Chapter 1005 Man-made Fibers
New Frankfurt.
As an emerging city, the industrial level of New Frankfurt has been rising. During the First Five-Year Plan, a large number of high-quality projects were implemented in the region, especially the textile industry, equipment manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, electronic product manufacturing and other high-quality industries have flourished.
The regional advantages of New Frankfurt are mainly reflected in the field of transportation. The local area is one of the most important land transportation hubs in East Africa. Waterways, railways and roads converge here densely, extending to the whole of East Africa like the tentacles of an octopus.
A section of the artificial canal in the East African Grand Canal passes through the New Frankfurt area, which is used to connect the Congo River Basin and the Zambezi River Basin. Of course, it does not pass through the city, but passes through its subordinate jurisdiction.
This canal has realized the connection between the copper belt and the southern city and the navigation of some sections of the Congo River tributaries and the Zambezi River tributaries. The entire section is more than 180 kilometers long. This kind of crazy project is not an exception in East Africa in recent years. A large number of black people have fallen under the terrifying scale of infrastructure in East Africa.
The artificial canal takes advantage of the terrain of the Katanga Plateau and flows from northeast to southwest, so the main water source comes from the Congo River Basin with more abundant rainwater, which not only improves the navigation capacity, but also is a water diversion project, which effectively supplements the Zambezi River Basin.
Its source mainly comes from the tributaries of the Lualaba River in the upper reaches of the Congo River, so the overall water volume is relatively abundant. There is a canal system for farmland irrigation along the line, which plays a major role in stabilizing the grain production around Rhine City.
After all, the annual precipitation around Rhine City has reached more than 800 mm, and through the water diversion project, the water source security of the capital area and the entire Central Province can be basically guaranteed.
The Central Province is originally located in the transition zone between tropical savanna and tropical rainforest climate, so the more northward the precipitation, the more stable it is, so the Central Province section of the East African Grand Canal is very important.
As the passing area of the canal, the New Frankfurt City is actually still some distance away from the urban area, but the future urban development of the New Frankfurt City will inevitably move towards the canal section.
Some key enterprises, especially the textile industry, chemical industry and other water-intensive industries in New Frankfurt, are converging here, and the New Frankfurt Man-Made Fiber Factory is located in the Central Province Canal section.
The factory was a key enterprise in New Frankfurt during the First Five-Year Plan. It was officially built in March last year, and now the factory has started production.
The New Frankfurt Man-Made Fiber Factory is not large in scale and can only be regarded as a medium-sized enterprise, but it is highly valued by the government. Ernst came here specifically to inspect the first man-made fiber factory in East Africa.
Facing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the employees and management of the New Frankfurt Man-Made Fiber Factory were naturally very nervous. After all, man-made fibers have received Ernst's attention from the beginning, and today Ernst came here to test the results.
"Your Highness, this artificial fiber technology was introduced by us from J.P.Bemberg in Germany. The technology appeared in the early 1990s."
"At that time, German scientists Brunner and Freme made copper-ammonia artificial silk by dissolving cellulose in copper-ammonia solution and obtained an invention patent."
"Then in the late 1990s, J.P.Bemberg successfully used the copper-ammonia method, a new fiber manufacturing method, for industrial production. The government obtained the relevant technology through cooperation with Germany, and the industry was finally established in New Frankfurt."
This is the copper-ammonia silk in the previous life, but Ernst didn't know much about it, because the development of artificial fibers or chemical fibers around the world has just started.
In 1884, the famous French chemist Chardonnet put nitrocellulose into alcohol and ether to make slender and beautiful artificial silk, and began mass production in 1891.
In 1891, British people Cruise and Bevan decomposed cellulose with strong alkali and carbon disulfide, and then used a rotary box to make viscose rayon by dehydration and spinning under centrifugal force.
This safe and cheap method of producing artificial fibers quickly became popular and is the most widely used method of producing artificial fibers.
From the time period, it can be seen that chemical fibers started as early as the 1980s, and began to develop by leaps and bounds in the 1990s. New technologies continue to emerge, and the copper-ammonia silk technology introduced in East Africa is a product of the 1990s.
Therefore, the development of chemical fiber industry in East Africa is not late, and the New Frankfurt Chemical Fiber Factory is one of the important symbols.
Other key textile cities that introduced this technology include Bulawayo, Mogadishu, Nairobi and Gezira.
The textile industry in New Frankfurt is also relatively developed. It is one of the important distribution centers for inland cotton, and the reason why the copper-ammonia silk technology overlaps with the developed areas of cotton textile industry in East Africa.
It has an important relationship with the raw materials it needs. The main raw material of cuprammonium silk is cotton linters, that is, the fluff on the outside of cotton seeds. The fiber extracted from cotton linters through special processing is cuprammonium silk.
Therefore, cuprammonium fiber is a regenerated cellulose fiber. It is made by dissolving natural cellulose raw materials such as cotton linters in a concentrated ammonia solution of copper hydroxide or alkaline copper salt to form a spinning solution. In the coagulation bath, the cuprammonium cellulose molecular chemicals are decomposed to regenerate cellulose. The resulting hydrated cellulose is processed to obtain cuprammonium fiber.
Cupro wire, as the name suggests, has characteristics more consistent with "silk". The cross-section of cupro fiber is circular, without a sheath-core structure. The fiber can withstand a high degree of stretching, and the resulting monofilament is thinner. Therefore, the fabric of cupro silk products feels soft, has a soft luster, and has a silk feel.
In addition to cotton wool, cupro ammonia solution is indispensable for cupro wire. East Africa is an important copper-producing country, and ammonia production has also started, so there is no shortage of both.
The city of New Frankfurt began to use ammonia to produce cupro fiber based on the textile industry and the chemical industry.
"With the help of German experts, our factory has completely mastered this technology and is now ready for large-scale production."
Later, under the guidance of technical staff and management, Ernst visited the entire production process of cupro wire. Everything went smoothly and there were no mistakes. At the same time, Ernst personally experienced the feel of the finished product.
Ernst nodded and said: "The quality is acceptable. At least it feels somewhat similar to ordinary silk. It seems that you have indeed understood the relevant technology."
The factory director said: "Your Highness, in addition to the help of the Germans, the main thing to master this technology is our own talent advantage. It only took them a few days to master it. I don't think there are as many college students as I am." Good brain."
East African college students with high academic qualifications and certain knowledge of chemistry have obvious advantages over ordinary people, and this is with the help of the Germans. It would be embarrassing if they couldn't learn it.
Because this is not a new technology that I have broken through. In fact, East Africa must have trained many chemical talents in recent years, but it will take some time to produce results.
After all, East Africa mainly learns from European and American countries, and chemical fibers in European and American countries have just started. If East Africa can quickly follow up, it has already met Ernst's psychological expectations.
The chemical industry is definitely one of the emerging industries of this era, and Germany is the leader. This also provides convenience for the development of the chemical industry in East Africa. That is, East Africa and Germany have close relations. If the Americans and British have the right to speak in the industry, It is much more difficult for East Africa to obtain relevant technologies.
Of course, if some emerging technologies can be obtained from other countries, it will definitely be beneficial to East Africa. However, East Africa itself has many chemical talents. As long as time is given, East Africa will definitely occupy a place in this field in the future.