A set of synthetic ammonia plant involves more than 200 rotating equipment, more than 300 static equipment, and the length of various process pipelines reaches more than 200 kilometers. Each equipment includes bearings, valves, instruments and other accessories, a set of equipment alone in the variety of instruments there are thousands of pieces, need a complete industrial system to be able to provide all these equipment and accessories.

Among the Western powers, there are seven or eight countries that have the manufacturing capacity of large-scale ammonia plants, but these countries do not manufacture all the equipment and accessories in the plants themselves, and they complete the matching through the international market. In the case of Iketani Manufacturing, for example, it does not produce its own instruments, valves, and other accessories, which are procured from other companies, some of which are Japanese companies, and some of which are from other Western countries. As Chinese enterprises gradually enter the international market, equipment manufacturers in Western countries sometimes purchase some accessories from Chinese enterprises, or even a single piece of equipment, which has truly reached the realm of you and me, and I have you.

But for China, as long as there is one thing that is not in their own hands, everyone will be a little panicked, always afraid of being stuck in the neck. In fact, there are also bottlenecks, such as the refusal of Iketani Manufacturing to issue a license to the Chinese side for the basic process of synthetic ammonia, leaving the Chinese side with no manufacturing capacity, but unable to enter the international market. It stands to reason that everyone is under the same international trading system, and this kind of casual squeezing of others' necks is neither in line with business rules nor business ethics.

In contrast, there are fewer cases of Western countries getting stuck with each other, one is because their economic interdependence is more serious, and the stuck neck is to harm others and not benefit themselves, and no one will do this, and the other is because they have the same social system and belong to the same camp, so there is an internal coordination mechanism that can avoid this kind of mutual harm. When it comes to China, Western countries are not so easy to talk about, China has a different social system from them, and they have good reasons to curb China's development. From the earlier Batumi agreement to the current Wassenaar agreement, there are clauses blocking technology from China, of course, they will not say that this is due to market competition considerations, but to put on the cloak of universal values.

In order to gain access to the Chinese market, some Western companies have had to commit to transferring some of their technology to China. However, their technology transfer is often accompanied by conditions, such as the use of some technologies must be licensed by the original manufacturer, otherwise it is infringement. It took more than ten years for China to digest and absorb the manufacturing technology of large-scale ammonia plants, but some patents are still in the hands of foreign businessmen. Although these foreign businessmen have not yet expressed their intention to restrict China's use of these technologies in the Argentine project, who knows that the failed conspiracy of Iketani Manufacturing will not pull them as an ally and suddenly attack the Chinese side?

"How many of these key technologies are there, and which ones can we break through in the short term, and which ones can't be broken through temporarily?" Feng Xiaochen asked.

Jiang Xianyu handed over a stack of paper and said: "The day before yesterday, a few of us have carefully sorted out, and there are a total of 112 key technologies, which are likely to be stuck on us by foreign parties." Among them, there are 82 items that we may break through, and some of them we have long had alternatives, but the alternatives are not as good as the technical ideals of foreign countries, so they have not been applied. The other 30 items are technically difficult, and it may not be realistic to make a breakthrough in half a year. ”

Feng Xiaochen took the stack of papers, looked through it, nodded approvingly and said: "Director Jiang really deserves to be a veteran in the industry, and his grasp of the situation is very complete. For technologies that have the potential to break through, we must start immediately, at any cost, and we must break through within three months. As for these 30 technologies that are difficult to break through, can you discuss them and see what solutions there are. ”

"The only way to negotiate is with foreign patent holders. Wu Shican said, "For example, the process of forced circulation of U-shaped pipes is owned by the German company Brown, and we have been exploring new processes, but there is no good direction so far, so I estimate that it should not be possible to break through in the short term." ”

"Can you buy this patent from Brown?" Leng Feiyun asked.

Bao Jianlin shook his head and said: "We talked to them in the past, and they said that this patent is only authorized and not sold out. ”

"The 30 patents I listed are all like this. In fact, we have talked to patent holders in the past, and they do not agree to sell these patents, but they can license us to use them. Jiang Xianyu said.

"If it was at other times, it didn't matter, anyway, we paid the royalties in the past, and now we just pay them. Zhao He, deputy director of the production of Xinyang No. 2 Chemical Machine, said, "But now at this juncture, we have to prevent the other party from suddenly announcing the suspension of authorization." The Germans and the Japanese are the same family, and if Iketani Productions gives them some benefits, there's no guarantee that they won't stab us in the back. ”

Feng Xiaochen's heart moved, and he said: "If the Ikegu Manufacturing Institute can give them benefits, can't we give them benefits? If we come up with some good conditions to exchange with them, will they agree to sell us all the patents?"

