Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 400 Sweet Potatoes Are Almighty

Gears may seem simple, but in fact they have high technical content and are a symbol of industrial society.Ancient societies also had gears, and there are records about gear systems in both China and Europe.But the gear in the modern sense originated from the gear involute proposed by the mathematician Euler in 1765.With the basic law of involute gear and tooth profile meshing, high-speed gear transmission becomes possible. Without involute gear, high-speed transmission is impossible, and gearbox is impossible. Without gearbox, there is no crossing industry. Efficient use of any kind of powerful kinetic energy.

For the people in the Industrial Energy Commission, it is not a problem for them to design most industrial gears-there are countless industrial technical materials available, and the manufacturing difficulty is not great-they have gear hobbing machines, even if they don't, a few machines The processing maniac also said that it can be faked by machining and casting.The difficulty is in finding qualified materials.

It is not easy to find suitable steel for gears in the metallurgical industry department of the crossing group.Moreover, the quality of each batch of steel is slightly different, and the result of adopting the principle of substitutes is that broken teeth accidents occur from time to time.

Huang Tianyu guided while repairing, and it took half an hour to repair it. He wrote a card for the damaged gear and put it into a tool bag so that he could take it back for analysis.The potato grinder started rumbling again.

The potato grinder is a big guy with an iron shaft and a wooden roller. The wooden roller is densely covered with iron half-eyes.The grinding knife above is detachable, so that you can change the knives of different sizes at any time to control the thickness of the potato pulp.This machine looks ugly, but thanks to the powerful power support, the processing capacity is 2500 kg per hour.It can be called an artifact in this time and space.

The sweet potato pulp coming out of the potato grinder must be washed and screened.The drum screen made by the machinery factory is used, and the industrial filter screen in the hand of the traverser is tight, so silk with about 130 holes is used as the screen cloth.

After sieving, the starch in the potato pulp flows out with the water to become starch milk, and the rest is potato dregs.Potato residues have multiple uses, mainly used to produce alcohol, and the residue after alcohol production can also be used as fermented feed.

The starch milk can then be precipitated to obtain the finished starch product.The sedimentation designed by Jiang Ye for the starch workshop is a sedimentation tank separation with simple process and relatively high efficiency.The separation tanks are made of bricks, with thick "tiles" fired in Fujian export porcelain kilns pasted inside. Each tank is 30 meters long and can process 10 to 5000 kg of sweet potatoes every 7500 hours.

The starch slurry entering the settling tank needs to be treated with "sizing" - this is the traditional Chinese method of making starch.Physalis blended into starch slurry is fermented by natural lactic acid bacteria in the starch production process. Adding appropriate amount of physalis to starch milk can promote the rapid coagulation and deposition of starch.The sinking speed of starch is fast, and it is deposited at the bottom, and there are aggregates of fibers and proteins on the top, and the boundaries between the two are clear.This process can not only accelerate the separation of starch and impurities, but also use lactic acid bacteria to inhibit the activities of other bacteria.

What precipitates out is starch, and the upper layer is viscous yellow starch, which contains impurities.The starch in the middle layer is of the best quality, and after dehydration after taking it out, it will be the first-class starch.The lower layer contains a lot of soil and impurities. After mixing with the starch of the first layer, water is added to the slurry to process the sedimentation, and the inferior starch is produced.

Regardless of the high-grade or low-grade starch, the water content is too high when it is taken out—up to more than 50%, and it must be dehydrated before it can be stored and used.Zhong Lishi designed a simple centrifugal dehydrator for Leizhou Sugar Company, which was first used by a food factory for trial use.It can remove about 30% of the water, and after drying or baking, further reduce the moisture content of the starch to 16%, and then use a roller to grind it into a powder, which is the finished product. It can be used in various fields of food processing and industrial production. aspect.

