Alumina Solution

Alumina Solution
Dissolved Alumina, extracted from Bauxite. Can be further refined into Aluminum Scrap for Aluminum Ingot production.
Unlocked at	Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement
Category	Fluids
Fluids
Fluid Color (Hex)	#c1c1c1
Packaged Alumina Solution
Item
Stack size	N/A
Abbreviation	AL

Alumina Solution is a fluid solution of Bauxite and Water. It is only used to produce Aluminum Scrap for further processing, and Batteries.

Obtaining

Crafting

Recipe	Ingredients												Building	Products		Prerequisites
Alumina Solution	12 × Bauxite 120 / min						18 × Water 180 / min						Refinery 6 sec	12 × Alumina Solution 120 / min 15 MJ/item	5 × Silica 50 / min 36 MJ/item	Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement
Unpackage Alumina Solution	2 × Packaged Alumina Solution 120 / min												Packager 1 sec	2 × Alumina Solution 120 / min 5 MJ/item	2 × Empty Canister 120 / min 5 MJ/item	Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement Tier 5 - Alternative Fluid Transport
Sloppy Alumina Alternate	10 × Bauxite 200 / min						10 × Water 200 / min						Refinery 3 sec	12 × Alumina Solution 240 / min 7.5 MJ/item		Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement

Alternate recipes analysis

The following shows different ways to produce 1 m³ Alumina Solution / second, or 60 m³/min:

Recipe	Bauxite /min (WP)	Net WP	Total Energy /item (MJ)	Space (m2)	Building counts
Default	60 (61.35)	47.77	21.91	(+43)	(+0.45)
Sloppy	50 (51.13)	51.13	25.15	50	0.25

• Weighted Point is the weighted consumption rate which is calculated by: (resource consumption rate / maximum extraction rate) * 10,000. The lower the better.
• Energy per item can be used to measure how much power is consumed for the entire production chain. The lower the better.
• Space refers to building space, excluding belts and pipes. The lower the better.
• Silica byproduct can be used to supplement 1/3 of the Silica usage for the next production step. Thus, resources are not wasted and some of the WP, Energy and space can be recovered.
  • More resources, energy and space has to be spent to create Silica from 'fresh' resources.
  • Silica is assumed to be produced using 'Cheap Silica' recipe.
• Using Pure Aluminum Ingot together with the standard recipe allows the byproduct Silica produced to be used elsewhere, saving on the use of Raw Quartz.

Usage

Crafting

Recipe	Ingredients												Building	Products		Prerequisites
Aluminum Scrap	4 × Alumina Solution 240 / min						2 × Coal 120 / min						Refinery 1 sec	6 × Aluminum Scrap 360 / min 5 MJ/item	2 × Water 120 / min 15 MJ/item	Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement
Battery	2.5 × Sulfuric Acid 50 / min						2 × Alumina Solution 40 / min						Blender 3 sec	1 × Battery 20 / min 225 MJ/item	1.5 × Water 30 / min 150 MJ/item	Tier 7 - Aeronautical Engineering
	1 × Aluminum Casing 20 / min
Packaged Alumina Solution	2 × Alumina Solution 120 / min						2 × Empty Canister 120 / min						Packager 1 sec	2 × Packaged Alumina Solution 120 / min 5 MJ/item		Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement Tier 5 - Alternative Fluid Transport
Electrode - Aluminum Scrap Alternate	12 × Alumina Solution 180 / min						4 × Petroleum Coke 60 / min						Refinery 4 sec	20 × Aluminum Scrap 300 / min 6 MJ/item	7 × Water 105 / min 17.14 MJ/item	Tier 7 - Bauxite Refinement

Tips

• The Silica produced as a byproduct does not suffice for Aluminum Ingot production (using the standard recipe), more of it has to be produced from Raw Quartz. It can be omitted with the Pure Aluminum Ingot alternate recipe, which however reduces ingot yield by 25%.
  • Routing 1/3 of the Scrap into Aluminum Ingot Foundries and the rest into Pure Aluminum Ingot Smelters consumes exactly all of the Silica byproduct, and reduces ingot yield by 12.5%.
  • Using the Sloppy Alumina alternate recipe produces no byproduct Silica. This plus Pure Aluminum Ingot reduces ingot yield by 10%, but greatly increases energy efficiency.

Trivia

• The in-game refinement process resembles the real-life refining processes, in which bauxite is refined to pure alumina by the Bayer process and then to aluminum metal by the Hall-Héroult process.
  • The Electrode-Aluminum Scrap alternate recipe represents a refinement in the Hall-Héroult process, using "prebaked" carbon anodes rather than cheaper but less efficient "self-baking" ones made from pitch.
• Alumina is another name for aluminum oxide, Al₂O₃.
• In real life, Alumina Solution is used both as a refining intermediate and as a polishing abrasive.
• Alumina Solution is technically a suspension or slurry rather than a true solution, as aluminum oxide is insoluble in water.

History

• Patch 0.4.0.8:
  • Alternate: Sloppy Alumina:
    • Changed recipe craft time from 6 to 3 seconds
    • Changed Bauxite cost from 15 to 10
    • Changed Water cost from 15 to 10
    • Changed Alumina Solution product from 18 to 12
• Patch 0.4.0.0:
  • Introduced Sloppy Alumina alternate recipe
  • Default recipe:
    • Changed Bauxite cost from 7 to 12
    • Changed Water cost form 10 to 18
    • Changed Alumina Solution product from 8 to 12
    • Changed Silica product from 2 to 5
• Patch 0.3: Introduced

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