Oil Processing (BuildCraft)

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From version 7.99 of BuildCraft on, the oil processing process has changed and has became way more complex. This page tries to build a synthesis of the oil-refining process.

Various oil-related fluids

The various oil-related fluids include Oil, Residue, Heavy oil, Dense oil, Distilled oil, Mixed heavy fuels, Mixed light fuels, Fuel, Dense fuel and Gaseous fuel.

These products can be categorized into raw resources (i.e. Oil itself), intermediate products (Heavy oil, Dense oil, Distilled oil, Mixed heavy fuels, Mixed light fuels) and end products (Fuel, Dense fuel, Residue and Gaseous fuel).

End products cannot be distilled further. Intermediate products have some mix of end products in them, which can be distilled out (sometimes in many steps). For example, Heavy oil can be thought as a mix of Residue, Dense fuel and Fuel. Distilling it hot will separate out into Fuel and Dense oil (Residue + Dense fuel). Distilling it while searing will yield Residue and Mixed heavy fuels (Fuel + Dense fuel).

Oil distillation

A kind of oil can be converted into another kind by distilling it. See the table below for the valid conversions.

Refinement diagram

Fluid	State	Bottom Output	Quantity (mB)	Top Output	Quantity (mB)
Oil	Cool	Heavy oil	375	Gaseous fuel	2,000
	Hot	Dense oil	250	Mixed light fuels	1,250
	Searing	Residue	125	Distilled oil	1,000
Heavy oil	Hot	Dense oil	666	Fuel	1,332
	Searing	Residue	333	Mixed heavy fuels	1,665
Dense oil	Searing	Residue	500	Dense fuel	1,000
Distilled oil	Cool	Mixed heavy fuels	625	Gaseous fuel	2,000
	Hot	Dense fuel	250	Mixed light fuels	1,250
Mixed heavy fuels	Hot	Dense fuel	400	Fuel	800
Mixed light fuels	Cool	Fuel	400	Gaseous fuel	1,600

Any row omitted in this table means that the distillation is not possible (as of now).

Refinement tree with energy costs and output This means that a bucket of Oil, when distilled into end products, will create:

• 2000 mB of Gaseous fuel
• 500 mB of Fuel
• 250 mB of Dense fuel
• 125 mB of Residue

Heat exchanging

Each kind of oil-related fluid has three states: cold, hot and searing. A fluid that is not searing can be heated by passing it through a heat exchanger in cross-current with a hot fluid (if you have none, Lava does a good job), while any fluid that is not cold can be cooled in the same way against a cool fluid (usually water).

Distilling cold fluid will separate out Gaseous fuel from the mix. In hot state, the Dense oil's components separate from the light fuels. Distillation in searing temperature separates out the Residue. Therefore, to fully refine raw Oil, a total of 3 distillations is necessary: one in each temperature range. However, one may omit the searing fluid distillation, as Dense oil's properties are similar to Dense fuel's (see below); but in this case, the un-distilled Residue will build up in the Combustion Engine instead.

Using as fuel

Only the cold version of any oil-related fluid can be used as a fuel. The Residue, however, is the only thing that cannot be used as fuel.

The table below lists the various oil forms and their stats as of 7.99.18:

Fluid	MJ/t	Dirty?	Energy / bucket	Combustion time / bucket
Crude oil	3	Yes	30 000	10 000
Heavy oil	2	Yes	80 000	40 000
Dense oil	4	Yes	120 000	30 000
Distilled oil	1		37 500	37 500
Mixed light fuel	3		30 000	10 000
Mixed heavy fuel	5		96 000	19 200
Dense fuel	4		360 000	90 000
Fuel (light)	6		90 000	15 000
Gaseous fuel	8		15 000	1 875

A dirty fuel will leave combustion residues in the Combustion Engine