Pumping biomass from a fermenter fast enough?

[Lordofbone]

Hi!

I'm new here and this section is not introductions, but here goes at the same time I had always had some heavy prejudices about mods, but vanilla minecraft was getting boring with water flow / hopper automation type of deals. I'm playing FTB Ultimate for 1.4.7 and it seems to be a nice version for me for now (Gregtech has some good stuff and I cba to mod the files to add it to the other newest version).

So the question: I have a fermenter hooked up to a fairly big oak tree farm and it's being powered by 15-17MJ which I read should be enough to max it. Some of the power comes through conductive pipes that I'd like to keep from exploding. However the fermenter seems to be outputting too much biomass to pump out. I've tried to cram everything into as small a space as I could've and I'm using the wooden waterproof transport pipe with 2 redstone engines (the most I can fit there) to pump the biomass out. I tried switching the other redstone engine to a biogas one, but it doesn't seem to help.

Am I using wrong kind of pipe, wrong kind of engines or what could be the reason that it doesn't seem to come out fast enough? I have 5 stills with max MJ awaiting for the biomass. The stills are staying fairly empty, so the biomass isn't going where it needs to be fast enough.. Any help is appreciated!

 

[twisto51]

Simplest solution is to use a liquiduct set to extract. My most missed item in 1.6.2.

 

[Eleri]

Replacing engines on BC pipes does increase the speed, but you may want to look into crafting Liquiducts from Thermal Expansion. They don't require engines, and have a larger through-put than will get with a biogas and redstone engine on a wooden pipe depending upon the length. Note that it may require clicking the pipe with a wrench until the end attached to the Fermenter has a "dimple" in the end and then applying a redstone signal. This sets it to extract, as opposed to having liquids pushed into it.

 

[Lordofbone]

Thanks a lot guys, yeah that shaved off some bulk off the construction as well and works like a charm!

 

[Omicron]

Just as an extra bit of information, a single redstone engine (once fully heated up) will completely saturate a wooden waterproof pipe's capacity. Adding more (or bigger) engines helps on item transport pipes, but not on the liquid ones.

Newer Buildcraft versions add the emerald fluid pipe, which combines the quadruple capacity of a golden fluid pipe with the functionality of a wooden fluid pipe, plus an additional filtering option. With TE not yet updated (and potentially coming without liquiducts once it updates), that's a very useful thing to keep in mind for high output machines like the Fermenter.

 

[MigukNamja]

Just as an extra bit of information, a single redstone engine (once fully heated up) will completely saturate a wooden waterproof pipe's capacity. Adding more (or bigger) engines helps on item transport pipes, but not on the liquid ones.

Newer Buildcraft versions add the emerald fluid pipe, which combines the quadruple capacity of a golden fluid pipe with the functionality of a wooden fluid pipe, plus an additional filtering option. With TE not yet updated (and potentially coming without liquiducts once it updates), that's a very useful thing to keep in mind for high output machines like the Fermenter.

While TE liquiducts are my go-to, there are indeed some advantages to BC. A BC liquid pipe + BC autarchic gate fits in a single block whereas a TE liquiduct that has to 'pump' requires a redstone signal such as lever, which requires a 2nd block.

 

[zorn]

Just as an extra bit of information, a single redstone engine (once fully heated up) will completely saturate a wooden waterproof pipe's capacity. Adding more (or bigger) engines helps on item transport pipes, but not on the liquid ones.

Newer Buildcraft versions add the emerald fluid pipe, which combines the quadruple capacity of a golden fluid pipe with the functionality of a wooden fluid pipe, plus an additional filtering option. With TE not yet updated (and potentially coming without liquiducts once it updates), that's a very useful thing to keep in mind for high output machines like the Fermenter.

Why would they get rid of liquiducts? Seems like one of the big items from that mod, everyone uses them.

 

[Tristam Izumi]

Why would they get rid of liquiducts? Seems like one of the big items from that mod, everyone uses them.

I think KL wants them to be fully Forge multipart compatible, and it isn't an easy fix on his end. Check out his thread on the FTB mods forum for more info.

 

[MigukNamja]

Different fluid mechanics and modified BC base classes in 1.6 might make it more difficult to do TE-style the first release.

One doesn't simply walk into 1.6.

 

[Omicron]

Basically the reason he gave was that he decided to backport his current TE 3.0.0.0 status as opposed to updating 2.4.6.0. And between those versions, a LOT has changed, both conceptually and code-wise (the fully fledged TE 3.0 is slated for 1.7, with everything that implies).

 

[KingTriaxx]

In 1.6 Extra Utilities provides pipes which seem to be the best possible alternative.

 

[namiasdf]

A full power fermenter produces a lot of biomass. The best solution (if you have the resources/infrastructure) would be to use liquiducts. If not, multiple fermenters splitting the total power of your entire system between them will allow you the opportunity to have two wooden-waterproof pipe outputs, for the same system.

If it is the case where you cannot make liquiducts yet, it is worth the investment to get multiple fermenters. You will want to expand that system in the future, so it is a sound investment. Once you hit liquiduct infrastructure (it really isnt' that intensive, just a few TE machines, obsidian and a few other things), you'll have the ability to handle the throughput of a maximum power fermenter and thus the ability to expand your system.

Right now I have 6 full power fermenters running full time. I turn that all into biofuel to power 160 combustion engines & 12 full sized HP steam boilers constantly. That's 160x5 + 12x144 MJ/t, if you were wondering.