My head’s spinning a little bit trying to figure it all out. How exactly do you get aluminum? I just need the production line spelled out for me, monke brain only think of banana.
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AFAIK alumina is good enough for most things, so you can just do the vitriol of clay stuff and get tons of it that way.
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Bauxite Ore -Ore Processing-> Bauxite Powder
Bauxite Powder -Autoclave-> Sodium/Potassium Aluminate
Sodium/Potassium Aluminate -Bath-> Aluminium Hydroxide
Aluminium Hydroxide -Dryer-> Alumina Powder
Alumina Powder -Electrolyzer-> Aluminium Powder
For the Autoclave+Bath step, you need Steam for the Autoclaves. I have calculated that 16HU/t drives exactly 4 Autoclaves. You also need Sodium/Potassium Hydroxide into the Autoclave, which is fully recycled from the Bath output. It also outputs Ilmenite and Rutile (for Titanium) as by-products.
For the Electrolyzer step, you also need Carbon, etc. You also need 2 additional fluid inputs in small quantities, which is Aluminium Trifluoride and Cryolite, both of which contains Aluminium and Fluorine, and can be produced from Alumina plus Fluorite, etc.
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I mined Salt and Magnesite and bath Magnesium Carbonate Powder with Molten Sodium Chloride to get Sodium Carbonate plus Magnesium Chloride. (which I believe is a Salt Metathesis Reaction) I then used Coal Coke plus Sodium Carbonate in a Burner Mixer to get Sodium. Mixing it with Water yields Sodium Hydroxide. You may also Electrolyze Salt with Water to get Sodium Hydroxide. Also, the Magnesium Chloride may be used as a recycled intermediate in Titanium Processing.
While the Sodium Hydroxide is fully recycled in the Autoclave-Bath loop, the Distilled Water isn’t, because some of the Water ends up in Aluminium Hydroxide. You can either supply the Bath with Distilled Water and run the loop with an overall deficiency of Distilled Water, or you can supply the Bath with Water and run the loop with an overall surplus of Distilled Water. (The Autoclave outputs more Distilled Water than what’s required to provide Steam to it)
For Cryolite and Aluminium Trifluoride, I mixed Sulfuric Acid with Fluorite Powder for Hydrofluoric Acid. Then make Fluorosilicic Acid then Aluminium Trifluoride and Cryolite. You only need a small amount of these 2 fluids, but beware that they’re both acidic!
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I used the same method as above and the method on tgis link
I think this link’s post very useful
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Y’all are wonderful people, thank you.
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The vitrol of clay only works from “washed” bauxite. You still have to steam bauxite to use the actual mineral, or did I miss something?
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bauxite ore(crusher) → purified bauxite ore(sluice) → sulfuric acid(bath)
In bath, vitrol of clay is put into the electrolyzer and the refined bauxite comes out in this process. Of course, there is a way to use autoclave using steam, but I think it’s too slow, so I use the process on the link
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Exactly. What do you do with the refined bauxite afterward?
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The refined bauxite can be dusted using Shredder and then further alumina (aluminum) can be produced using autoclaves. As I said, this method was slow, so I used it only to get AlF3 in the beginning. So I’m keeping a refined bauxite in storage. You can use both methods, or you can choose only one.
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I thought that electrolyzing Vitriol of Clay yields Alumina itself, but the majority of Aluminium definitely exists in the Refined Bauxite instead of the Vitriol. With Bauxite as a Layer Ore (=massive reserves and easy extraction), perhaps it’s even feasible to toss away the Refined Bauxite, and only use the Vitriol, if you really want to be that wasteful.
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