African Entrepreneurship Record

Kemens from the Ministry of Science and Technology said: ”Professor Robben, the alkali production process you’re talking about looks good, but I still must interrupt this reverie. Since the raw materials for such an alkali production process come from natural soda ash, it means that this mineral resource has great uncertainty.”

”Just like coal, it isn’t abundant in every region. If the reserves of natural soda ash in East Africa aren’t plentiful, then it will obviously be greatly restricted.”

Robben: ”Director Fidel, I am somewhat confident about this. East Africa hasn’t paid much attention to the exploration of natural soda ash mines. After all, due to the limitations of technology and different alkali production processes in the past, society generally lacked understanding and recognition of natural soda ash mines.”

”During my past field research expeditions, I found that East Africa is relatively rich in natural soda ash mines, especially within the East African Rift Valley, where many lakes have natural soda ash deposits.”

”The most noteworthy among them is Lake Magadi, about eighty kilometers southwest of Nairobi. I dare say to the Ministry of Science and Technology that the natural soda ash in this lake is very abundant. If effectively developed, it can fully meet the current national demand for soda ash.”

”This natural soda ash mine has advantages both in terms of distance and resource reserves, and its extraction cost is quite low with relatively high purity. According to the situation of Lake Magadi, there should be quite a few similar resource distribution situations in the East African Rift Valley.”

As the largest scar on Earth, East African scientists are very enthusiastic about researching the East African Rift Valley. Even if they aren’t geologists, many people still seek materials in the East African Rift Valley, especially some botanists and zoologists. So Robben’s discovery of the natural soda ash resources in Lake Magadi did not come as a surprise.

Moreover, Lake Magadi is so close to Nairobi, an eighty-kilometer journey, equivalent to the distance from First Town to Bajamojo.

Also, Lake Magadi is quite peculiar, presenting a striking pink color, which easily attracts attention since pink lakes are rare. The unusual color also shows that Lake Magadi contains very high chemical substance compositions.

Robben continued: ”Professor Ankapov from Nairobi and I have conducted in-depth research on this lake for over two months. Lake Magadi is located in a semi-desert area and is an inland lake with several cold and hot water inflows.”

”The hot water contains a large amount of alkali substances, making the lake water a dense sodium carbonate brine with sedimentation of several meters of natural soda ash at the lake’s bottom. Its high salt concentration makes it impossible for any aquatic life to survive in the lake. Underground springs gush from the crusted alkali shell, dyeing the lake water a vivid pink, resembling the color of wine from a distance.”

”In other words, Lake Magadi will continuously produce natural soda ash and other substances. In the past, indigenous people used it as a place to refine salt, but it was later abandoned. The lake’s surface is close to eighty square kilometers, and during the dry season, the lake quickly evaporates, exposing the alkali substances accumulated at the bottom.”

”Therefore, at Lake Magadi, both salt and soda ash resources can be developed at the same time. During the dry season, it becomes a rare open-pit mine. These factors combined make the resource development cost of Lake Magadi very low. The only thing that needs to be resolved now is transportation and factory construction.”

”And this lake is so close to the northern railway, with just one road required to continuously transport its resources out.”

This gives the personnel of the Ministry of Science and Technology a clearer understanding of the soda ash mines in Lake Magadi as talked about by Robben.

In fact, as Robben said, the development of Lake Magadi existed even before East Africa was founded. Local indigenous people used the lake to refine coarse salt, a situation that lasted for hundreds of years. However, it was interrupted later when East African colonizers arrived.

Fidel said: ”Professor Robben, we presently aren’t able to make a decision on your natural soda ash method. We will send more professional staff to Lake Magadi for systematic survey work and finally determine whether this alkali production process is worth promoting.”

Robben: ”Of course, because without sufficient raw materials, the natural soda ash method is like a clever woman unable to cook without rice. However, I believe that once you have thoroughly surveyed Lake Magadi, you will surely be interested in the natural soda ash method.”

In past lives, the natural soda ash method was the mainstream alkali production process in countries like the United States and Turkey. Especially the United States, with natural soda ash reserves of over sixty billion, making it impossible to fully exploit, East Africa’s natural soda ash resources are estimated to be difficult to exceed those of the United States in a short time.

Nevertheless, East Africa is also quite fortunate. Lake Magadi is itself the largest natural soda ash mine in Africa, and it holds a favorable advantage in time, geography, and human resources, making it easy to develop, with low extraction costs and large reserves. Its proximity to East African cities and transportation means not exploiting this resource would be a sin for East Africa.

Soon this matter also ended up on Ernst’s desk. Ernst attaches importance to the alkali production industry, not only for the significance of soda ash itself but also because in past life history textbooks, the alkali production industry occupies a certain position, including the famous United Alkali Process and its founder Hou Debang, both leaving a deep impression on Ernst.

The full name of the United Alkali Process is the Hou United Alkali Process, which can be said to be one of the few benchmarks in the chemical industry of the modern Far East Empire.

Of course, the United Alkali Process hasn’t been invented at this stage, and even in past lives, it appeared near the forties. Currently, the Solvay Alkali Process is in its heyday.

”Your Highness, should we fully implement this natural soda ash method?” Minister of Science and Technology Kemens asked.

Ernst: ”I always advocate for the industry to walk on multiple legs. For now, the new alkali production process has great advantages, but chemical synthesis also has irreplaceable advantages. Even the Louis Braille Alkali Process cannot be completely replaced as it not only produces soda ash but also chlorine, which can be used to purify water or applied in the chemical industry and disinfectants.”

”So, there’s no need to choose one among the natural soda ash method, Solvay Alkali Process, and Louis Braille Alkali Process. Continuously improving the related processes can achieve unexpected effects, involving not just the product of soda ash.”

”Furthermore, the Louis Braille Alkali Process currently occupies the mainstream position in our country’s alkali production industry, making changes is a movement of the entire sector. Of course, from the perspective of cost and utilization efficiency, we surely need to adopt new processes more.”

”Thus, in the next stage, our country’s alkali production industry should, on this basis, popularize both the natural soda ash method and Solvay Alkali Process simultaneously.”

”And in my opinion, the Solvay Alkali Process also has much room for improvement, continuing to enhance its resource utilization efficiency. These tasks require the efforts of East African researchers and our enterprises. In the alkali production industry, you should collaborate with the industrial sector and state-owned enterprises to constantly improve our country’s alkali production industry.”

Overall, the task of East Africa’s industrial sector in the next phase is to develop both the Solvay Alkali Process and the natural soda ash method, replacing the current Louis Braille Alkali Process to become the mainstream.

The main reason is that the Louis Braille Alkali Process has low output, and as industrial development progresses, its productivity increasingly cannot keep up. Just developing the natural soda ash method is also inappropriate, as East African natural soda ash resources are relatively rich but not to the extent of past life United States level. If East Africa had six billion tons of natural soda ash reserves, then East African alkali production industry wouldn’t be an issue, but currently, East Africa’s specific data on soda ash reserves is not clear, which easily causes anxiety.

Just like the oil of past life, humanity can always find new oil resources through technological progress. The Earth’s oil reserves are always underestimated, yet this doesn’t prevent most countries in the world from having oil anxiety syndrome.

Therefore, East Africa surely needs to develop both the Solvay Alkali Process and the natural soda ash method. Currently, the Solvay Alkali Process in East African alkali production industry is just starting, the development of the natural soda ash method is a beneficial supplement for East Africa’s industrial and mining sectors.