Elemental Gas Distillation

[Austerian]

As a scholar of industry, I think Factorio is an exciting opportunity to learn about vertically integrated systems engineering. I hope this project becomes highly successful and has a chance to cover the vital air separation industry. Distilling intake air from the atmosphere in fractioning towers extracts many useful elemental gases for other industries. Nitrogen, in addition to cryogenic and preservative uses, is essential to the Haber process (though much of this nitrogen is currently made from petroleum gas extracted of sulphur) which supplies the nitrates needed to make explosives and feed half of Earth's humans. Oxygen has uses in steel making, medicine, and rocketry. Argon makes nice teal lasers, violet lamps, ion thruster propellent, and snuffs out oxidation in sensitive applications such as electronics.

I believe integrating elemental gases and nitrates into the release version supply chain will enrich game play considerably given its evident usefulness to a developing space colony that will require a food supply and possibly fuels suitable for space travel.

[Vin]

I agree more to do with non-liquids would be pretty cool in the base game, although I don't know if it has the design space for an all new system for gases. Oil already makes fairly good use of the pipe system and chemical plants, and I would rather see more uses for heavy and light oil before adding new buildings/processes.

That said, if you haven't already I would recommend some of Bob's mods. He makes extensive use of chemical plants (and buildings specific to his mod) to have the player creating Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen, and others for various different production chains. For example, he requires iron ore to be mixed with Hydrogen Chloride to get Ferric Chloride, a solution used in making advanced electronics chips.

[TuckJohn]

I was about to suggest bobs mods, but vin beat me too it. You could always make your own mod and focus it around elemental processes and moving them though pipes. I would love a factory just for the creation of new chemicals.