, is actually the Haojiang River.

I didn't see it very clearly before.

Looking back now, I seem to see a lot more clearly.

"Boss, what are you looking at here?" Lin Xiuzhi asked.

"Haojiang opposite!"

Lin Xiuzhi, He Chaoluo and others felt that the Pearl River Estuary was still too far away. Even if the weather was good, it was difficult to see clearly.

In fact, land is being reclaimed on both sides now, and the distance is indeed much closer than before.

(End of this chapter)