Chapter 398: Interlude 2

Chapter 398 -187: Interlude 2

Considering that strawberries don’t transport well, the Planting Division planned to convert all 2,500 mu of these wheat fields into strawberry greenhouses.

Next, they would continue to increase the strawberry cultivation area on Chongming Island until it expanded to about 10,000 mu.

As for the Ginseng Fruit and Tomatoes, the Planting Division opted not to open new cultivation bases in the Yangtze River Delta Region. Instead, they planned to establish planting areas along the banks of the Yangtze River in Northern Gan and transport the produce to the Yangtze River Delta Region by road.

Jiang Miao inspected Yu’an Farm.

Afterward, he headed to Xinzeng Village on the northeastern coast of Chongming Island for another inspection.

Near the Chongming Comprehensive Solid Waste Disposal and Utilization Center, Jiang Miao saw a vast expanse of saline-alkali tidal flats. Even Immortal Soybeans struggled to grow in this place, because the seawater would cover these flats during high tide.

Unless it was reclaimed for saltwater aquaculture or through land reclamation, it would be difficult to utilize.

Jiang Miao had, of course, come here to investigate with a purpose in mind.

He planned to build a saltwater farm in this area in the future, but not for raising fish—it would be for cultivating spirulina.

Why cultivate spirulina?

The answer wasn’t for consumption.

It was for storing energy.

Chongming Island is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The river water flowing from upstream is rich in various nutrients and pollutants, making the water near the estuary unsuitable for raising aquatic products for consumption.

Jiang Miao planned to use this eutrophic and polluted estuarine water as the cultivation medium for the spirulina.

The benefits of doing so were numerous.

On one hand, the bioaccumulation effect of spirulina could absorb the excess nutrients and pollutants from the water, thereby purifying it.

At the same time, the wastewater from spirulina cultivation could be used to grow Suaeda salsa. By selectively breeding the Suaeda salsa to improve its ability to accumulate salt, a seawater desalination effect could be achieved.

Of course, this technology wouldn’t be very significant for the Yangtze River Delta Region, as the area doesn’t lack fresh water.

However, Suaeda salsa can be grown in the coastal areas of the North and is even better adapted to the northern climate. These northern coastal areas lack fresh water, but they have no shortage of seawater.

For example, for a major water consumer like the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, if large amounts of fresh water could be obtained this way, it would be an incredibly useful technology for the North China Plain.

Perhaps many would argue that using biological methods for seawater desalination is surely inefficient compared to desalination plants.

However, when evaluating a technology, one cannot look at a single aspect of efficiency in isolation; it must be considered comprehensively from all angles.

In fact, the desalination effect from the Suaeda salsa is merely a byproduct of this technology. Hailufeng Company’s true purpose for cultivating spirulina and growing Suaeda salsa is to store energy and generate electricity.

Technically, spirulina requires specific temperatures and light to reproduce. To achieve high-speed, year-round reproduction, the conditions are only met along the coast of South China.

The winters along the coast of East China are unsuitable for spirulina reproduction. Along the coasts of North China and the Northeast, conditions are unsuitable for half the year.

It is precisely this unsuitability that allows the spirulina to function as a form of energy storage.

By building simple greenhouses and using fluorescent lights, electric heaters, and electromagnetic field equipment—powered by offshore wind farms—to provide heat, light, and a magnetic field to the spirulina cultivation ponds, the spirulina can be maintained in a relatively efficient state of reproduction.

Especially in the early morning hours, during the off-peak electricity demand, that portion of wind power can be utilized to accelerate the spirulina’s reproduction.

If the daily light exposure can reach 18 hours, combined with stimulation from a specific magnetic field, the reproduction efficiency of spirulina can be doubled. It would then only take about 85 to 90 hours for the spirulina in the cultivation pond to double in quantity.

The resulting dried spirulina powder, Suaeda salsa, and other byproducts can then be used as raw materials for microbial fuel cells to generate electricity, produce biogas, and simultaneously produce fresh water.

The biogas slurry is then recycled as a nutrient solution for spirulina cultivation, and the biogas residue is used as nutrient-rich soil for the Suaeda salsa.

The core of this entire system is its high degree of self-sustainability and low operating costs.

Currently, the cost of seawater desalination remains high, typically ranging from 4 to 8 Hua Yuan per cubic meter.

For example, the Lu Bei Biyuan Sea Water Desalination Project in Wudi County, Qilu Province, attempts to lower costs through methods like photovoltaic power generation and a circular economy, yet the cost of desalinated water is as high as 7.5 Hua Yuan per cubic meter.

Internationally, recent bid prices for several seawater desalination projects have generally been between 0.4 and 0.6 US dollars per cubic meter, equivalent to about 2 to 3 Hua Yuan. Among them, the bid price for the Hassyan Seawater Desalination Plant project in Dubai was $0.36536 per cubic meter, which is 2.6 Hua Yuan.

Dubai can achieve a factory price of just over two yuan per cubic meter for desalinated water because they use cheap natural gas from the Persian Gulf. It’s essentially trading natural gas for fresh water.

Domestically, it is obviously not feasible to be so extravagant as to trade natural gas for fresh water, because domestic natural gas prices are much higher than in the Persian Gulf region.

As for desalination projects powered by photovoltaics and wind, the Bishuiyuan project’s cost is 7.5 Hua Yuan per cubic meter. At this price, it’s not just unaffordable domestically; even the environmentally obsessed European Union would balk at the cost.

Domestic desalination projects using newer technology, such as the Dongjia Port Seawater Desalination Plant, have reduced electricity consumption to 2.5 kilowatt-hours per ton of water, with a selling price of only 4.25 Hua Yuan per ton. This is barely usable, but the price is still on the high side.

The only drawback to the project Jiang Miao was planning was its enormous footprint, as it would require the conversion of a vast area of coastal tidal flats.