Biofuel boiler still viable? (Mindcrack 8.3.2)

[LittleMike]

You seem to be putting the cart before the horse. Use some other fuel source to power your stills and fermenters, build up a large supply of biofuel, then kick off the HP boiler. As soon as the boiler hits 100c start using MJ produced from the steam to power the stills and fermenters. Biofuel engines are far less efficient than a boiler + industrial steam engines, so you should stop using them as soon as possible.

Also, I found that one Steve's Carts tree farm provides more than enough biofuel for 2 HP boilers. Personally off each farm I run 1 mulch/juice fermenter, 1 mulch/water fermenter, and 1 fertilizer/water fermenter. I also have 13 stills, which is just about right to keep in balance with the fermenters. The wood is also enough for 2 HP boilers as well.

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That's why I made the post - I was under the impression it was a self contained system. I realize now that it *can* be, but needs to be started off with a surplus of fuel first and THEN it can run itself. What about throwing combustion engines into the mix? Or is the 18 industrial steam engines still the most efficient way?

 

[Deleted member 38496]

I'm fairly sure the random 20 times fuel came from my wild estimate from memory on the first page of the thread, and somehow that led to people believing there was a new nerf.

 

[gusmahler]

A 16x16 SC tree farm can easily maintain 3 full size HP boilers on liquid alone. (Plus two more solid fueled boilers from planks). Yes, you're going to need some kind of energy source to get your sapling ---> biofuel setup going. And it will start slowly.

My suggestion, use whatever power you have now (even just stirling engines if that's all you have) to generate just a little biofuel from that setup. Maybe even just 10 buckets. Then switch to combustion engines to get to 500 buckets. Then you can turn on the first boiler.

Once the first boiler is at 1000 C, build up to 500+ buckets again and start a second boiler. Build up a little more (maybe 700 buckets), then start the third boiler (if necessary).