158: Chapter 158 Launching a Hot Air Balloon

The fuel used for the Hot Air Balloon is Liquefied Petroleum Gas, a tail gas produced during the distillation of crude oil. It is a mixture composed of various hydrocarbons such as propane and butane, and it exists as a colorless gas at normal temperature and pressure.

Zhao Fusu originally wanted to use Coke Oven Gas produced from coking as fuel for the Hot Air Balloon.

However, the heating value of Coke Oven Gas is low, providing less energy, which could not meet the demands of a long-duration flight for the Hot Air Balloon.

Furthermore, Coke Oven Gas contains toxic components, producing poisonous substances like carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide during the combustion process.

Carbon monoxide binds with hemoglobin, affecting oxygen transport, while hydrogen sulfide is toxic and can lead to poisoning.

The Hot Air Balloon is designed to provide a relatively enclosed environment, and any toxic substances produced by fuel combustion could accumulate within this space.

Therefore, the fuel for the Hot Air Balloon needs to be clean and safe.

Whether it is the kerosene needed for kerosene lamps or the Liquefied Petroleum Gas for Hot Air Balloon fuel, both involve the fractional distillation and refining of petroleum.

Fractionally distilling and refining petroleum was something Zhao Fusu absolutely had to do.

Many people think that the black oil obtained from the ground is simply called petroleum, but this understanding is incorrect.

The oil just obtained from the ground is actually called crude oil, also known as heavy oil.

Petroleum is the general term used after it has been refined into finished products.

It includes products such as diesel, gasoline, and petroleum gas.

Once the dark crude oil is pumped from underground, in order to maximize its utility, it must undergo fractional distillation based on the characteristic that small-molecule hydrocarbons have lower boiling points while large-molecule hydrocarbons have higher boiling points.

Holding the technical drawings obtained from his check-ins, Zhao Fusu gathered a total of three hundred technicians from Cui Wenzi's team and Elder Mos Team to begin discussing how to build a production line for crude oil fractional distillation.

The first important device was the Heating Furnace.

It provides the heat for crude oil fractional distillation, allowing the crude oil to reach the boiling points of different components within the Fractionating Tower, thereby achieving separation.

After a series of preheating steps, the crude oil enters the Heating Furnace, where it is heated to around 350°C - 400°C and enters the Fractionating Tower in gaseous form.

Common Heating Furnaces include tubular furnaces, such as cylindrical furnaces and box furnaces. Cylindrical furnaces have advantages like a compact structure, small footprint, and high thermal efficiency, making them widely used in oil refineries.

After Zhao Fusu manufactured the thermometer, it underwent his optimization; now, the thermometer's scales were increasingly detailed, making it convenient for him to control the temperature.

The Fractionating Tower is the core device of crude oil fractional distillation. Based on the differences in boiling points of various components, it allows the crude oil to undergo multiple partial vaporizations and partial condensations within the tower, thus separating the crude oil into different fractions.

The structure of a Fractionating Tower is typically a tall cylindrical vessel with multiple layers of trays or packing inside.

The higher the position within the Fractionating Tower, the lower the temperature.

At the top layer of the Fractionating Tower, where the temperature is less than twenty-five degrees, petroleum gas can be obtained.

At the seventh layer, with temperatures from twenty-five to sixty degrees, gasoline can be obtained.

At the sixth layer, with temperatures from sixty to one hundred and eighty degrees, Naphtha—the raw material for making plastics—can be obtained.

At the fifth layer, with temperatures from one hundred and eighty to two hundred and twenty degrees, kerosene can be obtained.

At the fourth layer, with temperatures from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and fifty degrees, diesel can be obtained.

At the third layer, with temperatures from two hundred and fifty to three hundred degrees, fuel oil can be obtained, mainly used in large ships or factories.

At the second layer, with temperatures from three hundred to three hundred and fifty degrees, lubricating oil can be obtained. When used for mechanical lubrication, its effects are bound to be better than the animal fats currently in use.

The residue from the first layer is bitumen, which can be mixed evenly with sand and used for paving asphalt roads.

Everything extracted from crude oil fractional distillation can be said to be a treasure; it's no wonder that petroleum easily breeds 'mold' (metaphorical for greed/conflict).

After a week of hard work, Zhao Fusu successfully obtained kerosene and petroleum gas.

Since he did not have refrigeration machinery, he could not cool the petroleum gas to minus forty degrees to turn it into Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

Therefore, Zhao Fusu could only use a Steam Compressor to compress the petroleum gas into gas tanks at two atmospheres of pressure.

A fifty-liter gas tank could store about 9.2 standard cubic meters of petroleum gas, weighing approximately 6.6 kilograms.

Once the air inside the Hot Air Balloon envelope created by the Gongshu Family was fully inflated, the volume could reach six thousand cubic meters.

As is well known, the lifting capacity of a Hot Air Balloon is the standard atmospheric pressure minus the air pressure inside the balloon, multiplied by the balloon's volume.

Consequently, this Hot Air Balloon produced by the Gongshu Family could achieve a lifting capacity of one thousand five hundred and sixty kilograms.

This was equivalent to the weight of ten normal adult males.

At the same time, the altitude this Hot Air Balloon could reach was fifteen thousand meters!

Over the past week, the First Emperor had stayed with Zhao Fusu at the Great Qin Empire Academy of Sciences. While watching Zhao Fusu and a group of technicians research petroleum refining, he also learned how to drive a steam tractor.

After preparing the parachutes, Zhao Fusu began to launch the Hot Air Balloon.

A Hot Air Balloon thirty to forty meters long required a sufficiently spacious area to be successfully launched.

Launching a Hot Air Balloon often required over a dozen people and the use of a Steam Blower.

Before laying out the Hot Air Balloon, a layer of cloth had to be spread on the ground first to ensure the asbestos fabric of the balloon wouldn't be scratched.

Six sturdy young men from the Gongshu Family carried the Hot Air Balloon envelope and ran into the distance, spreading the entire envelope completely across the ground.

Then, they used the Steam Blower to pump air into the Hot Air Balloon envelope.

After the balloon's body was inflated, they turned on the Hot Air Balloon's ignition device, spraying fire into the envelope to pump in hot air.

This Hot Air Balloon was considered an old-fashioned model, utilizing a Mechanical Igniter.

This type of igniter usually followed a principle similar to a lighter, generating sparks through friction or impact to ignite.

It used a spring mechanism to drive flint against metal, creating sparks to ignite the fuel.

The advantage of a Mechanical Igniter was its simple structure and lack of need for a power source, but its ignition success rate was not as efficient as an electronic igniter.

There were a total of twelve high-pressure gas tanks on the Hot Air Balloon, containing a large amount of compressed petroleum gas.

The mass of petroleum gas in one high-pressure tank was 6.6 kilograms, totaling 79.2 kilograms.

The consumption of petroleum gas per hour was ten kilograms.

Twelve high-pressure gas tanks were enough for eight hours of endurance.

However, the weight of a single empty gas tank was as high as thirty kilograms; when filled with gas, that became 36.6 kilograms. The twelve tanks combined weighed 439.2 kilograms.

The Hot Air Balloon that could originally carry ten people could now only carry six.

Before launching the Hot Air Balloon, it was also necessary to enter the interior of the envelope to perform an inspection.