The clarified liquid in the upper layer of the sedimentation tank is taken out and placed in a water tank, and allowed to ferment into "old pulp", which can be used the next day.The remaining discharged wastewater also contains a small amount of starch, and the crude fiber and protein deposits in the wastewater are deposited in the wastewater pool to become potato yellow.The starch can be extracted after sieving and sedimenting the potato yellow again, and the remaining potato yellow can be used in the same way as potato dregs.

Luo Duo was responsible for the entire process and process of the starch workshop, but after it was put into production, everyone realized that the starch factory was too water-intensive, and the discharged wastewater contained a large amount of organic matter, which seriously polluted the Wenlan River.As a result, there is a section of the river surface that will be dyed white as soon as the starch workshop is produced, just like rice washing water.Tian Jiujiu was very troubled by this. In theory, the waste water from the starch factory could be treated by fermentation in a biogas digester. In fact, things are far from that simple—after all, this is a factory, not a workshop.Almost every 100 kilograms of sweet potatoes will consume 300 kilograms of water.The amount of wastewater discharged is staggering.Tian Jiujiu had no choice but to continue to use the sedimentation tank for primary treatment. The high-concentration wastewater from the sedimentation was discharged into the methane digester for fermentation, and the cleaner wastewater from the upper layer was directly discharged into the river.

"This level of pollution is enough for the Wenlan River to complete self-purification in the rainy season, but it's hard to say in the dry season."

"It's okay, let's get close first." Ma Qianju said after reading his opinions on the treatment of wastewater problems, "After the technical conditions are mature, it will be remodeled."

"It's not just about pollution." He continued to plead with Ma Qianzhu, "It's about too much water consumption. In order to ensure the water consumption of the sweet potato processing plant, the water plant has to be expanded."

Of course Ma Qianju didn't want to expand the water plant for the sweet potato processing plant, so Tian Jiujiu proposed a new plan.Build a set of water recycling treatment secondary utilization system in the food factory.It is mainly to recycle the waste water produced in the potato washing stage, and reuse it after sedimentation and simple chemical treatment.It is estimated that 40% of water consumption can be saved.

"Wash a basin of dirty water repeatedly?"

"Of course not. It needs to be treated, and it's not infinitely recycled. After several cycles, the water needs to be changed."

The wastewater from washing sweet potatoes mainly contains a large amount of sediment and substances such as sweet potato skins and grass leaves.It is different from the wastewater in the subsequent starch process - it contains very little organic matter, and most of the impurities can be removed by sedimentation, and then it can be reused after passing through a simple sand filter.

But when Xun Suji came to take over, the device was still there, and the dirty water for washing sweet potatoes was drained directly from the drainage channel under his feet.

"How is it? It's very interesting." Huang Dashan came in from the outside, Xun Suji just wanted to introduce himself, he shook his hand, "Mo Xiao'an told me that you will be the full-time factory manager here from now on. Now I'm at ease."

"Yes." Xun Suji wanted to say a few polite words such as "I will ask for your help in the future", "Huang Gong, you worked hard in the previous stage", but he still couldn't speak out.Huang Dashan didn't take it seriously, and told him about the workshop and production situation.

"Food industry is a huge category," Huang Dashan said, "Since you have a chef certificate, you can be regarded as a professional counterpart."

"If you want me to make salted duck eggs, it's okay to pickle a vegetable. I don't understand this at all."

"It's okay, just read more books and you'll understand. Everything here doesn't look like it's just from reading books. Do you think any of us have really worked in a food factory? Let alone this kind of backward processing equipment."

"Is this still behind? The largest starch processing factory in this time and space." Mo Xiaoan also came while talking.Xun Suji knew that this was his immediate superior, and wanted to go up and flatter him, but he had never done this before, and he didn't say anything except calling "Committee Mo".

"Call me Xiaoan, don't be so polite."

After the starch workshop was put into operation, it was the first time for Mo Xiaoan to come here, and his curiosity about this place was no less than that of Xun Suji.Looking around from time to time,

Mo Xiaoan watched the slightly yellowish starch being poured out of the centrifuge by the workers and spread out on bamboo plaques one by one, ready to be sent to the drying room for further dehydration, and said:

"This feeling is really strange. At first, there were strangely shaped sweet potatoes covered with mud, but in an instant, they turned into snow-white starch—" he suddenly asked, "Why isn't the starch white? Is it yellow?"

