this man is not calm

Chapter 507 Technology Moat
The topic discussed by the uncle and nephew is actually a bit sensitive.

From the perspective of a profit-seeking businessman, it doesn't matter whose money you make.

If you really want to be particular, gaining a good reputation is undoubtedly a very good choice for entrepreneurs working hard in the business world.

The financial industry, which relies on real estate, can almost guarantee profits as long as risks are well controlled in an era of rapid urbanization. Therefore, the current financing model still tends to favor allies and partners.

Low risk, stable returns, long profit cycle and abundant cash flow.

Once the moment of "hustle and bustle" arrives, you have to consider how to leave.

It doesn’t mean that we should start cutting “foreign leeks” now, but we should be prepared, build sound global financing channels, and build “firewalls” to isolate risks to the greatest extent possible.

In this direction, Jin Shang only decided on the general idea, and left the specific operations to professionals.

After parting with his second uncle Mei Yingnian, Jin Shang returned to his normal work, and the ordinary daily life of 1999 arrived.

In fact, there is one thing that Jin Shang did not tell Mei Yingnian in detail. On the first day of the opening of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Jin Shang asked the trader to buy a large amount of dimethyl ether and methanol. In addition to the fact that the price was low and the inventory was high, it was a good time to buy, there was also a consideration of Jinxi Culture's overall strategy.

The energy sector is extremely unfriendly to "new players". Jinshang has almost no conflicts with traditional "local tyrants" such as oil companies, offshore oil service companies, local refineries, coal mining and thermal power plants. The basis for their good cooperation is that the competition between the two is misaligned and there is no head-on confrontation.

The energy business that Jinshang and Jinxi Culture...as well as the subsidiary separated from CSSC Electromechanical is jointly doing is not a traditional model, but "new energy".

Since the word "new" is emphasized, it is certainly not the same as the "old players".

Build wind power and photovoltaic integrated power stations, roll out distributed power sources, and construct an integrated urban complex of "source, grid, load and storage". In the mid-year summary of the Beijing Urban Conference at the end of last year, Jin Shang, as a representative of "Outstanding Youth", also spoke and put forward the exaggerated concept of "zero-carbon city". To put it bluntly, it is a comprehensive plan that combines green electricity, low-carbon environmental protection, solid waste recycling and garbage disposal.

Many people may not understand that urban waste recycling and reuse is actually a very marketable industry, but there is a prerequisite, that is, the technical strength must be up to standard, the channels must be unobstructed, and the ability to endure a myriad of troubles must be overcome.

For example, the recycling of "gutter oil" is quite troublesome. Jin Shang can only focus on large recycling stations and will not connect with the end personnel. In addition, the bulk of waste biological oils and fats are not emitted from kitchen waste and restaurants. Instead, food processing plants, oil workshops and large deep processing enterprises contribute the most waste oils, solvent oils and additives.

Then there is the "tire oil" and "plastic oil" extracted and processed from waste tires and plastics. In fact, it is a kind of heavy oil, most of which have a relatively high sulfur content and can basically not be used directly.

But the output of this thing is not low. A lot of plastics are recycled from urban garbage, and there is also a lot of discarded tire rubber. A lot of effort has been put into recycling, and a large-scale distillation (hydrogenation thermal cracking, catalytic reforming) processing plant has been built. The refined recycled oil can only be sent to burn boilers, which is a pity.

If we want to further process it, desulfurize it, remove impurities such as heavy metals, and mix it into finished oil products (gasoline, kerosene, diesel, etc.), let's not talk about whether it is cost-effective or not. If we do this, wouldn't we be competing with petrochemicals and local refineries for business and market?
What kind of new energy is this?

Why do we get various preferential treatment and subsidies?
This scene gives me a sense of déjà vu no matter how I look at it!

Search engines were originally going for the technology route, developing big data, algorithms, and artificial intelligence, but ended up using paid ranking to make money;

Encouraging e-commerce platforms to open online banks to solve the financing difficulties of small and medium-sized businesses, but ended up increasing leverage to play online lending;
A good instant messaging internet high-tech company, on the one hand, used traffic to overwhelm its competitors and dominate the market, on the other hand, it developed a game platform and deviated from its main business to become an investment company;
It’s easy to make money, but you should feel at ease to spend it only after you have completed your “mission”. Otherwise, why should you do that?
But if we hand over this semi-finished product to a specialized refinery, we would be unwilling to give up the bulk of the profits. The best way is to consume it ourselves and make the maximum use of it.

The business entities under Jin Shanghe are based on "new energy" and "low-carbon and environmental protection" in the energy field. If they deviate from this core, it is hard to say whether the original well-intentioned "partners" will continue to cooperate sincerely as they do now.

With so much heavy oil being used to supply the fleet, there would definitely be a serious surplus. How to dispose of it would be a real hassle.

It is obviously a good deed that has been commended. It cannot be abandoned halfway, let alone be half-hearted.

