During the production process of soda ash from the northern alkali making plants, the final by-product is calcium sulfide. Based on the principle that people in the east coast must eat dry and squeeze out any items, the final surplus value of calcium sulfide is also necessary to be squeezed out. For this reason, the factory director Song Qiang decided to set up a new workshop in the alkali making plant to specifically treat the by-product calcium sulfide obtained in the production of soda ash.

His idea is very simple. Some nearby factories often produce a lot of carbon dioxide-containing waste gas during the production process. In the past, these waste gases were directly discharged into the atmosphere, but now the idea can be slightly diverted. These gases are often discharged at a very high temperature. If they are passed through a pipe and high-temperature water vapor into calcium sulfide, then calcium sulfide will react with it to form water-insoluble calcium carbonate and hydrogen sulfide gas. Under certain conditions, hydrogen sulfide gas can react with oxygen in the air to produce water and elemental sulfur. Of course, this reaction requires certain conditions, and the reaction temperature, water vapor humidity, and air content are limited. However, in general, the reaction conditions are not harsh. When the laboratory has successfully reacted, it is not difficult to spend more time doing some tests to achieve industrial production.

The calcium carbonate produced in this process can be used to produce alkali in the previous process, and of course it can also be used to burn lime. More importantly, the sulfur generated during the reaction process is an extremely valuable strategic resource for the East Coast people. If the sulfur in the previous process can be recovered (the elemental sulfur burned when sulfuric acid is generated) can be recovered through this method, it means that the East Coast people have obtained the technology of sulfur recycling, which can save the country a lot of money.

We can also carry forward this method more. For example, the waste gas produced by coal combustion in the east coast contains a large amount of sulfur dioxide. If this gas is transported through pipelines, it is mixed with a certain proportion of calcium sulfide to react to form water-insoluble calcium sulfate and elemental sulfur. Regarding the conditions for this reaction, the people from the Institute of Chemistry are still conducting experiments under laboratory conditions, which is close to success. If they make progress in industrial large-scale production next time, even if the recycling efficiency is not as high as that in later generations, it is a great breakthrough. Because this means that the people of the east coast have achieved the recovery of elemental sulfur from sulfur-containing coal, and no longer have to import sulfur from foreign countries. Foreigners have one less weapon to get stuck on the east coast.

However, the above are all things that happened in the future. At least the technicians of the Institute of Chemistry still need a lot of experiments and verification before they can design and produce the factory. While the chemical industry in Ping'an County is progressing steadily, in Luoqia Port in Xiling District, the second local factory after the ginning factory that processes seed cotton, Luoqia Leather Factory, was officially established. Although Shao Shude, the specialist in Xiling District, made a lot of efforts, it actually came from the strong promotion of the newly-employed government.

With the changing trends of the textile market, the new government, which has just been in power for more than a year, is also feeling pressured. In addition to developing new markets all over the world, they are also striving to seek new profit growth points. The members of the Executive Committee have thought about it. Apart from military industry, shipbuilding and leather, there are no new industries that can be found on the East Coast. After all, you can't make profits by exporting grain. Although the profit margins of military industry and shipbuilding are high, the problem is that the demand is small and it is quite unstable. Overall, it is far inferior to the profits generated by textiles.

The leather industry is relatively stable, and the demand in the European market is gradually increasing. Let’s take France as an example. The current pursuit of fur among all classes in France is surprising - otherwise they would not go to Quebec to engage in fur trade. Fur is still a relatively expensive product at this time. The rich and wealthy class wears beaver, otter, and seal skin produced in North America. These leathers have excellent textures and are very popular in France. Ordinary people only wear them.

Some cheap cattle and sheepskins are also quite limited. Of course, they can also wear some old leather jackets sold cheaply by the rich - the French are very enthusiastic about new styles. A new seal leather jacket is often sold at a cheap price to those newly rich middle class after one or two years. However, this is still a minority compared to the huge demand, and France is not a big animal husbandry country like the United Kingdom. Their cattle and sheepskins are not high, but there is a lot of demand - this is the market.

It just so happens that Europe is deeply in the quagmire of war. The warring parties have always demanded ammunition bags, leather boots, gun holsters, water bags, armed belts, leather armors, leather hats and other equipment. In the past few years, people from the East Coast have been exporting a large number of war leather goods to France, Spain, Hanseatic League, Russia, Turkey and other countries, and have successively made profits of hundreds of thousands of yuan. What the Executive Committee wants to do now is actually to carry forward this business.

