Plasma Extract Refining

Plasma Extract Refining is a refining technology that centers on producing and reprocessing Refined Oil, the key intermediate fluid used throughout the chemical production chain. In practice, it supports the Oil Refinery’s output and the downstream recipes that depend on Refined Oil, including Sulfuric Acid, Plastic, and Organic Crystals.

Refined Oil is a fluid material, so it can be transported on belts, but its low stack count makes storage and throughput planning important. It can also be stored in Storage Tanks. When oil production exceeds immediate demand, Refined Oil can be cracked into Hydrogen and Energetic Graphite. If Hydrogen becomes the bottleneck instead, Refined Oil can be produced again through Reforming Refining by combining Hydrogen with Coal.

A few practical points apply when using this chain:

• Refined Oil can be burned as fuel, but this is less efficient than using Hydrogen and is usually not the preferred option.
• Reforming Refining can be started even on a system without Crude Oil, as long as Hydrogen is available from another source, such as Fire Ice processing for Graphene or an Orbital Collector on a Gas Giant.
• That loop still requires a small amount of Refined Oil to bootstrap the process before it can sustain itself.
• Because it sits between raw oil processing and many advanced chemical recipes, Refined Oil is one of the most important fluids to balance carefully in a factory.