Jiang Xianyu's optimism also infected everyone present, and everyone began to talk about their various advantages, saying that the Chinese side has an absolute chance of winning this time, and the profits that can be brought by the four sets of large fertilizers are also exciting to everyone.

According to the results of Leng Feiyun, Wu Shican's discussion with various enterprises, these four sets of large fertilizer equipment will be contracted by Beihua Machinery and Xinyang No. 2 Chemical Machine, and the remaining large state-owned chemical equipment enterprises will jointly provide key equipment, and a large number of low-tech auxiliary equipment and some less important pressure vessels will be handed over to Quanfu Machinery Company and other private enterprises to manufacture. These private enterprises have developed rapidly in recent years, and both the equipment conditions and technical strength are not the same as in the past.

However, compared with those old large state-owned enterprises, the accumulation of private enterprises is still a little worse, especially because the Chinese people still have some contempt for private enterprises, and many highly educated technical personnel would rather sit on the cold bench in state-owned enterprises than be willing to work in private enterprises, which also affects the further improvement of the technical level of private enterprises.

For the joint construction of Argentine fertilizer projects with private enterprises, some cadres of state-owned enterprises have some misgivings in their hearts. However, the times have made people worse, and all state-owned enterprises have projects in hand, and they cannot mobilize enough resources to complete the Argentine project, so they can only ask private enterprises to help. The equipment industry company has done a lot of work between the two sides, and finally they can accept each other. Feng Xiaochen is not in a hurry about this, he believes that through the cooperation of several projects, state-owned enterprises will eventually learn how to cooperate with private enterprises, and both sides will learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses, which is actually beneficial to each other.

Everyone also raised some existing difficulties at the meeting, Feng Xiaochen worked on the spot, made arrangements one by one, everyone nodded and expressed satisfaction and obedience to Feng Xiaochen's arrangement.

After holding a meeting with the cadres of a large state-owned enterprise, Xue Ducang brought in Ruan Fugen and other responsible persons of private enterprises that undertook subcontracting tasks, and Feng Xiaochen also had a cordial conversation with them, and gave answers to some of their concerns.

It was not easy to send away the personnel from several parties, and only a few people from the equipment industry company were left in the conference room. It was already time for lunch, Xue Ducang did not arrange for everyone to go to the cafeteria to eat, but asked the staff in the office to bring food to everyone, and they sat in the conference room, chatting while eating.

"Xiaochen, everyone was there just now, there is something inconvenient for me to say. We bid for the Argentine fertilizer project, and now there is a change, if we don't deal with it well, I'm afraid this matter will be empty. ”

Seeing that the people from other units had left, Wu Shican swept away the optimistic performance at the meeting just now, and said to Feng Xiaochen with a gloomy face.

Feng Xiaochen was stunned and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong, what's wrong?"

"There was news from the Chemical Design Institute that the Japan Chemical Equipment Association had sent them a fax stating that the Chinese ammonia synthesis process authorization license could not be used for Chinese projects built overseas. Wu Shican said.

"Permit?" Feng Xiaochen's face also darkened. I'm really afraid of something, and Feng Xiaochen is most worried about the Argentine project, which is the issue of patent licensing.

The manufacturing technology of large fertilizer equipment mastered by Chinese companies was learned from Japanese companies. The Chinese side has fully grasped the content of the technical know-how, and on this basis, it has also formed some technologies with independent intellectual property rights. However, the ammonia synthesis process transferred by the Japanese side is protected by patents, and the Chinese side must pay a patent license fee to the Japanese side even if it is 100% localized to build a large fertilizer plant in China, otherwise it will involve infringement.

The ammonia process is the basis of the entire ammonia technology. The so-called process is what kind of method you use to produce synthetic ammonia, which includes a complete set of chemical reaction equations and corresponding processes. In the world, there are many kinds of processes for making synthetic ammonia, which are proposed by different companies and named after them, such as what Texaco coal water slurry gasification process, Scheer coal gasification process and so on. These companies have the patent rights to this process, and other companies that want to manufacture ammonia plants based on this process need to apply for a patent license from the company that owns the patent rights and pay royalties.

An ammonia synthesis process may be complex or simple, but whether it is simple or complex, it is developed by various enterprises with a lot of investment. With the process, then comes the design of the process and the design of the production equipment that enables it. The same process can be realized using different equipment, each equipment has its own patent, and even the arrangement of a valve on the equipment, the shape of a piston, can also produce patents, and finally a huge patent system is formed, blocking the latecomers from the door.

