Evil dragon has a warm heart
Chapter 414 - 414 413 Distillation Tower

Chapter 414: Chapter 413: Distillation Tower Chapter 414: Chapter 413: Distillation Tower As for Black Oil, Russell’s understanding was limited, even Black Oil Dragon Rossay, who nurtured the Black Oil Vein, did not understand Black Oil either.

It was like a hen laying eggs without knowing why it could lay eggs.

Black Oil was the “metal” mineral condensed from the power radiation of Rossay, but what specific uses Black Oil had needed to be explored by humans.

Fortunately, Black Oil bore a strong resemblance to the petroleum back on Earth, where Russell came from.

Russell had come across crude oil in his previous life while scrolling through videos on TikTok and had learned how raw oil could be separated into everyday fuels like gasoline, diesel, and kerosene through distillation and cracking, based on the principle that different liquids vaporize differently under varying conditions.

Therefore, he thought of applying the same distillation process to separate Black Oil into different products.

So, when he was at Red Castle, he went to visit the Great Scholar Tower and exchanged ideas with many of the scholars from the Round Table.

Eventually, he invited Great Scholar Placido to Blackflame Plains to study the first-ever “metal” Black Oil in Shadowflame Grand Duchy.

Placido was a grand scholar in the field of metallurgy, highly accomplished in magic analysis, formation construction, and a seasoned pharmacist. He also had outstanding research on “metal” coal.

After the emergence of Black Oil, Placido wished to explore whether this fuel, akin to coal and peat, had any extraordinary properties.

Thus, he hit it off with Russell and, together with a few scholarly apprentices, established the Blackfire Laboratory at the Black Oil Mine.

Thereafter, Russell shared his understanding of Black Oil with Placido and proposed the idea of distillation.

That led to Placido’s distillation experiment, which yielded four different products.

“Lord Russell, allow me to introduce these four products to you,” Dun said, picking up a glass jar containing a slightly yellowish transparent liquid, “This product has a bit of a stench and ignites very easily. Moreover, the flame is bright and smokeless, and far more intense than Black Oil.”

“Hmm,” Russell gave a noncommittal response.

Dun picked up another sealed glass container: “This product evaporates easily and is prone to spontaneous combustion and explosions. However, its burning effect is very good, and it’s easy to distill.”

“Hmm.”

Then, Dun picked up a third glass jar filled with a golden liquid: “This product also burns fiercely, but it is unstable, prone to vaporization, and produces much smoke.”

Finally, Dun held up a fourth glass jar with a golden liquid, but thicker: “This product cannot burn and is sticky; its use is not yet known.”

After reviewing the four products,

Russell’s brow lifted: “That’s it?”

“These are the four distillation products,” Dun replied, “The rest is just some residue from the Black Oil.”

“Bring me the Black Oil residue to take a look,” Russell said casually, “If coal slag can be used to pave coal paths, why can’t Black Oil residue be used for paving? Perhaps it can make even better roads than coal slag.”

“Alright,” Dun immediately sent an apprentice to bring the distillation experiment residues.

A large, blackish lump, nearing a semi-solid state, but not a true solid, it still retained some liquid properties.

Russell didn’t touch the residue himself, instead watched the apprentice handle it for a while, then smiled and said, “Mix this stuff with some sand, flatten it out, and the roads paved with it would be absolutely beautiful.”

“Perhaps,” said Great Scholar Placido, who had just repaired the distillation furnace, “But coal slag roads are also quite good.”

Russell smiled, “Once the Black Oil furnace trials are complete, the fuel for the whole Glowing Valley and Blackflame Plains will no longer be coal, and there will be no more coal slag for paving. Hence, exploring the use of Black Oil residue for paving is urgent.”

“I see,” Placido nodded in understanding.

“I think all these distillation products are quite promising. Lord Placido, your next task is to design and construct a distillation tower to enable large-scale distillation of Black Oil at the mine site.”

