Chapter 1372 Seawater Desalination Technology!

December 4, 1992.

Friday.

This morning.

After breakfast, Yang Ming did not go back to the Empire Group Building headquarters to work.

Instead, he took Lin Xiuzhi, He Chaoxun and others to take a boat from Repulse Bay Port to Lantau Island and the reclamation area of ​​Kau Yi Chau for inspection.

These places have been under construction.

In addition to the millions of low-income people who have moved in before, as the population of Hong Kong continues to surge, there are more low-income people.

Originally, these low-income people could only live in cage houses or rented houses with poor environment, but now as long as they belong to the 10% low-income group in Hong Kong, they can apply to live in the public housing provided by the Empire Group and the Yang Ming Foundation.

This time, Yang Ming came to inspect and wanted to see the situation here.

When Yang Ming and others came here, in addition to seeing more and more high-rise buildings.

Basically, they are commercial buildings hundreds of meters high, but now these commercial buildings are not luxury houses in the eyes of Hong Kong citizens, but they are better than luxury houses.

Because here, except for the one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom houses, all other things are free except for the very cheap water and electricity fees.

In other words, it is because of that that they can live like normal people.

However, before the Empire Group and the Yang Ming Foundation provided these HDB flats, they had no chance to live in such houses.

Their gratitude to Yang Ming and the Empire Group is indescribable.

Of course, if someone has a high income, they still have to move out and let other low-income people move in.

However, with the rapid increase in the population of Hong Kong, the low-income class will definitely increase as well.

This means that when the Empire Group builds these HDB flats, it will build more.

In addition to the area of ​​Kau Yi Chau, it is also being built near Lantau Island.

Lantau Island has been bombed for development. In addition to providing a large amount of land for reclamation, some of it has even been pulled to Haojiang for reclamation.

In other words, the land here on Lantau Island continuously provides materials for reclamation in Hong Kong and Haojiang.

Now, when Yang Ming came here, he first looked at Jiaoyizhou.

Now there are kindergartens, primary schools, middle schools, shopping malls and parks, as well as various sports venues. Compared with the past, it is indeed much better.

Moreover, the kindergartens and primary and secondary schools here are not only convenient, but also almost free.

So will this breed a group of lazy people?

In fact, Yang Ming knew that he not only referred to the policies of the Xinjiapo HDB in history, but also took these issues into consideration, which means that neither the Empire Group nor he could support lazy people.

Although it is to help the weak and reduce social conflicts, he cannot support these people in vain.

Among them, many of those who can move in are elderly low-income groups, and some are new immigrants. These people have just come here, have no fixed place to live, and have very low incomes.

And it was with the help of the Empire Group that they quickly adapted to the new life in Hong Kong. When their income increased and they were no longer in the lowest income 10% of Hong Kong citizens, they could only move out from here.

Yang Ming saw that this place was really good. He Chaoxuan, Lin Xiuzhi and others were all very surprised. They felt that Yang Ming had indeed changed many people. At least for these people now, it was hard to imagine what their previous place would be like?

Yang Ming did not stay in Kau Yi Chau for a long time. He left Kau Yi Chau and took a boat to Chima Bay Peninsula and Shek Kwu Chau.

Originally, there was a large sea area here before.

However, it has been connected now. Shek Kwu Chau is not an island. Now the surrounding area has been reclaimed.

In addition to planning to build commercial buildings and office buildings, there are also major corresponding supporting measures.

Moreover, the farther place here has been gradually developed into a new port by the Empire Group. In the future, this area will be connected to Lantau Island, the new Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, etc.

Although the most important function of Victoria Harbor is a deep-water port and a safe haven.

However, in Yang Ming's view, Victoria Harbor will definitely be gradually replaced by ports outside.

Then wouldn't this have the greatest impact on him?

After all, many ports such as Hutchison Whampoa are inside.

However, Yang Ming knew that in history, whether it was Bao Yugang or Li Jiacheng, after they acquired Wharf Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa, they directly converted many ports into high-rise buildings.

Yang Ming knew that in that case, these ports would no longer have the same function as before, and it would definitely be like that.

So when the two foreign companies were acquired, the land value has increased by many times.

