Himalia, in the laboratory of the outpost.
Researchers in chemical protective suits were in the isolation room, carefully studying the samples in the culture tank.
When analyzing the soil collected from Himalia, they found a special kind of bacteria in the black porous and loose soil. This bacteria was anaerobic and could only survive in a nitrogen environment. What caught people's attention was not the bacteria, but the metabolites produced by this bacteria …
It was a black hard lump with a complex chemical composition composed of a variety of hydrocarbons. The molecules folded with each other, forming a crisscrossed Z-shaped spatial structure. Because of this close combination, its density was quite astonishing in terms of hydrocarbons, almost twice that of standing water.
"Incredible."
"This density is almost as high as Teflon."
"Well, the density has reached 2. It's the first time I've seen such a high-density hydrocarbon."
Teflon was polytetrafluoroethylene with a density of 2.2, the densest of commonly used plastic materials. By the standard of hydrocarbons, the density could reach twice that of standing water. It was not an exaggeration to describe it as incredible.
"Have you analyzed the cause?"
"Just finished."
The researcher responsible for the study of the bacteria codenamed MW1 was Wang Zhouping, a former academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a researcher at the Qindao Bioenergy Research Institute.
Because of his dissatisfaction with the bureaucratic style of his superiors, as well as his family and children's education, he finally chose to emigrate to Xin. After immigrating to Xin, he quickly passed the interview and received an offer from Celestial Trade. After six months of astronaut training, he became a glorious researcher on an extraterrestrial survey ship.
When Wang Zhouping looked at the analysis report of the MW1 bacteria, his eyes flashed with excitement.
Before coming to Xin, his research direction happened to be the storage of new energy. It was precisely because of this that he knew better than anyone what the emergence of this material meant. If natural gas could be stored in a solid form, not only could it greatly reduce the storage and transportation costs of natural gas, but the most important thing was that the use of natural gas could be further expanded!
Because the main composition of this mixed material was similar to alkane compounds and the color was black, the researchers at the institute unanimously decided to name it "black alkane".
"Using methane and ethane as reactants, the metabolite black alkane is produced through a biochemical reaction. The reaction exotherms produce the heat needed to maintain life activities. The black alkane itself has a strong thermal insulation effect, filling the loose and porous rock body attached to the bacteria. No wonder this bacteria can survive in an environment with an average temperature of minus 180 degrees! "
"Have you seen this chemical formula before?" Hou Jun, the head of the laboratory, asked.
"Never, but in theory, it can be achieved," Wang Zhouping replied.
Hou Jun nodded and looked at the researcher in the isolation room.
"Begin heat value test."
“OK。”
The thumb-sized black alkane block, which was the metabolite of the MW1 bacteria, was placed into a sealed container by a researcher wearing a protective suit. Under Hou Jun's instructions, the researchers in the isolation room conducted a total of three sets of experiments to determine the reaction of black alkane at different temperatures in an oxygen-free environment, an air environment, and an oxygen-rich environment.
And the results of the experiment were quite shocking.
Not only the researchers present, but even the people who were watching this experiment hundreds of millions of kilometers away couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.
"It can be directly used as fuel in an oxygen-free environment, and the combustion product is the same as methane. The decomposition rate reaches a critical value at 150 degrees Celsius in an oxygen-free environment. The black alkane will quickly decompose into a mixture of methane and ethane … Try illumination!" Suddenly thinking of something, Wang Zhouping grabbed the microphone excitedly and said, "In an oxygen-free environment!"
The researcher in the isolation room turned his head and glanced at Hou Jun through the glass. Seeing the latter nod, he turned around, put another piece of black alkane into the container, emptied the oxygen, filled it with inert gas, and began to illuminate the black alkane in the container.
An amazing scene appeared.
According to the jumping parameters on the instrument, the composition of the air was slowly changing. The black alkane began to slowly decompose under illumination, forming methane and ethane. Seeing this scene, a trace of excitement and realization gradually appeared in Hou Jun's eyes.
In this way, it made sense.
Why could the bacteria that couldn't photosynthesize survive on the cold Himalia? By "breathing" methane and ethane gas, black alkane metabolites were produced, exothermic reactions maintained energy consumption, and the light from the Sun and Jupiter decomposed black alkane into methane and ethane.
Using black alkane as a medium, the MW1 bacteria managed to form a closed energy cycle on this dead planet on its own.
…
In Celestial City hundreds of millions of kilometers away, a silver aerospaceplane landed on the tarmac. As the dome slowly closed, the door of the plane opened. Jiang Chen, escorted by a group of soldiers, took the express train to the headquarters of the Space Department.
At the Space Command Center, Jiang Chen met Kelvin.
As soon as they met, Kelvin said to him with excitement.
"Black alkane! We discovered a new energy source! "
"Black alkane?"
"That's it!" Kelvin tapped twice on the touchpad, and a black solid holographic image appeared in front of the two and slowly rotated. "The metabolite of the MW1 bacteria."
"In other words, this thing is the feces of the MW1 bacteria?"
"You can understand it that way." Kelvin smiled awkwardly, coughed softly, and continued, "At present, the Himalia outpost is testing its physical properties. From the data just sent back, this black alkane can be naturally decomposed under light and can be directly ignited in an oxygen environment. Whether it is used as a storage method for natural gas or directly as a fossil fuel, there is no problem. Its combustion efficiency is very high, and it will hardly produce harmful gases. "
After listening to Kelvin's description, Jiang Chen immediately realized the value of this thing.
It was not difficult to mine Himalia's gas resources. The liquid methane and ethane mixture flowing on the surface of Himalia did not contain a large number of impurities like the natural gas fields, oil fields, and some coal fields on Earth that needed to be refined for production. It was no exaggeration to say that if a liquefied gas jar was thrown into the lake, and then fished out, it would be a high-calorific value liquefied natural gas with high ethane content.
The only cost might only be in storage and transportation.
Putting liquefied gas in cryogenic gas storage tanks and transporting it to the Mars colony, the Moon colony, and even the Earth hundreds of millions of kilometers away by Seagull-class transport ships didn't sound difficult and technically achievable, but the cost was not a small number.
Storing more gas per unit volume had become a new topic for the Celestial Trade Energy Research Institute. It was best to research a hydrocarbon that could exist in a solid form at room temperature to replace liquefied methane and ethane for transportation.
The discovery of black alkane undoubtedly solved this problem!
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