Therefore, its energy development team began to study petroleum additives, additives and catalysts.

Dimethyl ether and its high cetane number additives synthesized by coupling, polyoxymethylene dimethyl ether and other alternative fuels are the key raw materials selected in this case. Dimethyl ether has a high cetane number, but its viscosity is relatively low. As a diesel alternative fuel, it is prone to minor troubles such as gas blockage and leakage.
The opposite is true for heavy oil. The biggest problem is that its viscosity is too high at room temperature, making it difficult to use. Although Jin Shang and his second uncle Zhang Hua tried to use it on heavy agricultural machinery and barely achieved certain results, the problem was still not completely solved.

After more than a year of research and development, we have finally achieved some interim results. Dimethyl ether with lower viscosity and its synthetic additives are highly complementary to heavy oil with higher viscosity, and even extra-heavy oil.

After adding 25% to 40% dimethyl ether, the viscosity of heavy oil is reduced a lot and the combustion performance is significantly improved. After initial blending, biodiesel, methanol and modified ethanol can also be added to adjust its performance, making it more suitable for use in existing diesel engines.

Various heavy oils such as tire oil, plastic oil, naphtha, liquid wax colloid, residual oil, solvent oil, waste engine oil and asphalt oil can be mixed with this method to barely be added to current mining heavy trucks, long-distance cargo trucks, large off-road vehicles, heavy-duty cars and various dual-fuel vehicles.

At a time when engine exhaust emission standards are not so strict, this kind of "non-standard oil" still has a huge market.

The advantages of diesel (heavy oil) engines are high torque, durability, stable performance, long life and low maintenance cost. They are very suitable for heavy loads, long endurance and stable working conditions. They are not completely suitable for stop-and-go private cars, but they are perfect for long-distance freight and commercial logistics.

Don’t underestimate this introduction as it is limited to just a few sentences. The difficulties in the process need to be overcome one by one, such as the miscibility of different oils, catalysts, solvents, modifiers, petroleum additives and the development and modification of supporting engines, which are not easy.

It's not that Jin Shang insists on sticking to diesel (heavy oil) engines, but it has to do so. As an energy and power company born out of CSSC Electromechanical, its strengths are diesel engines and dual-fuel engines. In the crowded marine main engine market, relying on mature technology and excellent products, it has occupied a certain market share in the small and medium-sized inland and coastal ship markets, and is quite capable.

By transplanting the technology and results to land-based engines, the thermal efficiency of vehicle-mounted diesel engines and dual-fuel engines has easily exceeded the 40% mark, especially the light-hybrid truck diesel engine and methanol-diesel dual-fuel engine, whose thermal efficiency has exceeded 45%, worthy of the "excellent" evaluation.

As for gasoline engines, the thermal efficiency is between 33% and 35%. The "Wisp" motorcycle took a long time to adjust before it barely broke through 25%, and the natural gas engine barely broke through 30% and stopped. Upgrading by modifying existing gasoline engines is much worse than the thermal efficiency of current mainstream gasoline engines.

That is to say, with the support of hybrid mode, the thermal efficiency of the glow plug compression ignition methanol engine can be improved to 39%, reaching the 40% dividing line between "generic" and "famous" engine manufacturers.

And this is the result of the boss Jin Shang personally "testing" for nearly two years and providing a large amount of data for researchers to refer to.

The reality is that diesel engines are strong while gasoline engines are weak, forcing Jin Shang to first seek to gain a foothold in this "blind spot" that is not valued in the domestic market.

As for the mainstream automobile market, the outdated technologies that are ridiculed by peers, extended-range vehicles and underpowered hybrid vehicles can only temporarily make their presence felt.

Jin Shang knows the direction of the future internal combustion engine market. Gasoline engines and diesel engines learn from each other's advantages, such as homogeneous combustion, rotary engines, hybrid-specific horizontally opposed engines, lean burn, stratified combustion, multiple ignitions and pre-ignition.

Just because Jinxi Culture had developed technologies such as high-pressure common rail and electronic fuel injection in advance, Jin Shang felt it necessary to make some progress in the diesel engine technology tree. During the next window period of more than ten years, it would avoid the fierce competition in the main fuel and automobile tracks, gain a foothold in commercial vehicles, heavy vehicles and large sedans, and gradually expand the territory of dual-fuel diesel engines, methanol engines and natural gas engines. Finally, with the help of the "curve" of range extenders and hybrid engines, it would overtake and achieve a counterattack in the civilian gasoline engine and private car markets.

Jin Shang has already made a decision as to what is regarded as the key "trump card" to turn the tide of the battle, that is, to go the route of multi-fuel, flexible fuel, high-efficiency small-displacement internal combustion engines, and a hybrid route of alcohol, oil, hydrogen and electricity. Natural gas power will be added to the freight logistics market, liquid ammonia will also be added to the marine power market, and the dual-fuel market cannot be abandoned.