In addition, when Yang Ming's deep-water port was put outside, in fact, his port and shipping industry were not affected much.

At this time, Yang Ming, He Chaoxun, Lin Xiuzhi and others were watching here, and He Chaoxun and Lin Xiuzhi were even more surprised.

They still remembered clearly that when they came here for the first time, they didn't see anything except trees and cliffs by the sea.

However, now it has been developed into a large area of ​​houses.

And this time, Yang Ming came here not only to see these changes.

He mainly went to see a very important industry.

Desalination.

In the early 1980s, Yang Ming noticed the importance of desalination.

On the one hand, Hong Kong's fresh water supply has long been insufficient. When Yang Ming acquired the Hong Kong Water Supply Company, although he asked the mainland to increase water supply, it was actually not enough.

Especially with the increase in Hong Kong's population and the development of the science and technology industry, more and more fresh water is needed.

In recent years, the semiconductor industry of the Empire Group, especially after the establishment of the Hong Kong Integrated Circuit Company and the production of chips, has required more and more fresh water.

At this time, some people from the Empire Group and the Hong Kong Science Park have proposed that the fresh water problem in Hong Kong can no longer meet the current development and manufacturing of Hong Kong chips, and better places with more fresh water must be found.

In addition, there is a lot of electricity, which is also needed.

Therefore, some people proposed to keep the R&D center in Hong Kong, and move the production and manufacturing to Pengcheng or Wancheng, Huicheng and other places.

Yang Ming did not agree or object.

In the future, chip manufacturing plants will definitely be established in multiple cities in China.

However, according to the current population and development of the science and technology industry in Hong Kong, the demand for fresh water will definitely increase.

Although the domestic supply can continue to increase, Yang Ming thinks that it is better to develop in the direction of seawater desalination.

In terms of desalination technology, Sulian has always been a leader, but later there was no more funding to support their research.

In the late 1980s, Yang Ming also recruited many talents in desalination technology in Sulian. After they came to Hong Kong, Yang Ming immediately established a desalination technology project.

In fact, this desalination technology project is the same as the original artificial sun project.

The artificial sun project is still far from commercial use.

However, the desalination technology project has been improving.

The price of fresh water obtained by desalination technology is still relatively expensive, which may be several times more expensive than the fresh water imported from China now, but Yang Ming thinks it is of great significance.

Because once the commercial price of desalination technology is similar to the price of fresh water provided from China, it means that the desalination technology has developed to a very mature level.

In addition to being able to provide a large number of local citizens or companies in Hong Kong, Far East City can also use this desalination technology.

Even domestic coastal cities.

Now many cities in China, even if there are rivers, will have water shortages, and the basements have been seriously over-exploited, especially in the coastal cities in the north.

It is precisely because of this that the country has adopted the South-to-North Water Diversion Program, but in Yang Ming's opinion, it is still not enough, so the role of seawater desalination technology is still very important for China.

In addition, countries like the Middle East and even Africa are very short of water, so that many big countries in the Middle East may have fresh water more expensive than oil and natural gas.

In this case, they have a greater demand for seawater desalination technology.

"Boss, these are all fresh water, one is Dongjiang water imported from China, and the other is fresh water from seawater desalination of our company, both of which can be drunk directly."

A person in charge said to Yang Ming.

Yang Ming took it and drank it, and he found that the taste was light, as if there was no difference.

In fact, if the other party hadn't said it, he really couldn't tell which was natural fresh water and which was fresh water from seawater desalination.

"Now the price of fresh water from domestic imports to the hands of citizens is about 3 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter, and the price of seawater desalination is still 15 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter."

15 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter?

This is 12 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter more expensive, which is still very expensive.

However, compared with the price of fresh water obtained by other seawater desalination technologies in the world, this is already the lowest.

Other companies may need 20 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter, or even higher.

"When can it be reduced to less than 5 Hong Kong dollars?"

"Boss, we still need to continue research."

Now here, in addition to a large number of seawater desalination technologies from the Soviet Union, there are also seawater desalination technologies from Europe and the United States, even Israel, and seawater desalination technologies from the East.

