How to Make & Use The Distillation Tower in Modern Industrialization

The Distillation Tower is one of Modern Industrialization’s most helpful machines once you’ve completed the challenging early-game progression. While earlier game stages require complex setups for fuel processing, the Distillation Tower streamlines your production into a single, efficient multiblock structure. This guide will walk you through building and operating this essential machine.

Understanding the Distillation Tower

The Distillation Tower is a tall, donut-shaped multiblock machine that consolidates multiple distillery operations into one unit. Instead of running crude oil through separate distilleries to produce sulfuric light fuel, heavy fuel, and other outputs, you can process everything simultaneously in the Distillation Tower.

Materials You’ll Need

Before constructing your Distillation Tower, gather the following components:

Distillation Tower Unit (the base component)

Stainless Steel Casings

Stainless Steel Pipe Machine Casings

All of these require stainless steel to craft, so ensure you’ve completed that progression before attempting this machine.

Building the Distillation Tower Structure

Height and Configuration

The Distillation Tower can be constructed at different heights, ranging from 1 to 9 layers tall. The key point to remember is that the bottom layer does not count toward the height—this is your controller layer. For example, a 3-height Distillation Tower requires 4 physical layers: the plating on the bottom, followed by 3 pipe machine casing layers.

The height you need depends on the recipe you’re running. To check the required height for a specific recipe, click on the machine and select “Multi Block Shape” to verify the correct height setting.

Construction Steps

Follow these steps to build your Distillation Tower:

Place a Stainless Steel Plating on the ground as your base layer

Stack Stainless Steel Pipe Machine Casings on top to your desired height (up to 9 layers)

Create a donut shape with your casings

Once built, right-click the machine and verify the height matches your recipe requirements

We recommend building your tower up to 9 layers tall if you have the materials. Even if you only need 3 layers for a particular recipe, you can configure the machine to use only that height, and it will ignore the extra layers above.

Installing Input and Output Hatches

Fluid Input

You’ll need at least one fluid input hatch to feed your materials into the Distillation Tower. For the crude oil example, a Steel Fluid Input Hatch works well. Connect this to your source of crude oil—either directly from an Oil Drilling Rig or from a storage tank.

Power Input

The Distillation Tower requires an energy input hatch. The voltage tier you choose determines the maximum voltage the machine can accept:

LV (Low Voltage) – for simple recipes like crude oil processing (requires 26 EU/tick)

MV (Medium Voltage) – for more complex recipes like steam cracking

HV (High Voltage) – for advanced operations

For crude oil processing, an LV input is sufficient. Connect your power source using the appropriate cable type (copper for LV, gold for MV, etc.).

Fluid Output Hatches

Install enough output hatches to collect all your products. For a 3-height tower processing crude oil, you’ll need 3 output hatches since the recipe produces 3 different outputs (sulfuric light fuel, heavy fuel, and sulfuric napfer).

Operating the Distillation Tower

Once your structure is complete and all hatches are installed:

Right-click the Distillation Tower to open its interface

Click “Select Multi Block Shape” and set it to the correct height for your recipe

Connect your fluid input to your material source using fluid pipes

Connect your power source

The machine will activate and begin processing

You’ll see progress bars as the machine works, and your outputs will fill the connected output hatches.

Distillation Tower Recipes

The Distillation Tower can process a variety of materials depending on your tower’s configuration. Here are the primary recipes available:

Crude Oil Processing

Input: Crude Oil

Outputs: Sulfuric Light Fuel, Heavy Fuel, Sulfuric Napfer

Height Required: 3

Power Required: 26 EU/tick (LV)

Shale Oil Processing

Input: Shale Oil

Outputs: Helium, Sulfuric Crude Oil, Sulfuric Napfer

Height Required: 3

Steam Cracked Heavy Fuel

Input: Steam Cracked Heavy Fuel

Outputs: Light Fuel, Methane, Butadiene, Benzene

Height Required: 4

Steam Cracked Light Fuel

Input: Steam Cracked Light Fuel

Outputs: Methane, Ethane, Ethylene, Propane

Height Required: 4

Steam Cracked Napfer

Input: Steam Cracked Napfer

Outputs: Methane, Acetylene, Ethylene, Propane, Butadiene, Benzene, Pollulin, Ethyl Benzene

Height Required: 8

Summary

The Distillation Tower is a powerful machine that dramatically simplifies fuel and chemical processing in Modern Industrialization. While the early game requires complex machinery setups, the Distillation Tower consolidates multiple operations into a single structure. By following this guide, you’ll be able to construct and operate this multiblock machine efficiently, whether you’re processing crude oil for diesel generators or working with advanced chemical steam cracking recipes. Remember to match your tower height to your recipe requirements, and don’t hesitate to build it tall—you can always configure it to use fewer layers than you’ve constructed.

— Want to Support? —

If you would like to help us continue making these guides – please consider joining our patreon here – https://www.patreon.com/c/JaviHeals

Alternatively – we host a group of MC Servers you can join here – https://discord.gg/zD7Gjt6MHF