Heavy oil cracking to light oil

Heavy oil cracking to light oil is a chemical recipe that converts Heavy oil into Light oil as part of the oil processing chain. The recipe is unlocked by the Advanced oil processing technology and is performed in a Chemical plant. It is one of several cracking and refining recipes that let players rebalance the three primary petroleum fractions produced from Crude oil: Heavy oil, Light oil, and Petroleum gas. Heavy oil cracking to light oil is used when a factory has an excess of Heavy oil and needs more Light oil to feed subsequent processing, lubricant production, or chemical synthesis.

Heavy oil cracking to light oil is a mid-level petrochemical operation intended to complement Basic oil processing and Advanced oil processing. It integrates into layouts with Oil refineries and Chemical plants and is frequently linked to feed lines coming from refineries or from alternative Heavy oil sources such as Simple coal liquefaction. On maps and scenarios where Simple coal liquefaction is available, that recipe produces Heavy oil which can then be routed through Heavy oil cracking to supply Light oil and its derivatives.

• Use the Circuit network to control fluid throughput and enable dynamic balancing between Heavy oil cracking and other consumers. Circuit-controlled pumps and inserters make it simple to ensure that neither Heavy oil nor Light oil stocks are starved or overflow.
• If you want to prioritize Lubricant production over cracking, route the Heavy oil line from the Oil refinery through a Chemical plant configured to make Lubricant before it reaches the cracking Chemical plant; the routed plant will consume Heavy oil first and thereby give lubricant production precedence.
• Solid fuel is manufactured most efficiently from Light oil. When Heavy oil accumulates, cracking it into Light oil and then converting that Light oil into Solid fuel yields better fuel efficiency than turning Heavy oil directly into fuel.
• In setups that use Coal liquefaction or its variants, the Heavy oil output can serve as a feedstock for Heavy oil cracking to bootstrap production of other petrochemical products without relying solely on Crude oil refineries.

Heavy oil cracking to light oil is a practical tool for smoothing supply imbalances in mid-to-late game petrochemical networks and is a standard component of any oil-processing pipeline that aims for high throughput and versatility.