Alternative to the Steam Turbine?

[DRH1469]

I was wondering if there was and alternative to the steam turbine to generate EU, I was reading up on steam boilers and decided that I would go with the Liqued Fueled Firebox because I have over 64 bukkits, stored in a gold chest, of Cresote Oil from my Coal Coke Oven. The Steam Turbine is pretty cool and all, but is rather expensive. I like using the Hobbist Steam Engine for my quarry, now I would like to use all steam for my EU and MJ. Is there away to "convert" MJ into EU, like attaching a Steam Engine to somthing?


Extra Info:
Pack: Direwolf20
Tried and don't want to use: Fermenter(nothing against it, just rather had to supply with saplings and fertilizer)
Can make a Liqued Fueled Firebox and a low pressure tank, can't make the Steam Turbine, now way of making Steel yet.
Plenty of resources for trying things, but would like to stick with: BuildCraft, IC2, Forestry, RailCraft and Thuamcraft 3( researched till the "Infernal Furnace" )
Prefbily trying to save copper, trying to make the new "Multi-Farm"(Forestry)

Any help is appreciated, DRH1469

 

[Captain Neckbeard]

1. Creosote Oil is a terrible fuel. I wouldn't recommend trying to keep up a Boiler using it, you will be severely disappointed.
2. For MJ->EU, Geothermal Generators supplied by Magma Crucibles are a simple and popular choice.

 

[Guswut]

I've just got a second 36HP (thirty-six block high pressure boiler) set up, and I couldn't see doing it any other way as I'm really enjoying the way it works. You can run two steam turbines at full output as well as two industrial engines (8mj/t each) or four commercial engines (4mj/t each). The commercial use iron to make, and the industrial use steel. Besides that, there is no difference.

My first 36HP is only powering one turbine as I need loads more power for quarrying and the like. After I have six set up, though, I will have enough excess power to keep everything else going without too much worry.

So yes, you could magma crucible cobble or netherrack, but then you wouldn't be cooking with steam! Although maybe a mix of the two systems is a good idea.

 

[Exedra]

Have fun powering a boiler with less than two stacks of creosote "bukkits"

 

[Omicron]

1. Creosote Oil is a terrible fuel. I wouldn't recommend trying to keep up a Boiler using it, you will be severely disappointed.
2. For MJ->EU, Geothermal Generators supplied by Magma Crucibles are a simple and popular choice.

Creosote is a perfectly fine fuel for small boilers. Each bucket is worth two charcoal. Not everyone needs a 36 HP boiler; contrary to popular belief, there are in fact eleven other boiler variants available.

Admittedly, trying to power a steam turbine with a size 1 boiler would be pretty funny to watch, though not particularly effective...

 

[DRH1469]

Okayyyyyy, I think I got the message, rather not use a steam turbine until I can craft it and have a larger boiler, the way to go seems to be using a steam engine powering a Magma Crucible, then using the lava to power Geo-thermal generators, Thanks for the quick and useful info, greatly appreciated

 

[Captain Neckbeard]

Not everyone needs a 36 HP boiler; contrary to popular belief, there are in fact eleven other boiler variants available.

What is this heresy?

Nah, I like to keep things relatively small, too. I just use Coke.

 

[abculatter_2]

Okayyyyyy, I think I got the message, rather not use a steam turbine until I can craft it and have a larger boiler, the way to go seems to be using a steam engine powering a Magma Crucible, then using the lava to power Geo-thermal generators, Thanks for the quick and useful info, greatly appreciated

IMPORTANT NOTE: If I remember correctly, it takes over 2 million heat units to bring a full-size HP boiler to 100% heat. Doing a bit of math on how much charcoal that is, however, and I think I might not actually remember correctly, and it's probably more then that. Prepare accordingly.

 

[DRH1469]

I will be using the size 1 boiler, so another question, which fuel source would be best?

 

[abculatter_2]

I will be using the size 1 boiler, so another question, which fuel source would be best?

There isn't really a 'best' fuel, it all depends on what you have available and what you want to do. Generally a steve's cart tree farm is what's used for its simplicity but there are many other options, such as biofuel, peat, coal coke, nitro-coalfuel, blazerods...

EDIT: Hell, you can even use Gregtech to centrifuge dirt or mycelium into lithium, which can be burned too. (I'd reccomend taking it out of the cell first with a liquid transposer, though)

 

[Captain Neckbeard]

"Best" fuel really depends on what you have available.
You can eventually have effectively infinite Fuel or Biofuel.

