Journey 1995:Non-Stop

Chapter 427 The Value of Minerals

"Professor Wang, we've known each other for three years. You should know what kind of person I am," Yan Hui said with a hearty laugh.

“I understand. I didn’t expect you to be working on calcium oxide. Polyurethane is a niche product, and it’s not our strong suit at our university. But every engineering school knows about calcium oxide, and we have several industrial-grade applications.” Professor Wang was very interested. “The sooner you bring your samples over, the sooner our department can start analyzing them.”

"How about this?" Yan Hui said, taking out a box from his briefcase. Inside were six test tubes of mineral powder.

"This is a sample for testing?" Professor Wang exclaimed in surprise, then burst into laughter. "As expected of President Yan, who started out in the chemical industry!"

"Then I'll wait for your good news." Yan Hui placed the box on the table.

"That's simple. In fact, the analysis of calcium oxide composition can be done anywhere, but the promotion of calcium oxide in the pharmaceutical and food fields in the later stages..." Professor Wang casually painted a rosy picture for Yan Hui.

Calcium oxide has a wide range of uses. The heat source in our common self-heating hot pot is a mixture of calcium oxide, sodium carbonate, iron powder, and activated carbon, with calcium oxide accounting for more than 80%. This requires food-grade calcium oxide.

High-purity calcium oxide is also used in the electronics industry, precision casting and other fields. In addition, calcium oxide itself is a basic raw material and can also be used to produce various high-end raw materials.

The market for refined calcium oxide and the market for regular calcium oxide are two different concepts. Ten thousand tons of ordinary quicklime is a small number, but refined calcium oxide is a different story; the market is highly segmented and faces many challenges.

Yan Hui didn't dare to readily accept Professor Wang's promises. With his current channels and connections, he could easily find a market for ordinary lime, but refined calcium oxide was a different matter entirely.

Ordinary silica is used for building houses, while high-purity silica is used to make chips; the buyers are worlds apart. Therefore, he needs to understand the sales channels for refined calcium oxide on the one hand, and the true value of this mine on the other.

"Professor Wang, to be honest, before communicating with you, I didn't know that the types of impurities were so important. What I provided is just ordinary material from the mine. Today I plan to go to the mine to see what the differences are between the raw materials from different areas." Yan Hui felt that the material he provided was still too little.

“Then I can send two students with you; they are more professional,” Professor Wang said enthusiastically.

A 2000 million yuan project, and it involved calcium oxide, which he knew very well—how could he not be interested? All his apprentices and their descendants needed good positions! The fine calcium oxide project and the ordinary lime plant were two completely different jobs!

"There are only three seats in my car besides the driver, so there are two of us. Just send one person with me," Yan Hui said.

"Okay, wait a moment, I'll make a call." Professor Wang took out his phone, scrolled through his contacts for a few minutes, hesitated for a long time, and finally called a boy.

The call was brief, just a brief call for the young man to come over. After hanging up, Professor Wang poured tea for Yan Hui: "Mr. Yan, this student of mine is a third-year graduate student this year and will graduate next year. His thesis has been approved. He's a capable young man, but he's not very talkative. He's had a few interviews with big companies but didn't express himself well. Could you take a look at him when you have time? Anyway, I think he's a good kid!"

"Mm-hmm." Yan Hui nodded. "Then thank you, Professor Wang."

Less than ten minutes later, the boy Professor Wang had mentioned arrived. He was wearing a simple school uniform, large glasses, and had some paint-like residue on his clothes, making him look like a migrant worker. "This student of mine is Li Haifeng. He's quite reliable. His major is sedimentology and sedimentary mineral deposits. He can't do experiments for companies, but he's passable at prospecting and mineral research," Professor Wang introduced. Then, he said to Li Haifeng, "This is General Manager Yan. He's the head of Heng Hui Chemical. He's recently expressed interest in investing in a calcite mine. You'll need to work closely with him."

"Professor...me...myself?" Li Haifeng looked around.

"Yes, it's up to you. Do your best; this is a very rare opportunity," Professor Wang said with anticipation.

"Mmm." Li Haifeng nodded. He wasn't a shy person.

“Okay, we can go to the mine anytime. If we leave now, we can be back this afternoon.” Yan Hui checked the time. “We’ll have lunch after we come down from the mine.”

"Okay, you go ahead."

The four of them went out of the building together and got into the car. Song Zhiyuan sat in the front, while Yan Hui and Li Haifeng sat in the back. Li Haifeng had never ridden in such a nice car before. He tried his best to brush the dust off his clothes, but he was still very reserved.

"This mine produces quicklime. The data they told me before was that the grade here is 94%, but Professor Wang told me that the impurities are crucial. How much difference can the purification cost be depending on the different impurities?" Yan Hui asked directly.

"I'm not familiar with the specific industrial data; I'm not a professional in this field. I only know a part of it. If the main components of the impurities are silicate minerals like quartz and feldspar, they are easily separated by physical methods due to their different hardness and density. For example, flotation and magnetic separation are relatively inexpensive. If the impurities are carbonate minerals like dolomite, they can be separated by calcination. Calcite has a decomposition temperature of 898 degrees Celsius, which is higher for dolomite, so the cost is also not high. If the impurities are clay minerals, such as kaolinite, montmorillonite, or illite, they will adhere to the surface of calcite, making flotation difficult and requiring a large amount of water for washing and desliming. This puts a lot of pressure on environmental protection and is also costly. If the impurities are iron and manganese oxides, then magnetic separation is necessary, but..."

Li Haifeng spoke for almost half an hour straight, showing no sign of only knowing a part of the story.

"Isn't this your major?" Yan Hui frowned.

“I studied sedimentation, and it’s hard to find a job in this field. My professor told me to learn some chemical engineering, but I don’t know much about it.”

"So, what do you use for flotation, the one you mentioned? These ores are quite dense, so what kind of liquid can be used for separation? Isn't that liquid expensive?" Yan Hui asked again.

"No, the flotation and reverse flotation mentioned here are not about directly immersing the material in a liquid for separation. Flotation requires a series of industrial products such as collectors, modifiers, and pH adjusters. Specifically," Li Haifeng explained a lot of basic knowledge to Yan Hui.

When the conversation turned to chemistry, he became very talkative, sharing almost everything he knew. However, while sitting in the car, he remained upright and somewhat reserved.

After listening, Yan Hui nodded: "I feel like I've found the right person. You can help me determine the true value of this mine."

(End of this chapter)