The First Invention Certificate of New China was awarded to the scientist Hou Debang

New China No. 1 Invention Certificate. Courtesy of the Party History Office of the Municipal Party Committee

At the "The Right Way in the World is vicissitudes - The History exhibition of the Communist Party of China in Nanjing" at No. 1 Dujiang Road, a "New China No. 1 Invention Certificate" issued in 1953 was exhibited. A thin certificate, from a small incision, reflects a magnificent history of modern Chinese chemical industry, and is a milestone in China's petrochemical industry. The inventor of this technology is Hou Debang, a famous scientist and the director of Yongli Plutonium Factory, the predecessor of Nanhua Company. The relevant person in charge of Nanhua Company introduced the story behind this invention certificate to reporters.

Back in 1937, the Japanese invasion of China approached Nanjing, and the Yongli Factory (the predecessor of the Nanhua Company) was bombed. Factory director Hou Debang led the workers to move west to Sichuan and reopen the basic chemical base.

Acids and alkalis are indispensable basic raw materials for the production of chemical products. The main raw material for alkali production is table salt. However, in Sichuan, the well salt is high in quality, the original alkali production process is not applicable, and the new european alkali production method is not certain. Hou Debang decided to explore new alkali production methods.

Under difficult conditions, he repeatedly carried out basic tests on reaction temperature, raw material addition order, and raw material ratio. Nearly 500 experiments were conducted at this stage, more than 2,000 samples were analyzed, a large amount of data was obtained, and a new alkali production method was finally explored, which suddenly increased the utilization rate of table salt from 70% to 96%.

In order to commend Hou Debang's meritorious deeds in pioneering the new alkali system, on March 15, 1941, The Yongli Plutonium Factory held a factory meeting, and all colleagues unanimously agreed that the new alkali method was named "Hou's Alkali Method".

Hou Debang is not satisfied with the achievements that have been made, he wants to find a more ideal alkali production method, the alkali industry and the synthetic ammonia industry are organically combined, and a completely different ammonia-alkali combination process from the Cha'an method - "Hou's alkali method" can be finally completed. "Hou's alkali method" invented the soda ash production process, "three acids and two alkalis" as the basic industrial raw materials, widely used in the production of various types of industrial products.

On July 1, 1953, the Central Administration for Industry and Commerce issued an invention certificate for the "Hou's Alkali Method", which is the first invention certificate in New China. Since the 1960s, the ammonia-alkali combination alkali process has been fully promoted in China's soda ash industry, and the "combined alkali method", one of the "Hou's alkali methods", is still an advanced technology in the field of international alkali production.

The reporter learned that after the founding of New China, Yongli Plutonium Factory continued to grow and develop under the leadership of the party and was formed as a Nanhua Company. The company has always held high the banner of innovation, and has created the first high-pressure container, the first furnace catalyst and other more than 30 of China's chemical industry. In 2020, the company won the first prize of Jiangsu Province Science and Technology Progress Award, 1 second prize of Sinopec Science and Technology Progress Award, a total of 173 patents, including 143 invention patents, the establishment of the first intellectual property operation center in the system, the approval of Nanjing Intellectual Property Operation Center platform, and the successful application for high-value patent cultivation projects in Jiangsu Province.

Nanbao Rong media reporter Xu Qin

Correspondent Ye Yingchun

Author: Xu Qin

Source: Nanjing Daily