"It has never been bleached." Huang Dashan explained that starch is bleached in the modern starch industry. It doesn’t count if there are several procedures.”

"Drain!" With the shout of a worker, there was a huge whimper of water in the workshop, and a large amount of waste water poured out from the potato washing machine and filled the drainage channel of the workshop in an instant.The water flowed very fast, and some even rushed directly to the ground, and Mo Xiaoan's trouser legs were wet.

"You should wear rain boots to the food factory." Huang Dashan looked at their shoes, shook his head, and said a few words to a worker. After a while, a worker brought two pairs of strange boots, which looked like they were made of cloth. But hard.

"This is a high-level rain boot cover made of tung oil cloth. Put it on all of you. It will be used in the workshop later."

Put the rain boot cover directly on the feet, and it has a strap on each calf on the instep to fasten and fix it, so that there is a pair of "high top rain boots".This kind of shoe cover is made of tung oil cloth.Crossing Group can't supply rubber rain boots now, and some liquids in industrial and agricultural production can't be directly touched by the skin, so they came up with such a kind of soil rain boots, which are often used by natives tied to their feet in rainy days.

Several workers began to take out the sweet potatoes from the potato washing machine and put them into large baskets.Some were sent to the potato mill for pulping, and the rest was carried to another large machine.

"This is a dual-purpose machine for slicing and grating." Huang Dashan introduced, "It is specially used for slicing and grating sweet potatoes."

"What's the use? Isn't it possible to beat directly?" Mo Xiao'an asked strangely, "Could it be that we are still planning to make Liancheng dried sweet potatoes..."

Xun Suji thought: Is it for drying in the sun for better preservation?

"Maybe it's used to make potato shredded rice or something," he said.

The shredded potato rice was suggested by Wang Tian to Wu Nanhai. It was eaten by local poor farmers, tenants, long-term laborers, and all landlords who were diligent and thrifty. Naturally, this is not a special snack, but a A means of saving food.

"The meaning is similar, but the effect is different." Huang Dashan explained.Slicing and shredding is for drying in the sun.Dried potato chips and shredded potatoes can of course be stored, but the main purpose here is to grind dried potato powder.

Dried potato powder is different from sweet potato starch. In addition to starch, it also contains the fiber in sweet potatoes. It is not good to make food taste alone, but it can be used as a food filler and mixed in various pasta foods to reduce production costs.Just as cornmeal is widely used as a filler in the modern food industry.As long as it is not excessive, ordinary consumers cannot feel it.

"There is no flour now, otherwise it will be miserable. Making bread, noodles, biscuits and so on can save 30-40% of the amount of wheat flour used."

"This is worse than opening a restaurant." Xun Suji couldn't help but say.

"There are too many shady people in the food industry." Huang Dashan smiled, "Have you ever eaten maltose?"

"I ate it when I was a child."

"I sometimes use it when cooking."

"Maltose is a commonly used raw material in the food industry. However, the maltose on the market is rarely made of malt, and most of it is sweet potato maltose. 5 kg of maltose is mixed with 100 kg of sweet potatoes."

"It's a pity that maltose can't be an export product." Mo Xiaoan never forgot this.

"Maltose can't be sold for a lot of money, and the batches are not large."

Xun Suji recalled his experience as a cook: "I remember that sweet potato powder can be used to make vermicelli and vermicelli."

"Yes, but the vermicelli made from pure potato powder is terrible and lacks toughness. The taste is far inferior to mung bean vermicelli, so it's better not to make it for the time being."

"How about using it in rice noodles? It's like mixing it in flour." Xun Suji remembered that local rice noodles are the same as Guangdong and Guangxi. Common people's food.

