Molybdenum FAQ
What does Molybdenum add?
A light overhaul of the oil chain. Advanced oil processing becomes a distillation tower that splits crude oil into four cuts: sour gas, naphtha, kerosene and gas oil. You clean them over a molybdenum catalyst and convert them into each other. Molybdenum and rhenium come out of your copper ore and go into catalysts, molybdenum steel and superalloy, which late-game recipes require. There is also a gas turbine for refinery fuels.
Factorio 2.1.20 or later is required. Space Age and all other mods are optional.
Can I still make petroleum gas the simple way?
Yes. Basic oil processing is unchanged: 100 crude oil make 45 petroleum gas in an oil refinery. It is the easy route for small batches.
Why bother with the tower?
Basic oil processing makes only petroleum gas, so light oil, heavy oil, lubricant and rocket fuel need the tower. And the tower gets far more out of each pumpjack. Per 100 crude oil, cracked all the way to petroleum gas: basic oil processing 45, the tower at advanced oil processing 92, with the oil conversion research 107, with rhenium reforming and pressure leaching 125. The hydrogen sulfide it removes also gives you sulfur or sulfuric acid on the side.
How do I place and turn the tower?
The tower can't be rotated, because its tall column would hide any connection on the north side. Crude oil goes in on the west side and water on the east. Sour gas comes out at the bottom of the west side and naphtha at the bottom of the east side; kerosene and gas oil come out of the bottom edge, one tile in from each corner. Each connection has its own tile and icon in alt-mode.
To swap west and east, press R on a placed tower or tower ghost, or H while you hold the tower. The picture stays the same and only the connections swap.
How can I tell whether the tower is working?
While it works, vapour rises from the top of the column and its amber parts glow. Both fade out when it stops.
Why did my tower stop?
A machine with several outputs stops when one of them backs up, just like vanilla advanced oil processing. Every cut can go somewhere:
- sour gas into petroleum gas, hydrogen, or straight into a gas turbine;
- naphtha and kerosene down to petroleum gas and hydrogen;
- gas oil into heavy oil or lighter cuts;
- petroleum gas, light oil, heavy oil, gas oil, hydrogen and rocket kerosene into solid fuel.
For true surplus, an overflow valve in front of a flare stack takes only what your normal consumers leave. The Valves and Flare Stack mods are recommended for that, but not required.
Where does the molybdenum come from?
From copper ore. Flotation in a chemical plant takes 50 copper ore, 1 naphtha and 50 water and gives 2 molybdenite plus 48 of the copper ore back, which you smelt as usual. Roasting molybdenite in a chemical plant gives molybdenum oxide.
And the rhenium?
Roasting also gives roaster gas. Scrubbing it gives sulfuric acid and a little rhenium liquor, and 50 liquor with either 20 hydrogen or 20 hydrogen sulfide make 1 rhenium. That is about 1 rhenium per 1,250 copper ore through flotation.
Pressure leaching doubles that: 5 molybdenite and 50 steam make 4 molybdenum oxide, 10 rhenium liquor and 30 sulfuric acid. You get twice the rhenium for 20 % less molybdenum, so about 1 rhenium per 625 copper ore. With Cadmium, roasting with a scrubber filter gives 20 % more rhenium.
How does the catalyst loop work?
Reforming takes one molybdenum catalyst per craft and hands it back coked. A furnace burns the coke off and 95 % come back as fresh catalyst. Put the reformers and cleaning furnaces on one belt loop and top it up with new catalyst now and then. Hydrotreating wears its catalyst slowly: one in 50 crafts returns it coked.
New catalyst comes from molybdenum oxide and stone. An assembler makes 1; a chemical plant with 10 hydrogen sulfide makes 2; with Phosphorus, adding phosphoric acid makes 3.
Rhenium reforming works the same way with 20 rhenium catalysts per craft and 99 % back, so each rhenium reformer needs 20 catalysts in circulation plus what sits on the belt.
What are molybdenum steel and superalloy for?
Molybdenum steel (5 steel and 1 molybdenum oxide make 5, or 6 with magnesium) is required in flying robot frames, artillery turrets and wagons, power armor, exoskeletons, combat shotguns, cannon shells, explosive cannon shells, tanks, nuclear reactors, heat exchangers, centrifuges and the gas turbine.
Superalloy (1 rhenium, 4 molybdenum oxide and 15 steel make 20) goes into the rocket silo, every rocket part and the gas turbine; with Space Age it goes into thrusters instead of rocket parts. Satellites take 5 rhenium. A rocket launch costs 10 rhenium in total.
Why do nuclear power and tanks now need advanced oil processing?
Their buildings need molybdenum steel, which you can only make from advanced oil processing on. So nuclear power, uranium processing, the tank, electric furnaces and (with Gallium) crystal growth now have advanced oil processing as a prerequisite. The superalloy research is a prerequisite of the rocket silo; it uses the same science packs, so the silo gains no science tier.
How much power does the gas turbine make?
5 MW. Fuel values per unit: hydrogen 150 kJ, petroleum gas and sour gas 400 kJ, naphtha 500 kJ, light oil 600 kJ, kerosene 700 kJ, rocket kerosene 900 kJ, gas oil 500 kJ. Hydrogen only reaches about 1.9 MW. Gases burn cleanest and liquids pollute more; raw sour gas pollutes three times as much as petroleum gas. One turbine runs on the sour gas from about 50 crude oil per second.
