African Entrepreneurship Record

In early 1895, the Tete Municipal Government delegation arrived in Beira, focusing on the Steel Research Institute and Aluminum Materials Research Institute in Mbeya.

This time they came mainly for "electrolytic aluminum technology". Although the aluminum smelter has been established in Xinde, before Mozambique has divided provinces, Xinde is still under the jurisdiction of Tete City, so the negotiation work is also done by the Tete Municipal Government.

The aluminum smelter cannot be implemented, and Tete City can only work hard on steel, so the Steel Research Institute and several steel mills in Mbeya City are the focus of the inspection team during the inspection.

Representatives from Xinde Town and Tete City went to the Aluminum Materials Research Institute in Mbeya together.

"Currently, the countries that have mastered the cutting-edge technology of electrolytic aluminum in the world are the United States, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, France and East Africa, and our institute is the most authoritative institution in the field of aluminum materials in East Africa. We are currently promoting the research of aluminum alloy products, and there are already three aluminum alloy finished products with large-scale promotion value." Director Eubicio introduced to several people.

East Africa's emphasis on basic materials science can be traced back to the 1980s. After higher education had improved slightly, and under the leadership of some returned talents, several materials research institutes were established in East Africa at one time in 1883, covering common metals, rare metals, precious metals and other fields.

Among them, the Mbeya Aluminum Materials Research Institute is one of the earliest national key research institutes established in East Africa, which Ernst paid special attention to.

After all, in the 21st century, aluminum is the most important metal after steel. The reason for this is that it is only based on production. Aluminum is the second largest metal mineral after iron in terms of future usage.

According to this idea, the main metal materials research in East Africa at that time were iron, aluminum, chromium, copper, manganese, lead and zinc. These seven metals have established corresponding main research institutes. At the same time, East Africa has also established some comprehensive materials research institutes and many niche materials research institutes.

The above seven major metal materials research institutes are also consistent with the national conditions of mineral resources in East Africa. East Africa does not lack common metal mineral resources such as iron, aluminum and copper.

As for the reserves of chromite and manganese ore, East Africa is far ahead of the rest of the world. Lead and zinc are also common. For example, Kabwe is an industrial and mining city that started with these two metal elements.

In fact, East Africa is not lacking in the top ten metals in the world. Titanium, nickel and zirconium, which are the top three in the world, are also widely distributed in East Africa. African minerals are especially famous for non-ferrous metals and rare metals. If East Africa's world's number one gold mine is added, East Africa also occupies an important position in the field of precious metals.

However, many mineral resources have not become mainstream minerals due to the times and technology, such as aluminum, the second largest metal element in the world in terms of output.

The low output of aluminum has caused its price to remain high, so from this point of view alone, research on aluminum materials is very profitable.

Of course, the reason why Ernst attaches importance to aluminum technology breakthroughs is that emerging industries such as automobiles, aviation, aerospace, and electricity in the future cannot do without aluminum products.

In traditional industries, such as shipbuilding, machinery and equipment manufacturing, rail transportation, etc., aluminum has broad market prospects in various fields.

Take cars as an example. In the 21st century, car bodies have begun to use aluminum alloys as the main carrier, which has the advantages of excellent ductility, light weight, and firmness. Of course, the main reason is that it is cheap and has a large output.

Aircraft also widely use aluminum as the fuselage material. If it is a typical example of the MiG-25 that uses stainless steel as the main material, just pretend that Ernst did not say it.

If titanium is the future metal for the 21st century, then aluminum is the future metal for the 19th century, and the end of the 19th century was a critical period for the breakthrough of aluminum technology.

In the original history, that is, in 1886, Hall of the United States and Aylut of France, almost at the same time, respectively obtained patents for the production of metallic aluminum using cryolite-alumina molten salt electrolysis.

In this time and space, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, East Africa, the United States, and France achieved technological breakthroughs almost at the same time.

In fact, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's breakthrough in this field was closely related to East Africa, because this was a cooperative project between the two countries.

Eubicio, director of the Aluminum Materials Research Institute in Mbeya, East Africa, was an East African student sent to study in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the early days of its laboratory construction, it had a close relationship with the Joseph Institute of Technology in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Joseph Institute of Technology is located in Hungary and was later renamed the Royal Joseph Institute of Technology in Hungary. The institute is an important historical source of the Budapest University of Technology in later generations, and Eubicio is a student majoring in chemistry at the Joseph Institute of Technology.

In fact, as one of the earliest batch of publicly funded students, Eubicio graduated from the Joseph Institute of Technology in 1873. After graduation, he taught at the school because of his excellent grades and engaged in related research.

Even in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was a top talent, so after returning home, he was arranged by the East African government to serve as the director of the newly established Mbeya Aluminum Materials Research Institute.

In the early days, East Africa was not blank in this field, but it could be said that it was completely dark, so under the matchmaking of Eubicio, East Africa cooperated with Eubicio's alma mater, the Joseph Institute of Technology, and finally the laboratory of the Mbeya Aluminum Materials Research Institute was successfully put into operation.

However, it is gratifying that three years after the establishment of the institute, in 1886, it finally broke through the latest electrolytic aluminum technology. Therefore, the results of this project were jointly funded by the Aluminum Materials Research Institute in Mbeya, East Africa, and the Joseph Institute of Technology in Austria-Hungary. Commonly owned.

There is a certain reason for this result. Currently, Hungary itself is one of the important bauxite producing areas in Europe, and the other one is France. During World War II, Germany's aluminum resources were mainly obtained through these two countries.

The aluminum ore resources in East Africa are also widely distributed, including in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa, Madagascar and other territories in the past.

Of course, the most noteworthy aluminum resource in Africa is Guinea in West Africa. In its previous life, it was one of the largest bauxite producing areas in the world. However, Guinea is too far away from East Africa and is a French colony. It is not easy for East Africa to intervene. It was Portugal, and maybe Ernst had already sent troops. After all, in addition to aluminum ore, Guinea also had the largest iron ore reserves in Africa.

Basic materials science is one of the most important disciplines. Of course, according to future generations, the earlier this basic discipline should be established, the better.

Because basic materials science is a subject that is not easy to produce results, it may take decades or even generations, high investment, high time consumption, and slow results. At present, the enterprises in East Africa that can support this kind of investment cycle are basically state-owned enterprises and state-owned enterprises. Financially supported scientific research institutions.

So Eubisio said: "It took us three years to conquer the latest electrolytic aluminum technology, and with the help of the Austro-Hungarian University, your idea of ​​setting up an aluminum smelting plant is technically mature. "At the same time, aluminum alloy materials also have great application scenarios, so the aluminum industry will have a huge market in East Africa and the world in the future, and can definitely become one of the pillar industries in some East African cities."

"Of course, our institute is mainly for research purposes. In fact, the first factory in East Africa that applies this technology is in Bagamoyo City, so you will have to go to Bagamoyo City to inspect the specific situation, especially the equipment. In terms of introduction, only Bagamoyo City has a mature aluminum industry.”

"At the same time, aluminum ore smelting requires a lot of electricity, which is also an important issue you need to solve in advance."

Of course, Eubisio was not completely unable to help. He said to everyone: "Although our research institute cannot be of great help, some small help can still be done, especially regarding the latest technology of aluminum materials. You can all ask for help." For help we seek, we also need concrete production data and market feedback to formulate research directions.”