Chapter 75 Industrialization Ideas

Three days after the successful verification experiment for Lithium Extraction from Seawater, the celebratory atmosphere in the laboratory had not yet fully dissipated, but Chen Xueming was already sitting at his desk, staring blankly at his computer.

On the screen was a world map where he had marked several points: Bohai Bay, the Shandong Peninsula, the Fujian coast, and the South China Sea Islands. Next to each point were some annotated data—seawater lithium concentration, tidal conditions, distance from the base, and power grid coverage conditions.

Li Xiao walked over carrying a coffee and leaned in curiously to take a look: "Dr. Chen, what are you looking at?"

Chen Xueming snapped out of it and pointed at the screen, saying, "I'm thinking about something."

"What is it?"

"Our experiment was a success, achieving 90% separation efficiency. But that was on a laboratory scale, processing only a few tons of seawater a day and extracting just a few grams of lithium," Chen Xueming said. "If we want to truly solve the country's lithium resource problem, what scale would we need?"

Li Xiao blinked: "How big?"

Chen Xueming pulled up a calculation page:

"For our current Lithium-Sulfur Battery project, if it were to be fully industrialized, roughly how much lithium would be needed per year? I did a rough calculation, and it's at least tens of thousands of tons. To produce that much lithium, the amount of seawater that needs to be processed is..."

He tapped a string of numbers into the calculator and then looked up:

"Hundreds of billions of tons every year."

Li Xiao gasped: "Hundreds of billions of tons? How big would that factory have to be?"

Chen Xueming shook his head: "It's not a question of the factory. Pumping seawater onto the shore for processing—the water intake and discharge alone would be a massive engineering project. The energy consumption would be high, the land footprint huge, and it would impact the coastal ecology."

He paused, then suddenly said:

"But what if we process it directly at sea?"

Li Xiao was stunned: "At sea?"

Chen Xueming stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and began to draw:

"Look—we build a floating platform that drifts directly on the ocean surface. We install water intakes beneath the platform to pump the seawater up, pass it through the magnetic field separation device, and after extracting the lithium, discharge the seawater back into the ocean. The entire process happens at sea; it takes up no land, doesn't pollute the coast, and can be moved at will."

He drew a simple schematic: a rectangular platform with several massive pipes hanging below it and rows of magnetic devices arranged on top.

"The platform can be built in sea areas with higher lithium concentrations, such as certain ocean current convergences. Once one area is processed, it moves to the next. It’s like... like a mobile offshore factory."

Li Xiao stared at the drawing, her eyes growing brighter and brighter:

"Dr. Chen, that idea is so cool!"

Chen Xueming felt a bit embarrassed: "It's still just an idea; there are plenty of technical problems. Platform stability, power supply, equipment maintenance, corrosion prevention, typhoon protection... every single one is a major challenge."

Li Xiao said, "But at least the direction is cool! Teacher Lin will definitely support it!"

Chen Xueming hesitated: "Do you think I should tell Teacher Lin?"

Li Xiao nodded vigorously: "Of course! It would be such a shame not to mention such a great idea!"

In the afternoon, Chen Xueming knocked on the door of Lin Mo's office.

"Come in."

He pushed the door open. Lin Mo was looking at some documents; seeing it was him, he smiled: "Dr. Chen? Have a seat."

Chen Xueming sat across from him and took a deep breath:

"Teacher Lin, I have an idea I'd like to talk to you about."

Lin Mo put down his pen and leaned forward slightly: "Go ahead."

Chen Xueming spread his sketch out on the desk:

"Our lithium extraction experiment was a success, but that was on a laboratory scale. If we want to truly solve the country's lithium resource problem, we need large-scale industrialization. I was thinking... could we build floating platforms directly at sea?"

Lin Mo looked down at the sketch without speaking.

Chen Xueming continued:

"The platform floats on the sea surface, taking water directly from the ocean and discharging it back after processing. It takes up no land, doesn't pollute the coast, and can be moved to areas with high lithium concentrations. Energy could come from offshore wind or wave power, and the equipment would all be modular in design for easy maintenance..."

As he spoke, he noticed the corners of Lin Mo's mouth turning up slightly.