Why won't the gas turbine burn crude oil?
Crude oil has to be refined first. Heavy oil must be cracked into lighter fuels: residual oil corrodes turbine blades. Gas oil is a distillate and still burns. Turbines already running on heavy oil stop with the fuel-refusal status after upgrading. A turbine that gets crude oil stops and says so, and starts again once the crude is gone. The same goes for anything else that isn't a refinery fuel, such as thruster fuel. The turbine also needs air, so it can't be built on space platforms. Mods that give crude oil a fuel value for their own buildings, such as the cargo ships oil rig, keep it.
What can I do with hydrogen sulfide?
Turn 10 into 1 sulfur, or add 10 water for 15 sulfuric acid without iron. Use it to make catalysts (2 instead of 1), or to recover rhenium instead of hydrogen.
Can sour gas give hydrogen directly?
Yes: 20 sour gas and 20 steam make 35 hydrogen and 5 hydrogen sulfide, without washing the gas first. Steam reforming of petroleum gas is still there as a backup.
How do I make rocket fuel from kerosene?
Hydrotreat kerosene into rocket kerosene; 60 rocket kerosene make 1 rocket fuel in a chemical plant, no solid fuel needed. With Neodymium it also takes ceria. Vanilla rocket fuel stays, and kerosene rocket fuel shares the rocket fuel productivity research.
Is solid fuel from hydrogen a good deal?
No, on purpose. It takes 175 hydrogen and 1 coal per solid fuel. It exists so surplus hydrogen never stops your reformers.
What else uses molybdenite?
It gives 50 % more lubricant, feeds slurry hydrocracking (heavy oil into light oil and naphtha) and catalytic coal liquefaction (35 light oil instead of 20), and the spidertron's legs need 20. With Space Age, big mining drills need 10 as a lubricant that works in vacuum. Asteroid collectors take 2 superalloy and crushers 2 molybdenum steel; recycling returns the new materials.
What happens when I add Molybdenum to a running game?
Oil refineries that already run advanced oil processing keep running, but you can't pick that recipe again. If advanced oil processing is researched, the distillation tower and the new recipes unlock right away and a chat message explains the change. Research that Molybdenum puts in front of research you have finished is completed too, and a chat message lists it: superalloy for a researched rocket silo, advanced oil processing for researched nuclear power or tanks, cadmium plating and tellurium processing for researched advanced oil processing.
Does it work with Space Age?
Yes. Crude oil on Nauvis and Aquilo goes through the tower; Fulgora's heavy oil and Vulcanus's coal liquefaction stay as they are. Vulcanus gets molybdenite from volcanic rocks and tungsten flotation, with water or 50 steam. Its foundry casts molybdenum steel and, after metallurgic science, tungsten superalloy (25 per rhenium instead of 20). Oxide and rhenium can be made locally too. Fulgora leaches scrap with sulfuric acid: 50 scrap make 1 oxide and 1 rhenium liquor, enough for electric furnaces, production science, molybdenum steel, centrifuges, tanks and nuclear reactors. Gleba floats copper ore from copper bacteria with jelly instead of naphtha and bioleaches the molybdenite into oxide for molybdenum steel. At the same bioleaching research, 50 rhenium liquor and 1 bioflux make 1 rhenium in 10 seconds in a biochamber, so rhenium, superalloy, silos and thrusters can be made locally. Power armor MK2 also has all its inputs locally. On Aquilo, gas oil burns into solid fuel without a catalyst.
Every ordinary rocket silo needs 100 superalloy. Make it on Nauvis, Vulcanus or Gleba, or slowly on Fulgora (one rhenium takes 2,500 scrap); bring it or its rhenium to the other planets. Space platforms need imported molybdenum materials. Aquilo stays import-based for catalysts and alloy parts. The Factoriopedia tip "Molybdenum on other planets" lists what to bring.
Which planet mods does it support?
- Corrundum: Chalcopyrite flotation gives molybdenite, and platinum makes a longer-lasting catalyst.
- Rubia: Build the rocket silo with the planet's own recipe, no superalloy needed.
- Muluna: The big rocket silo needs no superalloy.
Does it work with my other mods?
It works alone, with Space Age and with the whole element family; each sibling adds a link when it is installed (see the README). It loads and runs with Krastorio 2 and Krastorio 2 Spaced Out. Proper integration with BZ, Timeken, trikop, Planetfall, Krastorio 2 and Space Exploration is planned. Molybdenum is not compatible with Angel's Petrochem, Pyanodon's Petroleum Handling or James Oily Extravaganza, which replace oil processing themselves.
Do I need Flare Stack or Valves?
No, both are recommendations. Without them, convert surplus cuts or turn them into solid fuel.
What do the Space Age machines add?
Foundries roast molybdenite and make alloys; electromagnetic plants scrub roaster gas; cryogenic plants run gas chemistry; biochambers crack kerosene and naphtha. The original machines remain available. Agricultural science unlocks bioleaching: 5 molybdenite + 1 bioflux + 50 water make 4 oxide, 8 rhenium liquor and 20 sulfuric acid before the biochamber bonus.
Infinite superalloy productivity adds 10 % per level to ordinary, tungsten and available lanthanum superalloy. It costs red, green, blue, space and metallurgic packs, 1,000 × 1.5^level, 60 seconds per unit. Molybdenite weighs 2 kg and stacks to 50; molybdenum steel weighs 2.5 kg, matching steel.