Alumina Solution

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

Obtaining

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

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.
If Pure Aluminum Ingot is chosen for the next step, then Sloppy Alumina is preferred to eliminate the usage of Raw Quartz from the production chain.

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
Battery	1 × Aluminum Casing 20 / min		Blender 3 sec	1 × Battery 20 / min 225 MJ/item	1.5 × Water 30 / min 150 MJ/item	Tier 7 - Aeronautical Engineering
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

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.

The in-game refinement process resembles the real-life refining process called Bayer process.
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.