【Haichuan. Pioneers in the Chemical Industry】Yu Zuxi – The Pioneer of Industrial Catalysts in China

Biographical overview: Yu Zuxi was born in 1914 into an intellectual family in Putian County, Fujian Province. He received a good education at home from a young age, and he was admitted to the provincial Putian junior high school and senior high school twice, each time ranking first. In 1933, he was admitted to the Department of Chemical Engineering at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou with excellent grades, and graduated in 1937 with a bachelor’s degree. Mayor Ke Qingshi presented the prize to Yu Zuxi, who won first place. Influenced by his father’s ideology of saving the nation through education, Yu Zuxi was determined to change the backward state of education in his hometown. After graduating from university, he resolutely gave up the opportunity to work in a big city and returned to Hanjiang Middle School in his hometown of Putian County to teach physics and chemistry. “After the July 7th Incident, the War of Resistance against Japan broke out, and the young Yu Zuxi was deeply shaken; he then shifted from seeking to save the nation through education to doing so through industry and technology. In 1940, he left his hometown for Sichuan and went to work at the Zizhong Alcohol Factory of the National Resources Commission in Chongqing ； In 1941, he started working at the Neijiang Alcohol Factory in Sichuan ； In 1942, he transferred to work at the Saka plant of the Yongli Chemical Industry Company. After the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, Yu Zuxi worked as a technician at the Tungsten Plant of Nanjing Yongli Chemical Industry Company. At the founding of the People’s Republic of China, some countries imposed an economic blockade, preventing China from purchasing various catalysts from abroad; this put the production of sulfuric acid and synthetic ammonia at risk of suspension. With a strong patriotic spirit, Yu Zuxi developed China’s first batch of vanadium catalysts for sulfuric acid production, and in 1951 he wrote a paper titled \"Research on Vanadium Catalysts for Sulfuric Acid Production.\" This paper won the first prize in the essay competition on “Research on Vanadium Catalysts” organized by Yongli Chemical Industry Company. Next, he invented and manufactured the A4 type ammonia synthesis catalyst, which was at the international advanced level of that time. Yu Zuxi joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1956, and in the same year was awarded the title of National Advanced Producer; he was received by the Party leader and Premier Zhou Enlai on several occasions. After 1956, Yu Zuxi successively served as the director of the sixth workshop (catalyst workshop) at the state-private joint venture Yonglining Factory, and as the chief engineer at the Catalyst Factory of Nanjing Chemical Industry Company. In 1965, he participated in the establishment of the Nanjing Institute of Chemical Engineering (later renamed the Research Institute of Nanjing Chemical Industry Corporation), serving as its vice president and chief engineer until 1983. Yu Zuxi was enthusiastic about academic and social activities; he joined the Chinese Society of Chemical Engineering as early as 1937. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he held various positions including director of the Chinese Chemical Society, director of the Fertilizer Society, member of the editorial board of the \"Encyclopedia of China: Chemical Engineering Volume\", member of the editorial board of the \"Journal of Chemical Engineering\", advisor to the Fertilizer Technology Development Center under the Ministry of Chemical Industry, executive director of the Jiangsu Chemical Society, and vice president of the Nanjing Association for Science and Technology.

At the 1951 Nanjing Workers’ Invention and Creation Conference, 1 first prize, 3 second prizes, and 12 third prizes were awarded. Ke Qingshi, the mayor of Nanjing at that time, announced the selection results on behalf of the people of Nanjing and the Nanjing Consultative Committee, and personally presented the certificates and prizes. Why did these inventions win over the judges? What difficulties were encountered during the invention process? Are these inventions still in use today? The reporter has selected some of these awards to reveal their secrets to you. 　　□Reporter from Modern Express: Zheng Wenjing 1st Prize: Molybdenum catalyst Without it, sulfuric acid – known as the \"mother of chemicals\" – cannot be produced. Inventor: Yu Zuxi, 37 years old, from Yongli Molybdenum Factory. After the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, the Western powers led by the United States imposed a comprehensive economic blockade on our country; many industrial materials and components needed for production were no longer available, causing significant difficulties for our industrial development and people’s livelihoods. 　　Nanjing’s Yongli Vanadium Factory was the largest chemical enterprise in the country at that time; it relied on imports from abroad for the vanadium catalysts required to produce sulfuric acid (which are now more commonly referred to as catalysts). Following the economic blockade, sulfuric acid faces the threat of a complete shutdown. 　　Sulfuric acid, once known as the \"mother of the chemical industry,\" its production volume serves as an indicator of a country’s **level of industrial development. Moreover, sulfuric acid has a very wide range of applications; it is needed for the production of fertilizers and pesticides, in the metallurgical industry and metal processing, as well as in petroleum lubricants. Even everyday items such as clothing, soap, fragrances, enamel, and pharmaceuticals rely on sulfuric acid. How is sulfuric acid made? When sulfur-containing materials from nature are burned at high temperatures, a mixed gas containing sulfur dioxide is produced; under certain process conditions, passing this gas through a vanadium catalyst results in the formation of sulfur trioxide. Sulfur trioxide reacts with water to produce sulfuric acid. Therefore, the vanadium catalyst is like yeast; without it, it is impossible to produce sulfuric acid, which is the equivalent of a \"steamed bun\" in this context. 　　At that time, Yu Zuxi, a technician at the Yongli Vanadium Plant, devoted himself to the research of vanadium catalysts with a strong sense of patriotism. Yu Zuxi was born in 1914 into an intellectual family in Putian County, Fujian Province. He graduated from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Sun Yat-sen University in 1937, and after the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, he went to work in Nanjing. Although it was only a 10-minute walk to his home, he often worked tirelessly day and night in the laboratory, which caused him severe stomach problems. 　　A year later, he completed the production of laboratory samples and wrote up a paper titled \"Research on Vanadium Catalysts for Sulfuric Acid Production.\" At the Invention and Creation Conference in 1951, this invention was carefully evaluated by a judging committee composed of Hou Debang, Zeng Zhaolun, Mao Yisheng, and others, and was awarded first prize. 　　The Yongli Tin Factory of those days was the predecessor of Nanjing Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. of Sinopec Group (referred to as Nanhua Company). Tian Xianguo, head of the Vanadium Catalyst Research Group at the Catalyst Research Institute of Nanhua Company’s Research Institute, gave an interview to reporters. He said that the work carried out by Mr. Yu Zuxi in the 1950s was of great significance; he was part of the first generation of people who worked on the localization of basic catalysts. “We can now be considered the fourth generation.” Nanhua no longer produces vanadium catalysts, but research on this topic is still ongoing. The vanadium catalyst framework systems produced in the market today are still the same as those invented by Mr. Yu, but their performance has improved significantly, and there is a greater variety of such products available. Currently, there are about a dozen manufacturers in China producing vanadium catalysts, which is more than sufficient to meet domestic demand. ”