Coal liquefaction: self-powered rocket-fuel production

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iceman_1212
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Coal liquefaction: self-powered rocket-fuel production

Post by iceman_1212 »

Edit: This version is outdated as of 15.10. Will update shortly.

Here is a self-powered setup that takes in one blue belt of coal and converts it to ~140 rocket fuel per minute, which represents a 65% gain in fuel value. Gross production is ~205 rocket fuel per minute, of which ~65 rocket fuel per min is used to power the boilers. Heavy oil is needed to start the process but it quickly becomes self sufficient with respect to oil.

(Inspired by Medusalem's post here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=44912)

If petroleum is exported for circuit production (instead of converted to petroleum gas, as shown below), it should give ~83 rocket fuel per minute and 7.4k petroleum per min (as measured using new fluid scale in 0.15), which is good for ~480 plastic per min if you have prod 3 in plastic plants.

In other words, stamping out 10 of these at rich, distant coal mines that are near water would give (slightly more than) enough rocket fuel for 1 RPM incl. satellite along with enough petroleum for 2 blue belts of plastic (assuming prod 3).

Note: This is intended as a proof of concept of the idea - the layout can probably (read: definitely) be optimized further for power efficiency and size (it's late here and I'm tired :lol: ). Also, enabling creative mode with researches enabled has the effect of researching up to and including miner productivity 16. If we use the mining layout below with no miner productivity upgrades, we'd need ~23 mining drills (and associated beacons) to fill a blue belt. Since we only need 18 mining drills if we have mining productivity 16, I threw down an additional few drills (I added extra for the sake of being conservative) on a nearby iron ore patch to simulate the incremental power draw.

TLDR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_DqV1xdf-Y (sort of)
Overview of test setup
Production stats
Fluid production stats
Power
Blueprint String
Last edited by iceman_1212 on Wed May 10, 2017 11:10 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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MeduSalem
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Re: Coal liquefaction: self-powered rocket-fuel production

Post by MeduSalem »

Ha, I knew it would pay off. :D

Well done...


So burning Coal directly is essentially now a waste.


Hooking it together with some depleted Oil wells and you may save on the coal... because the Oil wells are infinite so they are still preferable. I'd only use the coal liquefication in situations when the Oil wells proof insufficient with the demand.
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Re: Coal liquefaction: self-powered rocket-fuel production

Post by Gnark »

One question :

Does the speed bacon increase the gain ?
Or can we lower their number ?
(just one line of them for example ?)
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MeduSalem
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Re: Coal liquefaction: self-powered rocket-fuel production

Post by MeduSalem »

Gnark wrote:One question :

Does the speed bacon increase the gain ?
Or can we lower their number ?
(just one line of them for example ?)
Yes it does... at least with Productivity Modules in the Machines (without Productivity Modules in machines Beacons suck no matter what).

Due to the higher crafting speed the machines run less often, thus requiring less energy to complete. Due to the way the beacons boost the speed majorily it eventually even outweighs their additional energy consumption. Especially if the layout is optimized in a way that a single beacon is able to cover as many machines as possible, while each machine is also affected by as many machines as possible. But to take full advantage of that you'd also have to shut the beacons down using a power switch whenever the machines don't produce anything. Otherwise you'd waste the gained energy efficiency again on idle beacon energy consumption.

So in theory a setup using Productivity Modules in Machines and Speed Beacons in the most optimal ratio should always draw less energy than a setup that only uses Machines with Productivity modules and no beacons... if the total Item output per timeframe is comparable. That is because the setup without Beacons requires a LOOT more machines to reach the same item/sec rating, and each machine is also running much longer per item too... so power consumption becomes uglier.

That, and also the benefit of having to craft less items and waste less resources is why beaconized designs have become that popular.
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