Chapter 100
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 100
Chapter Title: Chemical Fertilizer
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It had been about a week since sales of The Little Prince began.
Normally, I'd be grinning ear to ear checking the sales figures, but not this time.
I'd come to see the professor because I'd sent him a letter about fertilizer a while back.
I'd been too busy resting and writing a book for Katiranya to make it myself.
So I'd asked him to handle it instead.
"But why isn't it done yet?"
"Doesn't it feel like our roles are reversed here?"
"That's not the point right now, is it?"
The professor shot me an aggrieved look, but even he had nothing to say, so he fell silent.
Of course, I had no intention of pressing him further.
I told him it was fine and asked what was going on.
He launched into a somewhat disjointed explanation.
From what I gathered after listening for a bit, he'd simply been too busy to even look at the letter I'd sent.
Fair enough— the professor was still handling a lot for the business.
Especially the paperwork, which I barely touched.
In this era, where corporate structures weren't properly established yet, he must have been working overtime.
"In that case, looks like I'll have to do it myself."
"Really? Then use my lab."
The professor handed me the key and told me to make free use of it.
Right after that, he excused himself, saying he had work to do.
"Not bad at all, actually."
I could use his lab and the materials pretty much however I wanted.
As I headed to the lab, I started pondering how to make the fertilizer.
For the record, I'm not doing this to avoid writing the next novel.
How do you make fertilizer?
There are two main types of fertilizer.
Natural and artificial—or chemical fertilizers, as they're also called—and in modern times, chemical ones are used far more.
Natural fertilizers are made by composting animal manure, urine, and such.
The problem is they can carry parasites, viruses, and the like.
Especially human waste, which has a high chance of contamination.
On top of that, natural fertilizers take a long time to produce and yield inconsistent quantities.
That's why we need artificial—or chemical—fertilizers.
"Of course, chemical fertilizers can be made even now."
The key elements in fertilizer are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Of these, nitrogen is the hardest to obtain, and there's no artificial synthesis method yet.
So we have to rely on natural sources.
Like manure or mining it from the ground, as I mentioned earlier.
"But if we could synthesize it artificially, everything would change."
To be precise, we need to create ammonia, a nitrogen compound.
With ammonia, we could open up a whole new era in agriculture.
"The population will keep growing. Especially once technology advances and everyone starts reaping the benefits."
Now it was time to use the Haber-Bosch process, created by Fritz Haber—the chemist who nearly went down in history as humanity's greatest.
The question was how to implement it.
"How the heck do I do this?"
To synthesize ammonia, nitrogen and hydrogen must be combined.
That requires high temperatures and high pressures.
Only then can nitrogen's strong triple bond be broken.
The issue is that if the temperature or pressure is too high or too low, it won't work.
In short, balance is key.
"And we need a container that can withstand it."
Generating high heat is easy enough.
We had coke now, so raising temperatures was no problem.
The real challenge was a container that could handle high pressure.
"Hmm, time to make another improved mana alloy."
This time, an upgraded high-pressure version.
If memory served, iron catalyst at 200 atmospheres and 400-500 degrees was optimal.
"Yeah, iron catalyst to speed up the reaction."
Alright, let's give it a shot.
First, I need to build a device to apply pressure.
"Man, feels like the workload's piling up."
Still, having an air compressor would be handy.
"Oh, right— the more you compress air, the hotter it gets."
So I'll need a cooling system too.
My head was already starting to ache from all the planning.
For now, I decided to draw up plans and designs.
Days passed, and I ended up facedown on the desk.
"Damn it, cooling."
I'd clearly underestimated this.
No, I'd definitely underestimated it.
For the Haber-Bosch process, first you need pure nitrogen and hydrogen.
Meaning you have to separate them from air.
Hydrogen is surprisingly easy— use methane, aka natural gas.
Nitrogen was the problem.
To separate nitrogen, you first need to cool it to -190 degrees.
In other words, cryogenic equipment.
The process is straightforward.
Compress the air and cool it as much as possible.
Then use the Joule-Thomson effect for the rest.
Repeat until the temperature drops to extremes.
With the professor's help, I'd even created a custom temperature-measuring spell.
"Ugh, my head hurts."
Mountains of stuff to build.
The container?
That was surprisingly quick.
Call it the second upgrade, or extreme-environment mana alloy.
Whatever— the container was done fast.
Everything after was the headache.
Joule-Thomson effect: think pursed lips blowing air.
High-pressure fluid passes through a small nozzle into low pressure, temperature plummets.
Easy to do small-scale, but I need industrial mass production.
Hence, expansion turbines.
Feed compressed air through small nozzles into a turbine to do work.
The compressed air loses energy via Joule-Thomson, spins the turbine, loses more energy.
Repeat several times to drop the temperature.
"And that's why I've designed expansion turbines now."
But it doesn't end there!
Use the cold gas to cool incoming gas, ramp pressure to 7 atmospheres.
Separate oxygen and nitrogen, process, and finally get pure nitrogen and hydrogen!
"Then high pressure and heat again... ugh."
Just a short break, then back at it.
Haha, finally done!
I've separated nitrogen and oxygen from air at last.
Hydrogen from methane, and now all that's left is synthesizing them!
"Whew, now I need to build hydrogen and nitrogen plants."
This was just for experiments— too small and crude.
But it produces what's needed, so let's move on.
"Next, the compressor. I'll repurpose an upgraded engine."
Upgraded engines can deliver the torque and power I want.
But compressing all at once generates massive heat.
So stage the compression with cooling in between.
Like a radiator heat exchanger.
"Alright, let's keep going!"
A month had passed since I arrived at the professor's.
There'd been countless trial and error.
Like a defective container exploding during testing, or heat exchangers failing to transfer heat properly.
After overcoming endless setbacks, it was complete.
Extracting nitrogen and hydrogen from air and synthesizing ammonia!
"Wow, that was brutal."
The hardest thing I'd made so far.
Extreme conditions and complex steps, maybe?
Toughest besides the mana engine.
"Of course, this isn't the end. Now ammonia to fertilizer for true completion."
This part's simple.
Mix in a stirrer, concentrate, dry, done.
Though building the equipment will take time.
"Leave that to the professor."
Yeah, dump the tedious stuff on him.
A few days later, I finally succeeded in producing the fertilizer.
Now, find a place to test it.
"Hmm. Oh, right— back to that place from before."
The estate I'd visited to test the early tractor prototype.
I left a quick note for the professor and headed to Viscount Pentrin's territory.
He greeted me warmly upon arrival.
"Welcome! I've been waiting."
"Good to see you, Viscount Pentrin. I hope you've been well?"
I shook his outstretched hand, and he laughed heartily with a nod.
"Absolutely! That tractor you developed— it's magnificent!"
He launched into a lengthy praise of the tractor's virtues.
I nodded along with an awkward smile before getting to the point.
"I've brought something new this time."
"Oh? What is it?"
Avoiding his overly eager gaze, I showed him the fertilizer.
Naturally, he had no idea what it was at first.
I explained calmly, and soon interest—and anticipation—lit up his face.
"In simple terms, it replaces traditional fertilizers and can be mass-produced."
"Exactly. But since it mixes various materials, we need to fine-tune the ratios."
I'd roughly calibrated them already.
But real-world testing over multiple trials was essential.
I'd prepared several ratios, so we could test simultaneously.
Viscount Pentrin nodded readily.
"Understood. Let's try it on one field section."
"Thank you, Viscount Pentrin."
"No, thank you. I'm the grateful one."
With that, he took the fertilizers off to run the tests.
Now, time for me to rest a bit.
I relaxed once more under the care of Viscount Pentrin's servants.