Chapter 946 This guy is poisonous
"Really? That's great. Mr. Gao, what's the solution?"

Gao Zhendong stood up and began to draw on the blackboard, which was the core process flow of another method.

As he painted, he said: "We use amalgam electrolysis! This method is the most friendly to Qianshan."

Mercury is a very interesting metal. Its most famous feature is that it is liquid at room temperature. In addition, it can form amalgams with many kinds of metals, such as gold. This is how the legend of mercury eating gold comes about. Gallium is also included in it.

When the comrades in Qianshan heard this, they understood why Gao Zhendong said that this approach was the most friendly one for Qianshan.

There is mercury in Qianshan, and not just a little bit, but a very large mercury mine. Later, it even became a mineral special zone like several special zones in Meishan - Wanya Special Zone.

The Wanya mercury mine was later completely mined, but not this year.

In Gao Zhendong's previous life, a large portion of the mercury mines here were used to repay debts to the Russians, but on this line, there are not so many debts to be repaid with minerals, so there are many more things that can be done.

The amalgam electrolysis method actually appeared in Europe in 55, but it was not popularized. It was not until the 60s that it became popular, and we only started using it in the 70s.

The basic principle is to use a mercury cathode to electrolyze a gallium-containing solution, such as the Bayer process mother liquor. The gallium generated by electrolysis will react with mercury to form gallium amalgam, and the gallium amalgam and other mother liquors will be directly separated. The gallium amalgam enters the gallium production process, and this mother liquor enters the original process of producing alumina.

As Gao Zhendong's flow chart became clearer, comrades in Qianshan understood why Gao Zhendong recommended the amalgam electrolysis method. In addition to the fact that Qianshan also produces mercury, this method is really very suitable for Qianshan's current situation.

“Hey, the mercury in here can be recycled.”

"This looks much simpler, the equipment used is not complicated, and the investment is very small."

"Chief Engineer Gao is amazing. The process equipment is simple and the investment is small. It is really perfect for us."

"This method can even extract other metals, genius!!"

"..."

That’s right, in addition to gallium, amalgam electrolysis can also refine vanadium!

Vanadium, as a kind of refractory metal, is also a commonly used "alloy vitamin" that can be used to improve the performance of alloys. Although the amount used is not large, its effect is not small.

Although this thing doesn't sound very famous, it is actually one of my country's later advantageous metals. The main reason is similar to that of gallium - this thing is also a by-product, and the content is not high. It cannot be specially refined and can only be obtained as a byproduct when producing other metals, such as electrolytic aluminum.

The amalgam electrolysis method that Gao Zhendong perfected can obtain vanadium-containing vanadium slag for vanadium refining by directly filtering the mother liquor after separating the gallium amalgam.

Gao Zhendong listened to his comrades and said with a smile: "Comrades may have noticed that the products of this process are diverse. Of course, mercury is toxic, and we must pay attention to this issue during the production process. As for the source of mercury, I think Qianshan does not need to worry about it." Although mercury can be recycled, there is actually some loss in the process, so a stable source of mercury is equally important.

He explained the entire process in great detail based on the flow chart and spent a lot of time. The comrades at the aluminum plant listened, took notes, and nodded repeatedly. This thing is good, and it must be used even if it is poisonous, as long as proper protection is taken.

In fact, after the 60s, the whole world was using this method until the ion exchange method emerged.

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "In fact, there is another method that is more economical and safer than the amalgam electrolysis method. It does not require any other reagents to be added to the mother liquor for producing alumina, and will not have any impact on the production of alumina. However, this method requires some very important raw materials, which have not been developed yet, so for the time being we can only put up with it and use the amalgam electrolysis method first. And that method requires other processes to obtain vanadium."

There are still experts? The comrades at the aluminum factory were all stunned.

What is the Seventeenth Ministry of Machinery's treasure? Now I have seen it. If the lime milk method and the amalgam electrolysis method have traces, then the new method mentioned by Chief Engineer Gao is completely unheard of.

"Chief Engineer Gao, what do you need?" The comrades from the aluminum plant couldn't help but ask. To be honest, even if they had this method at this stage, they thought it was not as good as the amalgam electrolysis method because it produced less product.

"Chelate resin. I plan to ask the chemical industry colleagues to work on it later. Right now, there is only theory, and no actual product. Please do not consider this method for the time being."

Chelating resin can directly exchange gallium ions in the solution. This method is not limited to gallium. Different chelating resins can be used for different functional groups, not just metal ions. It is a very promising technology.

This is why Gao Zhendong is very interested in this technology. This thing has many uses.