These countries have been conducting or researching seawater desalination technology, with the goal of reducing the price of seawater desalination as much as possible.

If one day the price is similar to that of natural fresh water, that is, river water, lake water, etc., then the problem of water shortage will probably be solved at that time.

There are more than 20 seawater desalination technologies in the world, including reverse osmosis, low multi-effect, multi-stage flash evaporation, electrodialysis, steam distillation, dew point evaporation, hydropower cogeneration, thermal membrane cogeneration, and seawater desalination technology using nuclear energy, solar energy, wind energy, tidal energy, etc., as well as microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and other pre-treatment and post-treatment processes.

From a broad classification point of view, it is mainly divided into two categories: distillation (thermal method) and membrane method, among which low multi-effect distillation method, multi-stage flash evaporation method and reverse osmosis membrane method are the mainstream technologies in the world.

Generally speaking, low multi-effect has the advantages of energy saving, low seawater pretreatment requirements, and high desalinated water quality; reverse osmosis membrane method has the advantages of low investment and low energy consumption, but high seawater pretreatment requirements; multi-stage flash evaporation method has the advantages of mature technology, reliable operation, large device output, but high energy consumption.

"The most advanced desalination technology in the world is mainly reverse osmosis, including Europe, America, Japan, and Israel. The Soviet Union has also accumulated a lot of technology in this area before. We are studying on the basis of the reverse osmosis method of Soviet desalination."

Reverse osmosis, also known as ultrafiltration, is a membrane separation desalination method that was only adopted in 1953.

This method uses a semipermeable membrane that only allows solvents to pass through but not solutes to pass through to separate seawater from freshwater. Under normal circumstances, fresh water diffuses to the seawater side through the semipermeable membrane, so that the liquid level on the seawater side gradually rises until it stops at a certain height. This process is osmosis.

At this time, the static pressure of the water column on the seawater side is called osmotic pressure. If an external pressure greater than the osmotic pressure of seawater is applied to the seawater side, the pure water in the seawater will reverse osmosis into the freshwater.

The biggest advantage of reverse osmosis is energy saving. Its energy consumption is only 1/2 of that of electrodialysis and 1/40 of that of distillation.

Therefore, since 1974, developed countries such as Europe, America and Japan have successively shifted their development focus to reverse osmosis. Reverse osmosis desalination technology is developing rapidly, and the engineering cost and operating cost continue to decrease. The main development trend is to reduce the operating pressure of reverse osmosis membranes, improve the recovery rate of reverse osmosis systems, cheap and efficient pretreatment technology, and enhance the system's anti-pollution ability.

Now the main desalination technology is reverse osmosis.

However, Yang Ming thinks that he can continue to develop other directions.

Like wind energy and tidal energy at the seaside, they are relatively developed. It is completely possible to use wind energy and tidal energy to convert them into electrical energy before desalination technology.

Yang Ming is not an expert in this area, but he has read information about this in his previous life.

In addition, Yang Ming is also doing research at all costs.

Yang Ming visited for a long time.

He is quite satisfied with the research and development of desalination technology here.

However, he thinks the progress of the research is still a bit slow.

Before leaving here, Yang Ming said: "I will provide you with 500 million US dollars in research funds here, and strive to reduce the price of desalination to less than 10 Hong Kong dollars per cubic meter."

At this time, 500 million US dollars is equivalent to 4 billion Hong Kong dollars, which is naturally a lot of money.

However, in Yang Ming's opinion, it is still worthwhile to use it to study seawater desalination technology.

At noon, Yang Ming had lunch at a restaurant in the reclamation area of ​​Lantau Island.

In the afternoon, Yang Ming and others took a boat to Jishan, Lantau Island.

This was originally an island, but now it is also reclaiming land.

And here, looking far away, that is, across the way, is actually the Haojiang River.

It was not very clear before.

Now it seems to be much clearer.

"Boss, what are you looking at here?" Lin Xiuzhi asked.

"The Haojiang River across the way!"

Lin Xiuzhi, He Chaoxun and others felt that it was too far away, separated by the Pearl River Estuary. Even if the weather was good, it was difficult to see clearly over there.

In fact, both sides are now reclaiming land, and the distance is indeed much closer than before.