The most advanced and the most suitable

Seeing the Crown Prince's eyes light up with greed, Lavoisier hurriedly explained, "Your Highness, if you only need one or two thousand kilograms of Casein Glue per month, then an investment of 5,000 Livre would be sufficient. But if it's 50,000 kilograms, then the raw materials such as Soda and Water Glass will be severely lacking. Oh, currently, all the Soda production around Paris is only enough to produce 1,000 kilograms of Casein Glue per month."

"Therefore, you must first invest in Workshop that produces Soda, and the scale of that workshop will be enormous."

"As you know, producing Soda requires building Reflectory Furnace and a Sulfuric Acid production Workshop. This alone requires at least 800,000 Livre. Then there's the production of Water Glass, the purification of Slaked Lime..."

"Wait a minute," Joseph raised his hand to interrupt him, "You just said that producing Soda requires Reflectory Furnace? If I understand correctly, the kind of Reflectory Furnace used in steelmaking?"

"That's right, Your Highness." Lavoisier nodded. "You may not be familiar with the latest methods for mass-producing Soda."

"That's a method recently invented by Dr. Leblanc. Salt and Sulfuric Acid are mixed, distilled, and then limestone and coal are added. The mixture is then placed in Reflectory Furnace and calcined until it reaches a molten state. This process requires reaching the temperature needed to melt iron, so Reflectory Furnace is very suitable..."

As he recounted the story, Joseph came to understand that in this era, mass production of Soda was still achieved using calcination and crystallization methods.

The process of heating the furnace to over 1000 degrees Celsius alone consumes a huge amount of coal. Moreover, the Sulfuric Acid causes severe corrosion to the Reflectory Furnace Reflectory Furnace at such high temperatures, requiring replacement every two years. It would be a wonder that the cost is not high!

Therefore, Soda is currently considered a luxury Chemical product, sold by the gram!

No wonder Lavoisier had himself invest millions of Livre to build it as a steel mill; that amount might not even be enough.

Joseph then remembered, "Isn't Soda just Carbonic Acid?"

That is, Soda Ash.

As one of the five pillars of the Chemical, the effort to reduce the cost of mass-producing this substance drove countless chemists to the brink of madness...

He couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

Indeed, all profitable commercial products ultimately rely on the production of the most basic raw materials.

Fortunately, thanks to my roommates who are in the chemistry department, I haven't forgotten all my chemistry knowledge.

For example, I know the "Hou's Alkali Production Process"!

Doesn't this easily outperform those "primitive methods" from the late 18th century?

I haven't been able to find the time and energy to work in the Chemical industry before, but now is the perfect opportunity to start with Soda Ash.

It's just a million Livre. If it can boost the France Chemical industry, that amount of money is nothing.

Leaving aside the significant role of Soda in the furniture revolution and Bulletproof Insert, simply selling it directly could yield ten times the profit.

Joseph immediately recalled Hou's process and looked at Lavoisier, saying, "Actually, I have a completely new method for producing Soda, which should cost less than one-tenth of the method you just mentioned."

Lavoisier's eyes widened immediately. If anyone else had said that, he would have likely laughed it off immediately. But coming from the "Child of Divine Grace," he had to think about it seriously.

"Are you serious?"

"Well, it roughly requires salt, Ammonia Gas, and Carbon Dioxide." Joseph didn't hide anything. The dignified "father of chemistry" wouldn't stole his own technology, or rather, he wouldn't dare. Besides, he only knew the principles; to implement the specific mass production process, he would have to consult Lavoisier.

"First, Ammonia Gas gas is passed into a saturated brine solution to form an ammonia-salt solution. Then, Carbon Dioxide is passed into it to produce..."

After he finished explaining the Hou's Alkali Production Process, he waited for Lavoisier to exclaim in surprise.

However, after a full half minute, the "father of chemistry" frowned and shook his head, saying, "Your Highness, your method is good, but it seems impossible to implement."

Joseph was immediately stunned. What? Are you sure you heard me correctly? This is the Hou's Alkali Production Process!

Lavoisier continued, "Your method requires a lot of Ammonia Gas. If I remember correctly, the price of Sal Ammoniac is about 7 Livre per kilogram. The cost of Soda produced this way is not much lower than that of Dr. Leblanc's method."

"Most importantly, the supply of Sal Ammoniac across Europe is far from sufficient to meet the monthly consumption of 50,000 kilograms of Casein Glue."

Joseph blinked. "Sal Ammoniac? What's that?"

"It's a mineral used to refine Ammonia Gas..."

As Lavoisier went on to explain, Joseph's face began to darken— Sal Ammoniac must be ammonium chloride. Current Chemical technology cannot synthesize Ammonia Gas French Army; it can only be obtained by calcining this expensive mineral.

The price has gone up to the sky again.

He then remembered that the ammonia synthesis process didn't mature until the late 19th century, Dr. Hou invented the alkali production method in the 20th century, when Ammonia Gas was already very cheap.

Ammonia Gas requires ultra-high temperature and high pressure reaction technology, which was simply unthinkable in the 18th century...

So, all this talk about the Chemical industry and the furniture revolution is just wishful thinking?

Seeing his unusual expression, Lavoisier quickly comforted him, saying, "Your Highness, your idea is very novel; I have never thought of that method before."

"However, sometimes the old methods might still work..."

Joseph smiled wryly, never expecting that Dr. Hou's world-shaking improved alkali production method couldn't even compete with Reflectory Furnace in the 18th century.

He couldn't help but recall a documentary he had seen about Dr. Hou, how he improved the Solvay Process step by step under extremely difficult conditions, and finally succeeded.

Um?

He suddenly remembered something. What was Dr. Hou's improvement? It seemed to be a combined alkali production—producing Soda Ash on one side and Fertilizer on the other, which improved output and raw material utilization.

How exactly does the Solvay Process work?

Joseph frantically recalled documentaries he had watched before, muttering to himself, "Salt plus Ammonia Gas plus Carbon Dioxide, dissolve in water. Remove the precipitate, add limestone, heat to react..."

"Ammonia Gas and Carbon Dioxide are generated, while the sintered material contains Soda Ash and Calcium Chloride, which are then purified through crystallization..."

"This method of alkali production wastes the chlorine in the salt and the calcium in the limestone, so its production efficiency and cost are not as good as the Hou's Alkali Production Process..."

Joseph suddenly stopped. "Wait! Ammonia Gas and Carbon Dioxide have been released during the reaction. They can be added back for the next reaction!"

In this way, the consumption of Ammonia Gas will be extremely small. Although there is no Fertilizer production like Hou's, the major obstacle of Ammonia Gas is bypassed.

fine...

He suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. He had really fallen into a trap, always wanting to jump straight to the most advanced technology. But the most advanced technology isn't necessarily suitable for this era!

"Mr. Lavoisier," he smiled again, "If I have another method that doesn't require Ammonia Gas, please help me design the mass production process."

Lavoisier's eyes widened in shock. Had the Crown Prince truly received divine revelation?!

He came up with two solutions for producing Soda in less than half an hour—a technology so advanced!