In fact, some water purifiers in later generations, in addition to RO reverse osmosis membrane, also used this thing, which is a very useful thing.

Gao Zhendong's words were a big deal, and the comrades in Qianshan were full of admiration. "General Manager Gao, we will organize our forces right now to study the specific implementation process of the amalgam electrolysis method." The director of the aluminum plant was very excited and did not even need to bring the matter to the department. The problem was solved with General Manager Gao.

With aluminum, gallium, and vanadium, this life is beautiful just thinking about it. What do you call this? This is called having a daughter, a home, and food! All done!
As if he felt that his association was a little unreliable, the director of the aluminum factory laughed at himself. Indeed, association is not very reliable most of the time.

Gao Zhendong also did not forget to give the last assist: "You can report this matter to the department as a few topics, and the department will approve it quickly."

Comrade Qianshan, who accompanied him, also smiled and said, "General Engineer Gao, we can't just let the ministry do the work. Although our province is not rich, we still need to join forces in this kind of thing. We don't have much power either. Here, I assure the comrades of Qianshan Aluminum Plant that no matter how large the scale of funds you need, the local government will match 15% of the funds."

15% may not sound like much, but it is the greatest effort made by Qianshan local government, and it well reflects the importance they attach to this matter.

Comrades in Qianshan are well aware that such matters cannot be solved solely by relying on solutions from above. If local authorities do not show some support, who knows whether such good things will happen again in the future.

He didn't know whether gallium and vanadium were important or not, but the top experts in the department had said they were important, so he thought there should be no problem.

As for how to match funds, there are ways. If there is no funds, materials, land, and manpower can always be squeezed out. In fact, many local matching funds for national projects were matched in economically difficult areas using similar means.

This kind of good thing made the comrades at Qianshan Aluminum Plant so happy that they almost fainted. Good things happen every year, and this year it came to my home.

"Thanks to the attention and support from the leaders of the ministry and the province, our Qianshan Aluminum Factory guarantees that we will complete the relevant work with guaranteed quality and quantity, and at the same time not waste a penny of the country's money."

When he was about to leave Qianshan Aluminum Factory, Gao Zhendong saw something, which was a special map hanging on the wall of the aluminum factory's conference room.

As for reception, everyone knows that they will display everything they have, and they want to show every bit of it. So strictly speaking, this thing is related to the aluminum factory, but not directly, and they also displayed it.

Hey, I'm familiar with this stuff. Although I'm only familiar with bauxite, but that's enough.

That is a distribution map of the discovered bauxite deposits in Qianshan area. In fact, it has far less to do with the aluminum plant than with geological survey. After all, the aluminum plant only needs bauxite. However, as a prospector, there are many more things to consider in this regard.

Gao Zhendong stopped and pretended to look at it carefully for a long time, even looking at the geological map hanging next to it.

You have to pretend, otherwise it will be too scary and will scare your comrades.

Seeing him stop and watch, other comrades also stopped. What did Chief Engineer Gao discover?

Up to now, the comrades at the aluminum plant have no doubts about General Gao's lack of familiarity with aluminum matters. He knows a lot.

Although I don’t know what attracted Mr. Gao, he is willing to stop and watch and show interest, which is a good thing. Maybe...

Sure enough, Gao Zhendong did not disappoint them and said something that might surprise the comrades engaged in geological survey, even though they were not at the scene.

"I suggest that you ask your exploration comrades to go to these places and take a look. I think you will find something."

After saying that, Gao Zhendong pointed to several places on the map.

The comrades beside him were surprised and delighted. You can see this too? Just look at the bauxite distribution map and geological map for a while. Even these are not very detailed maps, they are very rough. How much information can a map hanging on the wall have? Even if Qianshan is not large in area, it still cannot show everything.

But Chief Engineer Gao was able to see the clue and directly pointed out where there might be mines.

From Chongyi to Qianyang, there is a bauxite belt. Although it is a mining belt, it does not mean that all places in the belt have mines worth mining. The place where Gao Zhendong pointed out happens to be an area that has not yet been explored.

Although we don't know how Gao Zhendong determined that there are mines in these places, his words have undoubtedly received the highest level of attention from his comrades, and the comrades engaged in exploration must go and take a look immediately.

If it is true, then Chief Engineer Gao's few fingers have saved a lot of money, time and manpower.

It must be true. Gao Zhendong might not be very clear about where other mines are located. After all, he was just a military fan in his previous life and did not study a related major. However, he happened to know the distribution of bauxite in Qianshan very clearly. This is also the only resource point he knows clearly.

I watched these at my elders’ homes in my previous life.

(End of this chapter)