The Sponge

Biomaterials Laboratory.

The head of the research department, Kuinning Mark, and the head of the administration department, Pasteur (a soldier), were also waiting at the door for Li Qingye to arrive.

This laboratory specialized in researching biomaterials. Some time ago, they had received a special material sent over from Calagua Island, and their research was now nearly complete.

Li Qingye had come over from the Methane Bacteria Laboratory. After reading the research report in his hands, he said, "You've done good work."

Kuinning said excitedly, "Boss, this sponge you provided is truly amazing. If we can mass-produce it or create it through artificial synthesis, we might be able to change the current industrial landscape."

The sponge he was talking about was actually a kind of genetically recombined organism.

This genetically modified sponge had a body made of an entirely new nanostructure. Li Qingye had cultivated it by combining biology, nanomaterials science, and crystallography, and named the unique nanostructure the Crystal Storage Resonance Cavity.

The Crystal Storage Resonance Cavity worked by using a certain amount of pressure to force water and gas into its nanostructure, turning them into a special kind of crystalline water.

So what exactly was the use of a crystal sponge made up of Crystal Storage Resonance Cavities?

Its usefulness lay in its ability to absorb gas. One cubic meter of crystal sponge could hold 460 to 500 cubic meters of methane or other alkane gases.

And the critical pressure required for this compression was only 3.7 atmospheres.

Once gas was forced into the crystal sponge, it formed a relatively stable crystalline-cell state. Even if the ambient temperature reached over a hundred degrees Celsius, the gas stored inside would not be released. The release temperature threshold was above 148 degrees Celsius.

But the Crystal Storage Resonance Cavity had another feature: at a specific resonant frequency, the stability of its crystalline cells would rapidly decrease, releasing the gas stored inside.

This gave crystal sponges the ability to store and release gas at low cost.

It was well known that today's LNG ships were not only extremely expensive to build, but also costly to operate and maintain.

LNG ships used extremely low temperatures to liquefy methane gas. During transport, the temperature had to be kept at -162 degrees Celsius the entire time, making the process extremely dangerous as well.

One cubic meter of liquefied natural gas could be converted into 625 cubic meters of gaseous natural gas.

A cubic meter of crystal sponge, meanwhile, could store 460 to 500 cubic meters of gaseous methane.

In terms of gas storage per unit of volume, liquefied natural gas had a slight advantage. But crystal sponges could store gas at room temperature and pressure, whereas liquefied natural gas had to be kept at -162 degrees Celsius at all times.

That was where crystal sponges had the advantage.

After all, building an LNG ship cost a fortune. Take the Dapeng, built in China, for example: it cost as much as 160 million US dollars and could transport 147,000 cubic meters of liquefied natural gas at a time.

A Panamax transport ship with a capacity of 4,500 standard containers, on the other hand, cost only around 70 million US dollars.

A standard container usually had a volume of 24 to 26 cubic meters, so 4,500 containers amounted to 108,000 to 117,000 cubic meters.

What's more, LNG ships faced another problem. Since liquefied natural gas was different from ordinary cargo, it required specialized ports for loading, unloading, and storage.

If crystal sponges were used as storage containers, there would be no need for overly complex specialized ports, and other container ships could also be refitted for the job.

For now, however, Li Qingye wasn't getting ahead of himself. Homo sapiens Company had no plans to enter the natural gas shipping industry. The waters there ran too deep, and it would be all too easy to attract the attention of the five major powers.

Besides, there wasn't enough crystal sponge to go around. Even with growth hormones and nutrient solutions, one mu of sea farm could produce only about 200 to 300 cubic meters of crystal sponge a year.

In the short term, it could only supply Homo sapiens Company's internal needs.

Homo sapiens Company was now going to build a number of methane plants, which would need crystal sponges to make storage containers. This could save a great deal of money.

Gaseous methane storage tanks kept at room temperature and pressure took up a huge amount of space and were also costly.

As for liquefied natural gas storage tanks, there was no need to mention them. Add in all the supporting equipment for maintaining low temperatures, gasification equipment, pipelines, and the like, and it was obvious they would cost a fortune. They were also extremely dangerous: one operational mistake could send the entire plant sky-high.

According to the research by Kuinning and the production engineering department, a crystal sponge storage tank required not only the core material—the crystal sponge—but also vibration-absorbing and insulating layers, a fire-resistant steel casing, a sonic generator, an electronic control system, a pressurized injection pump, a one-way gas valve, a safety valve, an alarm, and piping.

These components weren't difficult to make. The only truly sophisticated technology involved was producing and processing the crystal sponge.

In fact, Li Qingye hadn't developed these things mainly to make money, but to ensure energy security.

Luzon was poor in energy resources.

It had only a few small coal mines and natural gas deposits, and no oil fields worth exploiting.

The coal for the thermal power plants run by Jade Energy, one of its subsidiaries, had to be imported from Java and Australia. Relying entirely on imports for energy was extremely unreliable.

Since natural energy resources were scarce, Li Qingye had decided to take a different approach and use biogas as a core energy source.

As for whether biogas could meet Luzon's needs, Li Qingye was very confident, thanks to his command of biotechnology.

The recently developed Genetically Modified Methanogen could produce methane from organic matter at an efficiency roughly 2.7 times higher than that of current natural strains. It also didn't need any auxiliary strains; the Genetically Modified Methanogen could break down organic matter on its own.

The reason it could be so much more efficient was that it shortened the energy conversion chain and the reaction time, preventing energy from continuously diminishing through repeated conversions over an extended period.

The Genetically Modified Methanogen could break down organic matter directly, reducing wasted energy.

And the organic matter it could break down wasn't limited to animal waste and the remains of plants and animals. It also included some man-made organic matter, such as the famous plastic products.

This meant Jade Energy could build Garbage recycling plants near cities, then send the biodegradable waste and plastic products there for fermentation and decomposition. This would reduce pollution and waste while also producing methane.

It could also collect factory waste, crop residues from farms, and manure from livestock farms in the surrounding areas.

With this model, it would be possible to achieve regional energy self-sufficiency.

In an emergency, starch from Sea Grapes grown on sea farms could also be used as raw material for methane production.

In human society today, energy wasn't just about supplying electricity and heat; it was also tied to food security.

If Homo sapiens Company wanted to become a corporate giant that dominated humanity's future, it couldn't afford to have any weak links. Energy played a crucial role throughout the entire industrial chain.

Driving Luzon toward energy independence was one of Homo sapiens Company's next strategic goals.

After inspecting these laboratories, Li Qingye was reasonably satisfied with the progress of the various projects. He was about to return to Calagua Island when several updates Chen Jianxiong sent back from Manila made him stop in his tracks.