“I have a dream: Can China transform from a crude product manufacturing country to a high-end quality manufacturing power in my lifetime?” Wang Jingkang, who is over seventy years old, is the chairman of the Tianjin Association for Science and Technology and a member of the China Academician of the Academy of Engineering, professor of the School of Chemical Engineering of Tianjin University, and director of the National Industrial Crystallization Technology Research and Promotion Center, she has been striving in the field of chemical engineering industrial crystallization and composing her dedicated life. Today, she remains a leader in the field.
Wang Jingkang’s father, Wang Enming, graduated from Nankai Middle School. In 1920, he went to the United States to study on a work-study program. He studied chemical engineering and metallurgy at Purdue University. Because of his excellent academic performance, he was hired by the Carnegie Steel Company of Pittsburgh immediately after graduation in 1924. He returned to China in 1926, eager to save the country through industry. During the Anti-Japanese War, he resolutely resigned because he did not want to be a slave to the subjugation of the country. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, he was invited by Hou Debang to go to the United States again. When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, as a patriotic scientist who had returned from overseas, he climbed to the Tiananmen Square to participate in the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China.
Adhering to family tradition, Wang Jingkang has a strong sense of patriotism. Since entering the Department of Chemical Engineering of Tianjin University in 1955, her life has been inextricably linked to the crystallization of the chemical engineering industry.
The Qinghai Salt Lake in China is rich in potassium salt resources, but due to the lack of mature development technology, these resources have not been utilized. However, foreign companies that have mastered the core technology have monopolized the market, and the other parties have offered sky-high prices of tens of billions of yuan. In 1980, his teacher Professor Zhang Yuanmou went to Qinghai and undertook the "01" "Qinghai Salt Lake Potash Production System Engineering Research" research project. As a main member of the research team, Wang Jingkang, under the leadership of Professor Zhang, made unremitting efforts and successfully Completed the country's key scientific and technological projects during the Sixth Five-Year Plan. During those five years of working day and night, we also began to cultivate and train a national-level team for chemical engineering research in colleges and universities facing the front line of the national industry.
Chemical industry is the foundation for the development of science and technology in a country. At the end of the 20th century, some people believed that chemical industry was the source of all pollution. Chemical industry is not a high-tech industry. The development prospects of chemical industry are not as broad as those of other majors. In the 21st century, Century Chemical will come to an end... Wang Jingkang believes that this is completely a wrong inference.
According to reports from the international science and technology community, the United States, Europe and other countries organized many experts at the end of the 20th century to study the development trends of various majors and industries. After the study, they came to the conclusion that the chemical industry as a foundation and To support industry, it will and must develop strongly in the 21st century. If the chemical industry does not develop, other high technologies will be out of the question. In 2003, the United States also published the "Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Development Strategy Report for the 21st Century" - titled "Beyond the Molecular Frontier - Challenges Facing Chemistry and Chemical Engineering", which demonstrated the prospects for the integration of chemistry and engineering and considered chemical engineering as the key to the 21st century. The basic industries for development will surely achieve rapid development.
Internationally released statistics show that since the 20th century, the United States has firmly occupied an important position in the world's chemical industry. The United States' chemical industry GDP accounts for 30% of the world's chemical industry GDP, and the European Union accounts for 30% of the world's chemical industry GDP. About 37% of the world's chemical industry GDP. What does this mean? "It illustrates the core position of the chemical industry in the development of world industries." Wang Jingkang said affectionately. I am grateful to be able to work in such an important academic field and to be able to carry out research and development work in response to the basic industrial needs of our country's economic construction and contribute to the country's long-term development. Be proud and happy to have made your contribution.
Scientific and technological research is both bitter and joyful
Since the mid-1980s, Wang Jingkang has lived up to her teachers’ entrustment and led her team to continuously undertake and successfully complete the national “seventh project”. It has carried out a series of major scientific research projects during the “Fifth Five-Year Plan”, “Eighth Five-Year Plan”, “Ninth Five-Year Plan” and “Tenth Five-Year Plan”, and is now undertaking the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” science and technology support plan project.
Wang Jingkang was deeply impressed and proud that she and her team completed the key research project "Research on New Technologies and Industrialization of Penicillin Industrial Crystallization" during the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" period. “When the country entrusted us with this project, we felt a heavy responsibility, because this is an issue that the country urgently needs to solve that is related to people’s livelihood.
"Wang Jingkang recalled that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, penicillin was the main drug for treating diseases in China. However, due to the limitations of pharmaceutical technology at that time, the filling quantity of penicillin was inaccurate and the purity was not enough, which seriously affected its use.
“We were very excited when we received this research project. This is the country’s emphasis and trust in our team. "Although the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" is a five-year plan, relevant national departments require that this project be completed within two or three years. The hard target for the completion of the project is that large-scale industrial transformation of R&D results must be completed, and the country will only accept the successful industrialization. As The project leader, Wang Jingkang, signed the research contract and was legally responsible for the country. At that time, Wang Jingkang and her team were determined to overcome the difficulties, and they believed that they would succeed as long as they worked hard. We have practical experience in completing two national key research projects, and have conducted in-depth and detailed research on the crystallization process in different fields, and have achieved successful results from small-scale research to pilot testing.
"We have conducted in-depth and detailed research on the crystallization process in different fields. The goal is to ensure the success of industrialization at the first time. To this end, we adhere to the school motto - seek truth from facts and have strict requirements with a meticulous attitude. For us, a successful experiment is not considered a success. Only repeated data more than 20 times is advisable. In order to race against time and strive for early success, we do not have winter, summer or Spring Festival, so the test work must be concentrated and the conditions are difficult. ”
In the end, when the formal industrialization drive was carried out, they could only succeed and not fail. This was the motto they kept in mind. Wang Jingkang and her team members stayed at the scene day and night. At that time, everyone was excited and nervous, and no one dared After leaving the production workshop, I ate instant noodles when I was hungry. It was not until the final inspection results came out that not only the crystal quality was qualified, but the production efficiency was greatly improved. Everyone was very happy and felt the joy of completing the task.
This! After the project was successfully tackled, it was promoted to more than 90% of the industry, increasing China's penicillin production capacity by 70%, saving energy by more than 70%, saving solvents by more than 30%, and reducing waste emissions by more than 30%. The use of this technology adds nearly 100 million yuan in profits and taxes to the country every year. .
“Our success depends on the strength of the team. "Wang Jingkang said happily that we won the third prize of the National Science and Technology Invention Award for the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" project, and the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award for our "Eighth Five-Year Plan" project. I think this project is the most important to our team. It gives us confidence and once again proves our ability to complete the scale-up from beaker to production line; as long as we work hard, the industrial transformation of our scientific and technological achievements can be successful at once.
“I feel that as an ordinary scientific and technological worker, It is a great encouragement to us to be able to make a small contribution to the country's scientific and technological development and to be recognized and rewarded by the country and relevant departments. Of course, in the process of scientific and technological research, there are hardships and joys. ”
Since then, Wang Jingkang and her team have been leading the industry in undertaking a series of scientific research projects such as the Eighth Five-Year Plan, the Ninth Five-Year Plan, and the Tenth Five-Year Plan, as well as dozens of large-scale industry-university-research cooperation projects. The conversion was successful