"It should be okay if you don't use it too much." Huang Dashan thought about it, "But the food factory has never made rice noodles."

"Rice noodles are easy to make." Xun Suji became energetic, "I often make them in the cafeteria, and the rice can be made by taking the rice to the mill and grinding it into powder."

"Wait," Mo Xiaoan thought, "Isn't rice noodles an export commodity?"

"Dried rice noodles for export?"

"Yes," Mo Xiaoan took out a small notebook from his pocket, "Mr. Wen said that the consumption power of the public in this time and space is relatively low, and most people are in the most basic consumption state, that is, the needs for food and clothing are relatively low. More. After thinking about it, dried rice noodles have certain processing requirements, and many people still buy ready-made ones and make them again—”

"Rice noodles are not difficult to process. I think most farmers make them by themselves."

"The focus of sales of dried rice noodles should be in the city, facing urban residents." Mo Xiaoan said, "Mr. It is even more impossible for our bulk commodities. In the Qing Dynasty, there were noodle shops in the city of Beijing that specialized in selling cut noodles—what technical difficulty do you think cut noodles have?”

"interesting."

"Dried rice noodles should be produced and sold by many shops in Guangdong, but they can't compare with us in terms of cost. Just dumping them at a low price can crush them to death!"

Where is the cost advantage of the traverser?According to Mo Xiaoan's analysis, the first is Mi Yuan.The traversers used cheap rice shipped from Vietnam and bartered with sugar, each time in batches of tens of tons. Although there was a freight cost, there was still a clear advantage in cost sharing.

The second is to mix cheap dried potato powder into the dried rice noodles, implementing the modern businessman's idea of ​​"cutting corners and making cheap products".It’s hard to say how much can be mixed into dried rice noodles, but if 20% can be added, the reduction in material cost is astonishing.

Finally, there is the cost of production.The time-traveling group uses large-scale industrial production, and its cost advantage is far from that of small handicraft workshops.

The biggest cost of the crossing group is the transportation fee, but now most of the ships returning to Guangzhou from Lingao are empty, and these spaces are just used to transport export products.Shipping costs don't add much.

On the whole, I am afraid that as soon as "Lingao Dried Rice Noodles" goes on the market, the market for rice noodles in Guangzhou will avalanche.

"There is a theory of water flow in marketing," Mo Xiaoan said more and more excitedly, "just like water, cheap products have a tendency to spread automatically. We don't need to engage in too many promotional activities, and dried rice noodles will quickly expand to The main cities of Guangdong!"

"Moreover, our rice noodles are cleaner and more hygienic than traditional handmade rice noodles in the processing process, and contain fewer impurities. The water content is also low, and we use preservatives and other means, both in terms of appearance and shelf life. Compared with other rice noodles Much better—”

"That's a good idea." Huang Dashan said hesitantly, "It's innovative, but it involves the issue of grain export. The executive committee controls grain at the first level, and exports are strictly prohibited."

"There are a lot of imports of Vietnamese rice now, so the reserves must be abundant."

"It's hard to say." Although Huang Dashan's administrative position is not high, he has been in contact with people's committee members at the executive committee level, and he has heard a lot of internal information. Grain purchases and reserves are still very tight—recently they have been talking about exposing the population, but at this juncture, if you want to export rice noodles, I’m afraid it’s useless.”

"Really?" Mo Xiao'an was immediately discouraged.Reminiscent of the construction of new immigrant villages and the expansion of quarantine camps, the shifts of wood processing plants, cement plants and brick kilns are all 24-hour full capacity production, and the recent requests for clothing and bedding received by the Ministry of Light Industry The order shows that this statement is true.

"Dried rice noodles will be put into production first. After all, it is easy to store and can be eaten differently." Xun Suji is not interested in the grand plan of "sweeping the market for Lingao dried rice noodles", but rice noodles are indeed very popular in the cafeteria Welcome. "You can also make instant rice noodles. You don't have to go to the cafeteria to eat when you are hungry."

(End of this chapter)