Chapter 437: Purchase Order (Middle)

The two parties talked for over ten minutes, during which the ten samples were transported into the base’s temporary warehouse.

To secure this partnership, Tan Gaoming didn’t return home. Instead, he planned to stay in Gongping Town for a while, only leaving once the sample testing was complete and the results were in.

In the afternoon, Li Guoguang assigned a dozen or so technicians to start assembling the components.

A ceramic liner was placed upside down on a wooden frame. A technician quickly applied flame-retardant insulating foam adhesive, and then a crane was used to lift a plastic outer shell and fit it over the ceramic liner.

This process was repeated for all ten ceramic liners, fitting each into a plastic outer shell.

At the same time, a temporary serial number was affixed to the plastic shell. This number was provided by Tan’s Porcelain, mainly for identifying the sample model.

The next day, the plastic shells and ceramic liners were firmly bonded together. Using a crane with manual assistance, the containers were turned upright.

Next, accessories such as the graphite plate anode, manganese oxide cathode, and temperature sensors were installed.

Soon, the assembled microbial fuel cell units were placed on handcarts and sent to a sealed fueling workshop, where workers in protective suits and helmets injected a diluted cow manure solution (90% water content) into the ceramic liners.

Then, the containers were taken to the next workshop. Inside, workers used large syringes to inject a specific ratio of soy genistein into the cow manure solution.

They then moved to a third workshop with an even higher isolation level. This was the inoculation workshop for the special gram-negative bacteria and the Electricity-Generating Bacteria Strain. Workers quickly inoculated the cow manure solution with the bacterial strains.

Finally, the ten containers were brought to a six-story factory building that covered an area of ten mu.

A forklift placed the microbial fuel cell units into pre-designated slots. An electrical technician quickly connected the wiring and then began adjusting the room’s temperature, humidity, light intensity, and air-oxygen content.

Each room held 100 cell units, and the first floor had 10 rooms.

The five floors had a total of 50 rooms, capable of holding 5,000 cell units.

The sixth floor housed the transformer equipment, air separation units, a lead-carbon battery storage room, the central air conditioning system, and the control center.

Each cell room was an independent chamber. After the initial installation of the cell units, the rooms would be sealed. The units would not be moved again unless they were decommissioned.

After each power generation cycle, the cow manure solution inside the cell units would be pumped out via suction equipment directly into tanker trucks outside. The trucks would then transport it to a biogas fermentation plant four kilometers away for further processing.

As the temperature, humidity, light intensity, and oxygen concentration reached their preset values.

Sixteen hours later, the electricity-generating bacteria entered a stable peak power generation phase. Each cell unit’s power output reached 340 to 360 watts.

In the fifth-floor control center, Li Guoguang watched the numbers on the power monitoring equipment, a look of relief washing over his face. “Whew, this is a good start.”

The power engineer, Han Xi Yuan, carefully examined the readings. For now, the electricity generated by these experimental microbial fuel cell units was not yet connected to the grid; it was being temporarily stored in the lead-carbon battery room.

The power plant was designed to support 5,000 cell units operating simultaneously, with a maximum power output of 1,750 kilowatts and a maximum annual generation of 15.33 million kilowatt-hours.

For a thermal power station, this power output and generation capacity wouldn’t even be considered outdated; it would be classified as obsolete.

However, microbial fuel cells represent a sustainable and environmentally friendly power generation technology. The fuel they consume is the more than two hundred tons of fresh cow manure produced daily by the dairy farm next door.

This amount of power wasn’t a lot, but it wasn’t insignificant either.

After all, Shanmei City’s total electricity consumption last year was only 8 billion kilowatt-hours. Fifteen million kilowatt-hours was approximately one five-hundred-and-thirtieth of that.

But Hailufeng Company had no intention of selling the electricity. Instead, they planned to use it to power their own factories, employee dormitories, farms, and breeding operations.

This amount of energy was enough to supply power to the dairy farm, dairy processing plant, Durian Plantation, durian processing plant, cow manure comprehensive utilization plant, and employee dormitories throughout Gongping Town.

「Another half-month of experiments went by.」

During this time, Jiang Miao secretly came to inspect the progress. He examined the condition of the ceramic liners, graphite plates, and manganese oxide plates, getting a clear understanding of the situation.

Meanwhile, a few other porcelain companies also came to deliver samples.

However, these companies didn’t take it as seriously as Tan’s Porcelain, and they only brought one or two meager samples.

In the end, it was Jiang Miao who made the final decision, telling Li Guoguang to order the number 4 sample liners produced by Tan’s Porcelain. The price for each ceramic liner was 500 yuan.

The moment the contract was signed, Tan Gaoming breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing Tan Gaoming dazed, Li Guoguang cleared his throat slightly. “Ahem… Boss Tan, please start production as soon as possible!”

“Alright, no problem.” Tan Gaoming’s face was filled with excitement.

But Li Guoguang wasn’t joking around. “Let me be blunt. You must guarantee the quality. If a large batch of substandard products appears, then you can forget about ever entering our company’s supply chain in the future.”

Tan Gaoming immediately wiped the smile from his face and nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. “Yes, yes… I will personally oversee production and guarantee that your company’s order is completed on time and to your quality standards.”

This order was too important. For a small factory like Tan’s Porcelain, in the current economic climate, this 2.5 million yuan order could keep the factory running for at least two consecutive months.

“Do a good job. Our company will need many more of these ceramic liners in the future.”

“Thank you for the guidance, Manager Li.” Tan Gaoming found it increasingly difficult to suppress his excitement.

Often, a one-time order isn’t that significant. A long-term order, however, is a truly high-value contract.

Because a long-term order guarantees stable, continuous production for the factory, which is incredibly important.