"What does Mr. Feng mean by exchanging the market for technology?" asked Zhao He. In the past, the market for technology was an important means for the Chinese side to obtain technology, and it was because of the coveting of China's fertilizer equipment market that Iketani Manufacturing agreed to transfer some of the technology to the Chinese side, and also allowed the Chinese side to freely use the unbought technology in China. Hearing Feng Xiaochen say that he wanted to exchange technology with the Germans with the benefits, Zhao He instinctively thought of this.

Feng Xiaochen smiled slightly and said, "Let's not engage in market exchange for technology now, let's engage in technology for technology, what do you think?"

"Technology for technology?" Bao Jianlin was stunned, "What technology do we use to exchange with Brown?"

"Far away, close at hand. Feng Xiaochen sold it.

Jiang Xianyu's eyes lit up: "What does Mr. Feng mean is that the patent for ruthenium catalysts?"

Feng Xiaochen asked, "What does Director Jiang think?"

Jiang Xianyu entered the long exam again, he thought about it in his heart for a while, and said: "Brown is also engaged in the research of ruthenium catalysts, but we have taken the lead, and it is very difficult for them to bypass our patents and find another way." If we transfer our patents to them, they will not be bound by our patents and will save a lot of time. Compared to the value of the U-shaped tube forced circulation technology, this exchange is certainly acceptable. ”

"If you want to change, you can't just change this one, or we will lose. Wu Shican said with a smile.

"Not for that, of course. Jiang Xianyu's train of thought was opened by Feng Xiaochen, and the questions behind him were immediately figured out, he said: "Brown Company, El Company in the Netherlands, and Kramer Company in the United States all have patent sharing agreements, and now more than a dozen technologies stuck in our necks are in the hands of El Company and Kramer Company. If we start a multilateral negotiation and talk about patent swapping with these companies, we will not lose money by ceding the ruthenium catalyst patents in exchange for these dozen or so key patents in their hands. ”

"But in this way, our ruthenium catalyst process has fallen into the hands of foreigners. After they obtain this patent, will they become our competitors in turn?" Leng Feiyun reminded.

Feng Xiaochen said with a smile: "There are more lice and it is not itchy, foreign countries have much more patented technologies than us, and we can't restrict them from competing with us with a patent for a ruthenium catalyst." What's more, we are not on the same competitive level as European and American countries, and their technology is more advanced than ours, so they don't look down on our two jujubes. This time, the Dutch went to bid for the Argentine project, but because the cost was too high, the Argentine side did not even consider it. Our competitors are only Japanese companies, and it is quite good to use European and American technology to deal with the Japanese. ”

"Haha, Mr. Feng said it too well. Bao Jianlin praised, and then said to Leng Feiyun: "Minister Leng, in fact, you don't have to feel distressed, ruthenium catalyst is also engaged in European and American countries, but they are mainly used in ethylene synthesis and methane synthesis, and there are a lot of patents obtained so far." Western countries have basically given up on synthetic ammonia, and we use this patent to exchange it with Brown and El, and they only want to use it in petrochemical industry, and it does not constitute a competitive relationship with us. Even if we don't exchange with them, they will be able to develop similar patents in a few years, and then our technologies will not be worth much. ”

"If we can win the Argentine project, we will extract 50 million US dollars from the profits and use it to develop a new basic process, and then we will make up for the loss of the patent of the ruthenium catalyst. Feng Xiaochen promised.

"Long live Mr. Feng!" Bao Jianlin said directly. 50 million US dollars, that is more than 400 million yuan, used to develop new chemical processes, distributed to each unit must not have tens of millions? With the status of a chemical design institute, it is not a fool's dream to strive for 100 million yuan. With so much money, not to mention a ruthenium catalyst process, even if you take the entire periodic table and try it again, it is more than enough.

As for whether Feng Xiaochen's promise was effective, Bao Jianlin and the experts and engineers present had no doubts. They know that in terms of investment in scientific research, Feng Xiaochen is definitely the most generous among officials, and there is no need to add the word "one". Just said that this time everyone was pulled to Binhai Erhua to engage in technical research, Leng Feiyun let go as soon as he saw everyone, saying that he didn't care about the cost. Binhai No. 2 Chemical was originally a large fertilizer plant invested and built by Binhai Province, and I didn't know what Feng Xiaochen was doing behind it, so he persuaded Binhai Province to contribute it to everyone to test the new process. Although everyone is an expert in fertilizer equipment, so as not to spoil this fertilizer plant that has not yet been put into production, but who can do this big deal?