"Teacher Lin?" He stopped. "You think it won't work?"

Lin Mo looked up at him:

"Dr. Chen, do you know how advanced this idea of yours is?"

Chen Xueming was stunned: "Advanced?"

Lin Mo nodded: "The concept of offshore floating platforms has been proposed abroad, but it's always remained on paper. Because the technical difficulty is too great—material corrosion resistance, energy supply, automated operation, extreme weather response... every single one is a world-class problem."

Chen Xueming's heart sank: "So... it's not possible?"

Lin Mo smiled:

"I didn't say it's not possible. I said it's—hard."

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the distant Kunlun Mountains:

"Dr. Chen, from Room-Temperature Superconductivity to Lithium-Sulfur Batteries, and from Lithium-Sulfur Batteries to Lithium Extraction from Seawater, which step wasn't hard? Because it's hard, it's worth doing."

He turned to look at Chen Xueming:

"I support this idea of yours. Go and work on the proposal design. Whatever resources you need, I will coordinate them for you."

Chen Xueming was dazed.

He had expected Lin Mo to hesitate, to tell him to think it over, or even to reject it. He hadn't expected Lin Mo to say directly: I support you.

"Teacher Lin," he stood up, "are you serious?"

Lin Mo nodded: "I'm serious. This is the first time you'll be independently responsible for such a large project. Are you nervous?"

Chen Xueming nodded honestly: "Nervous. I've never done this before."

Lin Mo smiled:

"It's right to be nervous. If you weren't nervous, it would mean you weren't taking it seriously. The more nervous you are, the more seriously you'll treat it."

He walked over to Chen Xueming and patted his shoulder:

"Go on. Get the preliminary proposal done first. We'll figure out the technical problems together. Just say the word for whatever people or equipment you need."

Chen Xueming took a deep breath and nodded firmly:

"Okay."

Walking out of the office, Chen Xueming stood in the hallway for a long time without moving.

Independently responsible for such a large project.

An offshore floating platform.

Before, he wouldn't have even dared to think about it.

But now, Lin Mo said: Go do it.

He turned back to the laboratory and found that Li Xiao and Zhang Zhe were both there. Seeing him, Li Xiao immediately ran over: "Dr. Chen! What did Teacher Lin say?"

Chen Xueming looked at her and suddenly smiled:

"Teacher Lin said he supports it."

Li Xiao cheered: "That's great! So when do we start?"

Zhang Zhe also walked over and, in a rare move, took the initiative to ask: "What do you need me to do?"

Chen Xueming walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and took a deep breath:

"We start right now."

He wrote several large characters on the whiteboard:

Offshore Floating Platform Lithium Extraction Project (Preliminary Proposal)

Below that, he listed several directions:

1. Platform Structural Design (Stability, wave resistance, material corrosion protection)

2. Energy System (Power supply plan, backup power, energy optimization)

3. Water Intake and Discharge System (Biofouling prevention, environmental impact)

4. Separation Device Modularization (Magnet unit design, maintenance plan)

5. Movement and Positioning System (Platform movement, anchoring, current adaptation)

Having finished writing, he turned to look at Li Xiao and Zhang Zhe:

"Teacher Zhang, you're most familiar with material corrosion protection, so you'll be in charge of that. Specifically, for long-term immersion in seawater, we need to conduct experimental verification on which materials can be used and which cannot."

Zhang Zhe nodded: "Can do. I'll make a list and start with accelerated corrosion tests."

Chen Xueming looked toward Li Xiao:

"Xiao, you're in charge of data collection. Are there any similar projects domestically or abroad? Offshore platforms, seawater treatment, floating factories—dig up all the relevant literature. Also, help me build a technical difficulty database, list all the problems we might encounter, and we'll tackle them one by one."

Li Xiao raised her hand: "Understood!"

Finally, Chen Xueming pointed to himself:

"I'll be responsible for the overall proposal design, as well as the energy system and separation devices. We'll have touchpoint meetings twice a week to sync our progress."

Zhang Zhe and Li Xiao nodded simultaneously.

Looking at them, a complex feeling surged in Chen Xueming's heart.

Before, he was the one being assigned tasks. Now, he was the one assigning them.