The main feature is flexibility, diversity, a wide range of choices and no need to be restricted by others.

For example, if a multi-fuel extended-range vehicle runs out of gas on the highway, charging is inconvenient and cheap methanol is too far away, it is okay to temporarily add gasoline.

Vice versa, the battery is out of power and the gasoline is running low, and there is a cheap natural gas and methanol filling station at the service area ahead, so why not fill it up quickly?

CSSC has a foundation in multi-fuel control systems and flexible-fuel engines. With so many years of experience in developing and putting dual-fuel engines into use, CSSC is much better than its peers who started from scratch.

"New energy is the foundation. Diversification of power fuel and reducing dependence on petrochemical energy are the strategic directions. Relying on photovoltaic and wind power, biomass energy, secondary recycling and low-carbon environmental protection strategies, we can build our own business logic, obtain policy support and ultimately be invincible. This is the key to grabbing a big piece of the pie in the traditional energy market, such as..."

On January 20th, a Wednesday, the day of severe cold, Jin Shang threw a negotiation agreement on the patent swap between nickel-hydrogen batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries and demanded huge compensation into the trash can. He then put down the technical manual and original patent certificate of the ternary lithium battery that he had read over and over again, and could not help but sigh with emotion.

After Jin Shang confirmed to go the lithium battery route, its research team started to have fun on this path, and gradually showed signs of success.

However, at the end of the 20th century, there were many "tracks" for new energy batteries, and lithium batteries were not actually the most popular one. Hydrogen fuel cells were the real darling.

It is even a bit unexpected that lithium iron phosphate has been neglected after its launch. Even though Jinxi Culture has already launched two models, extended-range and hybrid, it has not only not received many positive reviews, but also received constant doubts.

Fortunately, the pessimism of professionals did not affect the small-scale production and trial of lithium iron phosphate power batteries. The actual experience was good and won the trust of a group of users and car owners.

Under such circumstances, it actually happened that the "old player" in the nickel-hydrogen battery track wanted to blackmail and obtain the patent of lithium iron phosphate battery, which really made Jin Shang laugh and cry.

The new direction of ternary lithium batteries naturally has its advantages. If it can reduce the accident rate, it is a good choice.

Once the right route is chosen, all that remains is to launch products and upgrade them.

Today, Jinshang has also experienced the synergistic effects brought about by technological progress and upgrading. For example, the special ceramics used in the development of fuel cells are also of great reference value for the research and development of new preheat plug compression ignition and thermal surface stratified combustion engines.
The development of catalysts, diaphragms and electrolytes for solid oxide fuel cells and proton exchange membrane fuel cells has directly accelerated the research and development of hydrogen production by electrolysis of water in wind and solar power stations.

In fact, think about it, the hydrogen fuel cell, in reverse, applies an electrical load, which is actually the water electrolysis process. The proton exchange membrane, cation exchange membrane and anion exchange membrane, electrolyte, catalyst and main materials are all universal.

The efficiency of hydrogen production by water electrolysis has been improved, the output has increased sharply and the cost has been reduced, which is of great benefit to a series of products such as "green alcohol", "green ammonia" and liquid hydrogen, and also indirectly helps Jinshang's "new energy" low-carbon and environmentally friendly strategy.

Several brands of diesel alternative fuel called "liquid wax alcohol ether" planned to be launched at the end of the month are also officially ready for self-use and small-scale commercial use.

Whether the use of this "clean diesel" blended with heavy oil, dimethyl ether and coupled polymer additives, methanol, ethanol and biodiesel will have any impact on existing engines requires future investigation, evaluation and research. It is indeed quite useful when used on methanol and natural gas dual-fuel engines.

Of course, it is not without disadvantages. This kind of alcohol ether diesel with complex ingredients has a short shelf life and cannot be stored for a long time after blending, otherwise it will cause problems such as emulsification, stratification, water absorption, volatilization and deterioration, as well as blockage of the oil line.

For commercial and mass-maintained vehicles, this is not an insurmountable problem, but it is very unfriendly to private cars, so the scope of application is a bit narrow.

Even so, it's pretty good and Jin Shang is already very satisfied.

"It costs 25 percent less than standard diesel, so why not?"

Before exhaust emission standards are raised, the more benefits the better, of course. Especially for today's culture, which has e-commerce, logistics distribution, urban taxis, energy generation and shipping fleets, the cheaper the fuel and the lower the cost of use, the better.

The company has more than 10,000 freight trucks and commercial vehicles of various sizes, which consume so much fuel every day. If it does not increase revenue and cut costs, its profits will be lost.

"Next, we need to steadily promote electrification and increase the production of methanol, liquid ammonia and LNG, which have huge price advantages. Whether it is data centers, algorithm research and upgrades, or photovoltaic silicon materials and wafer fab construction, they are all "electric tigers"! "

(End of this chapter)