 

[DRH1469]

So basically most things that would work in a Vanilla Furnace will work well in a boiler? Wow, you are quick and I applaud you on that. One more question then I will stop asking, is there a difference between Gold Waterproof pipes, I know that the item ones speed the items up, does the same work with liquids? Thanks everyone

 

[abculatter_2]

Everything that works in a furnace will burn in a solid-fueled firebox, which is the cheaper and easier alternative. To burn liquids such as biofuel, creosote oil, and lithium you'll need the more expensive liquid fueled firebox.
Also, golden waterproof piping has a larger capacity for liquids, and that's it. I'd reccomend using liquiducts if you can, though.

 

[Captain Neckbeard]

The different qualities of Waterproof Pipes have different flow rates. Don't use Wooden ones at all on Boilers, they don't need 'em. Iron Pipe will move the output of one Low Pressure block, and two Iron Pipes will move the output of one High Pressure block. Gold Pipes will move the output of two High Pressure Blocks or four Low Pressure.

 

[DRH1469]

Everything that works in a furnace will burn in a solid-fueled firebox, which is the cheaper and easier alternative. To burn liquids such as biofuel, creosote oil, and lithium you'll need the more expensive liquid fueled firebox.
Also, golden waterproof piping has a larger capacity for liquids, and that's it. I'd reccomend using liquiducts if you can, though.

Thanks for the clarification, I will be using a Solid Firebox now after reading the replies, many thanks people, and kudos to all of you!

 

[Neirin]

The only things that take Creosote as a fuel are liquid fueled boilers and Semifluid Generators from GregTech. Since you're using DW20 that means you're limited to the boiler. Creosote is not particularly ideal for that (equivalent to coal in a solid fueled boiler), but if you have an appropriately small boiler, it's not terrible.

For instance in a 1LP boiler (enough to run a single hobbyist engine @2MJ/t) a single bucket of Creosote will last for almost 7 minutes (~6 mins, 45 secs) once it has reached max heat. Using a magma crucible fed by cobblestone (ideally via Igneous Extruder) hooked up to a Geothermal Generator will convert MJ to EU at a 1:1 ratio (20k MJ used to make enough lava to produce 20k EU). Using a 1LP boiler 64 buckets of creosote could output 2 EU/t for 432 minutes.

The problem here is that boilers have higher fuel efficiency at larger sizes, however, they also take longer to heat up. If you plan to keep producing Creosote to fuel your boiler, then I would suggest doing the math to figure out how long it takes you to produce a bucket's worth of Creosote Oil and then build your boiler large enough to use creosote at roughly that rate. It's better to err on the side of caution, though, so make sure you have a bit of a buffer.

If you only plan to use up your creosote, not make it a consistent fuel choice, I'd recommend keeping your boiler as small as your power requirements will allow so you spend as little fuel as possible heating it up.

 

[nethervvoid]

Hmm I just set up an auto peat multifarm.. Might be a great use for the extra peat or maybe converting to bituminous peat...

 

[CapturetheBomb]

To power a 8LP boiler, you need to have 13 coke ovens all running to balance out. I'd recommend making a Steve's Cart logging farm to supply the ovens with logs and pump all charcoal into another type of boiler.

 

[DRH1469]

Thanks everyone, will be looking at other sources of energy and other ways of creating fuel and steam, wow, this forum(and its people) are amazing, Kudos to all!

 

[Bibble]

To put in my 2 pence, I used the DW20 pack and map from Ep 20. Plodded along for a while, set up the fermenter/still setup (powered by a biogas engine in a feedback loop) to generate fuel for the quarry until it hit the bottom. Let it be for quite a while before attaching it to a large underground iron tank (mainly to get rid of some saplings). When trying to work out what to do with it, I decided on a 36HP liquid boiler (because, hey, why not?). Got it set up, and a single fermenter/still was able to keep up reasonably well. Got annoyed with adding fertiliser, so bred bees to refined, plonked them in an alveary, refined the redulting oil and put in a holding tank, with the output going to the boiler.

This is now a fully automated, completely self-sustaining setup providing me with more than enough power for my entire base, and easy to add another boiler into the mix, should I wish to (the appropriate serums prepared for refined, fast, nocturnal, cave, flyer, and rock pollinating).

Also, tesseracts are awesome for this kind of thing!