The number of cattle and sheep in the neighboring La Plata area is extremely large, and the cattle and sheep produced has a very good texture. At the same time, the price is extremely low. East Coast people can purchase them at a large price at a low price, and with the help of cheap soda ash produced on a large scale, the cost of tanning animal skins can be reduced to a low point that Europeans can't imagine. Then, coupled with the excellent dyeing technology exclusively by East Coast people, Europeans can't compete with East Coast people without trade protection.

After having this idea, the members of the Executive Committee immediately put it into action. They first sent a lot of staff to conduct research in various parts of the country (mainly in the south) and first had a comprehensive understanding of the current status of the domestic leather industry. Overall, the current leather processing (mainly referring to tanned animal skins) of the East Coast people is relatively scattered, and most of them are private small workshop-style enterprises, and their competitiveness is not very strong. The only symbol of the government's existence in this industry is a small leather goods processing factory located in Shanchang Township. They purchase tanned animal skins from various small workshops or retail investors in China, and then process, color, make various leather goods and export them to various markets.

The development speed of this industry over the years is actually quite limited. Not to mention the far-reaching, the export volume in 40 was about 90,000 yuan, and by 41 years it barely increased to 115,000 yuan; then in 42 years, it fell back to 110,000 yuan; and in 42 years, the export volume increased slightly, reaching a temperature of over 130,000 yuan. This export growth rate is simply incomparable to cotton cloth that has a large step a year. There are actually two main reasons for this situation. First, the natural soda ash imported from Europe is not cheap - it can even be said to be expensive, which has caused the East Coast people to cost more than ordinary leather goods, and they can completely compete with Europeans, so they can only regain some situation by dyeing leather goods; second, leather processing actually requires a lot of manpower, from peeling, cleaning, tanning to processing and production, every step requires a lot of manpower, which is unrealistic for the East Coast, which is short of manpower, so this industry that should have a promising future has been so tepid for so many years.

However, the situation has obviously improved now. First of all, the smooth production of the northern alkaline plant has made the soda ash from the East Coast people suddenly more abundant. They no longer need to import natural alkali from Europe with low purity and very expensive prices, which has reduced their costs by a large amount. Another thing is that after careful research by the staff, everyone believes that many processes in the leather tanning and processing process can actually be mechanized, provided that they design such a production line.

This is actually not difficult. Although there are no ready-made references to equipment and production lines in later generations, everyone can simulate various processes in the manual production process, slowly design production lines and equipment, and then gradually improve them to continuously improve efficiency and reliability. In this way, one day, it will gradually be improved. In addition, the number of immigrants in the Ming Dynasty will increase every year, so the lack of labor may be slightly alleviated. In addition, during the slack season, some seasonal workers can be hired in the factory to produce a large number of finished products and store them, and then wait for the ship to ship out of the port.

In this way, after some argumentation, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Government Council moved all the leather goods processing factory in Shanchang Township to Luoqiang Port with convenient transportation (Rachang Township only retains livestock breeding bases and military horse farms). At the same time, they recruited many new workers, expanded their production scale, and prepared to gradually start the horse leather processing industry. At the same time, they also vigorously integrated the more chaotic and scattered animal leather tanning production workshops in China, and absorbed these workshop owners. Senior craftsmen entered the newly established tanning guild. Then they organized them to formulate various standards for the industry, such as product quality standards, etc., to guide the healthy and healthy development of the entire industry, and thus compete with leather goods products in European countries.

As for the source of animal skins, a small part is provided by domestic supply, most of them may still be located in La Plata. The population of cattle and sheep in La Plata is extremely large, and cowhide is often sold to Spain, Chile, Charcas, Peru and other places at no cost to two cents, but how much consumption demand can be in these markets? Therefore, La Plata's cowhide has been in a large amount of backlog, which has caused the owners to worry about. But this is definitely good news for the East Coast people, because it means that they have a large amount of cheap raw materials to purchase, and this acquisition can also bind the local white elite families in La Plata to the East Coast people more reliable, which is definitely a good thing to kill two birds with the East Coast people.
Chapter completed!