Placido started to complain bitterly, “Good heavens, a distillation furnace is already enough to worry about, let alone designing a distillation tower…”

Russell’s smile didn’t fade, “I will provide more funds for you and your students to conduct research.”

Placido’s eyes lit up instantly, and he laughed heartily, “Certainly, certainly, it’s our honor to serve a Baron like you, Lord Russell, who respects knowledge so deeply. Rest assured, I will design a distillation tower for you right away!”

“Then I’ll leave it in your capable hands, Lord.” Russell also laughed out loud.

If money could solve the problem, then it was no longer a problem. He was very much looking forward to whether the Blackfire Laboratory, with his generous sponsorship, might usher in the Industrial Age on the Dragon Sleep Continent.

The Kirov Scholar said with a smile, “Sir, please name the four, no, five products from the distillation and decomposition of Black Oil.”

“Certainly!” Russell accepted without hesitation.

Pointing to the first slightly yellow and somewhat smelly transparent liquid, he said, “This one, let’s call it kerosene.”

Pointing to the second liquid, which needed to be sealed, he said, “This one is very volatile, let’s call it liquefied gas.”

Pointing to the third golden-colored liquid, he said, “This one, let’s call it… gasoline.”

Pointing to the fourth golden-colored thick liquid, he said, “This sticky one, let’s call it lubricating oil.”

Lastly, pointing to the Black Oil residue, he said, “This one is called asphalt.”

With that, Black Oil had been decomposed into five new products: kerosene, liquefied gas, gasoline, lubricating oil, and asphalt.

Russell concluded, “Of course, this is only provisional. Perhaps through experimental distillation and decomposition, we can obtain even more new products; we will refine the names then. But for now, Lord Placido, I hope you can explore the uses of these products.”

As long as the funds were in place, Placido was very agreeable, “As you wish, Lord Russell.”

Placido was easy to talk to, and Russell was not one to shortchange these scholars.

He immediately declared, “The Blackfire Laboratory is too rudimentary. I will choose another site near the Black Oil Mine, and build a splendid Blackfire Tower of Scholars in the style of the Great Scholar Tower, for your study, research, and living.”

Upon hearing this, Placido was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly said, “Lord Russell, there’s no need to build a tower. We are only here to research for a while, and when the research ends, we will still have to return to Red Castle.”

Russell said with a smile, “That’s okay, I won’t force anyone to stay, but if anyone likes to remain here to continue the research on Black Oil, I will fully support and sponsor them. In my territory, scholars are esteemed guests!”

Sighing, Placido shook his head with a smile, “Everyone has their own aspirations… Placido thanks Lord Russell for treating us so generously.”

…

The kerosene, liquefied gas, gasoline, lubricating oil, and asphalt derived from the decomposition of Black Oil each had their uses, but for the time being, the most widely used was still the Black Oil itself.

“Sir, our brick kiln factory has recently experimented with burning Black Oil for bricks.” William, who was in charge of the Blackwaist Serpent Brick Kiln Factory, had now been promoted to be in charge of the Blackfire Brick Kiln, and in the future, all the brick kilns on the Blackflame Plains would be under his management.

“How did it go?”

“Burning pure Black Oil alone is less stable compared to burning coal,” William stated frankly. “The slag bricks that are fired are of mixed quality… but when Black Oil is used in combination with wood, the results are very good—better than coal!”

After all, Black Oil is a liquid, and traditional brick kilns lack specialized oil supply equipment, resulting in uneven fuel distribution.

But with wood acting as a supplement, Black Oil can burn evenly in the furnace.

“Continue to refine the research, and strive to perfect the technology of burning bricks with Black Oil,” Russell said affirmatively. “When the time comes, I want to build kiln factories all over the Blackflame Plains, not just for firing slag bricks, but also ordinary bricks.”

By then, even the serfs would be able to live in comfortable red-brick houses.