When Chinese companies introduced large fertilizer equipment manufacturing technology from Japan, they also introduced a large number of patents. Some of these patents are directly bought, and some of them are even given away by the Japanese side for free, but some patents are obtained by way of licenses. For patents obtained by using licenses, the other party can limit the number of licenses, and can also limit the scope of use of the patent, of course, the transferee of the technology also has its own rights, which is very detailed, and it takes a team of lawyers to understand the mystery.

In the past ten years, Beihua Machine, Xinyang No. 2 Chemical Machine, as well as chemical design institutes and universities at all levels have devoted a lot of energy to digest and innovate the technology in large fertilizer equipment. With regard to all the technologies transferred by the Japanese side, the Chinese side mainly absorbs them and makes them into technologies that it can master. As for the technology that the Japanese side is unwilling to transfer, the Chinese side has paid patent fees for use while developing alternative technologies on its own, and so far many breakthroughs have been made, and it can get rid of its dependence on the Japanese side.

However, as the core of all technologies, the Chinese side has never had an alternative to the synthetic ammonia process, which determines that if the Chinese side wants to manufacture large fertilizer equipment, it must apply for a license from the Japanese side, and only after obtaining the permission of the Japanese side can it be designed according to this process. When Cao Zhiyuan first talked about the Argentine project, Feng Xiaochen had a doubt in his heart, not knowing whether the Japanese side would make a fuss about the process license, and it turned out that his concern was completely justified, and the Japanese side really used this method to jam the Chinese side's neck.

Yu Uchida, the sales director of Iketani Manufacturing, called the Chemical Design Institute, claiming that the ammonia synthesis process authorized by Japan to the Chinese side belonged to Iketani Manufacturing, and that they authorized this process and only allowed us to use it in China and not abroad. If we can't get the authorization of Iketani Manufacturing, then we can't undertake these four sets of fertilizers in Argentina. Wu Shican explained.

"When did this happen?" Feng Xiaochen asked.

Wu Shican said: "I heard the news last night. Our large fertilizer equipment has always been handed over to the chemical design institute for design. Yesterday they received a call from Iketani Manufacturing Co., Ltd., informing them that they could not design the Argentine project using the Iketani process, so they made a long call overnight to discuss with me. ”

"Director Jiang, do they know?"

"I haven't revealed it to them yet, so I think you'd better report it first. ”

"That's a real draw in the pot. Xue Ducang sighed beside him, "They don't issue us a license, and even if we can build the equipment, we can't deliver it." With this hand, our price advantage and service advantage are not needed. ”

"It's a choke. Feng Xiaochen said, "The key technology is in the hands of others, and people can get stuck in our necks at any time, which is really bad." ”

Wu Shican said: "This hidden danger has actually existed for a long time. However, in the past, we only considered import substitution, and when we signed the contract with the Japanese side, we emphasized that we should use the Iketani process in the country, and the Japanese side should not obstruct it, nor should it arbitrarily increase the cost of the license. But we didn't expect that we would eventually compete in the international competition, and the competition would happen to be against the Japanese. It's strange that they don't get stuck in our necks at this time. ”

Feng Xiaochen nodded and said: "That's right, at that time, we were just thinking about building our own fertilizer plant, and we didn't think about competing with Japanese companies for the international market. However, if we had raised the issue of licensing for the international market at that time, I am afraid that the Japanese side would not have transferred technology to us, and they would not have been willing to train competitors for themselves. ”

"Yes, it was a strategy, at least at the time. Wu Shican said. Indeed, when the Japanese were asked to transfer technology, the Japanese were reluctant, and only for the sake of the huge profits in the Chinese market did they have to give in. If China had raised the issue of the international market at that time, Japan would not have agreed to transfer these technologies under any circumstances.

Feng Xiaochen asked, "Old Wu, what do you think about this issue?"

Wu Shican said: "Now there are two ideas. First, we negotiated with Iketani Manufacturing to pay some price in exchange for their agreement to provide us with an international market license. ”

"I don't think it's possible. "Their intention in raising this issue at this time is obvious, that is, they know that we are going to participate in the competition of the Argentine project, so they use the license to card us." With more than $1 billion in business, they can't afford to budge. We can't possibly offer better terms in exchange for them. ”

Wu Shican nodded, expressing his agreement with Xue Ducang's judgment, and then said, "Since this one doesn't work, there is only a second way." ”

"What way?"

"Let's do our own process. Xiaochen, do you remember, we have actually made a reserve for the ammonia synthesis process a long time ago, and now it's time to take it out and use it. ”

Feng Xiaochen's eyes lit up: "You mean, Wang Hongtai's ruthenium catalyst process?"