The responsibility really felt different.

That night, Chen Xueming was the last to leave the laboratory.

He walked to the door and glanced back at the sketch on the whiteboard.

A floating platform, an offshore factory, extracting lithium from seawater.

A year ago, he was still hitting walls everywhere, doubting if he could even continue doing scientific research. Now, he was going to be in charge of a project like this.

He thought of Lin Mo's words: The more nervous you are, the more seriously you'll treat it.

He was indeed nervous. His palms were even sweating.

But he was also excited.

Because this was the first time he was truly leading something.

He turned off the lights and walked into the night.

In the distance, the lights of the laboratory building were still on. Zhang Zhe might still be checking materials, Li Xiao was probably staying up late writing code, and Lin Mo might still be in his office.

Looking at those lights, a smile appeared on his lips.

Tomorrow would be a new day.

Early the next morning, as soon as Chen Xueming arrived at the laboratory, he found a stack of materials on his desk.

Li Xiao had placed them there, with a sticky note on top:

"Dr. Chen, I dug up over thirty papers last night regarding offshore platforms and seawater treatment; take a look. I've marked the useful ones. —Li Xiao"

Chen Xueming flipped through the materials, and sure enough, every paper had Li Xiao's annotations: key paragraphs were underlined, with notes like "this can be a reference," "this approach is similar," or "this technology might be useful" written beside them.

He read a few pages, feeling a warmth in his heart.

This girl was really too reliable.

Zhang Zhe also arrived, holding a notebook: "Dr. Chen, I've listed over a dozen possible corrosion-resistant materials, divided into three categories: coatings, alloys, and composite materials. Next, we need to perform comparative testing."

Chen Xueming took the notebook, looked at the densely packed list, and nodded:

"Good. Whatever equipment is needed, I'll coordinate it."

Zhang Zhe said, "I'll need a salt spray test chamber and an electrochemical workstation."

Chen Xueming noted it down.

He walked to the whiteboard, looked at the directions he had written yesterday, and took a deep breath.

Then he picked up a marker and added a line at the very top:

Goal: Complete preliminary proposal design within three months; initiate Pilot-scale production platform construction within six months.

Having finished writing, he turned to look at Li Xiao and Zhang Zhe:

"Let's begin."

In the afternoon, Lin Mo came to the laboratory and saw the three of them busy with their respective tasks. Chen Xueming was drawing, Zhang Zhe was debugging equipment, and Li Xiao was typing code.

He walked up behind Chen Xueming, looked at the increasingly complex platform design drawing, and nodded:

"How's the progress?"

Chen Xueming looked up: "Just starting. Teacher Zhang is testing corrosion-resistant materials, Li Xiao is organizing literature, and I'm drawing the structural sketches."

Lin Mo looked at the drawing and pointed to one part:

"Here, you could consider using a modular design. Each separation unit would be independent; if one breaks, it can be replaced separately without affecting the overall operation."

Chen Xueming's eyes lit up: "Right! Why didn't I think of that!"

Lin Mo smiled:

"Take it slow. For a project this big, it's impossible to think of everything in one day."

He patted Chen Xueming's shoulder:

"If you have any problems, find me anytime."

With that, he turned and left.

Watching his back, a warm current surged in Chen Xueming's heart.

This man always appeared right when he was needed most, gave his suggestions, and then left without ever being overbearing.

This was true support.

At nine o'clock in the evening, Chen Xueming finally finished the first version of the structural sketch.

He stood up and stretched, noticing that Li Xiao and Zhang Zhe were still there.

"Why haven't you guys left yet?" he asked.

Li Xiao didn't even look back: "This program is almost done running; I'll leave once it's finished."

Zhang Zhe said flatly, "This batch of samples still needs another half hour."

Chen Xueming looked at them and suddenly smiled.

Before, when he worked overtime late into the night alone, he felt lonely. Now, with the three of them working together, he felt a sense of grounding instead.

He walked to the window and looked out at the distant night.

Offshore floating platforms, Lithium Extraction from Seawater, solving the country's lithium resource problem.

This goal was very big and very far off.

But he wasn't afraid.

Because he wasn't alone.