How to Make Diesel in Modern Industrialization

Once you’ve successfully drilled crude oil, the next step is processing it into diesel fuel. This guide walks you through the complete setup for creating diesel in Modern Industrialization, from initial crude oil processing to power generation. Diesel is one of the most efficient fuels for your Medium Voltage diesel generator, making it a crucial component of the electric age progression.

Why Diesel? Understanding Fuel Efficiency

Before diving into production, it’s important to understand why diesel is worth the effort. The Medium Voltage (MV) diesel generator can produce up to 256 EU per tick and accepts any fluid fuel. However, different fuels provide vastly different power outputs:

Bio-Diesel: 250 EU per millibucket

Crude Oil: 16 EU per millibucket

Creosote: 160 EU per millibucket

Diesel: 400 EU per millibucket

Boosted Diesel: Requires Bio-Diesel and Di-E-Full-EFA (more complex)

While you could burn crude oil directly in your MV diesel generator, you’d get minimal power output. Diesel, at 400 EU per millibucket, offers excellent efficiency without requiring the complexity of Boosted Diesel. This makes it the ideal fuel for your current progression stage.

The Complete Diesel Production Setup

Creating diesel requires a multi-step process involving several machines working in sequence. The good news is you already have access to all the necessary equipment.

Step 1: Crude Oil Distillation

Start by taking your drilled crude oil and pumping it into two distilleries using fluid pipes:

Left Distillery: Converts crude oil into sulfuric heavy fuel

Right Distillery: Converts crude oil into sulfuric light fuel

When you first place a distillery and hook up crude oil and power, it will automatically process sulfuric light fuel. To make the distillery produce sulfuric heavy fuel instead, you’ll need to configure its output:

Click “Lock Editing” on the distillery

Input “sulfuric heavy fuel” into the configuration field

Verify it lights up green, confirming the output is set

Drag the output to the output port

Lock the configuration

This output locking feature will be important in several machines going forward, so remember this technique.

Step 2: Chemical Reaction – Creating Light and Heavy Fuel

Connect both distillery outputs into two separate chemical reactors:

Light Fuel Reactor: Combines sulfuric light fuel + hydrogen → light fuel

Heavy Fuel Reactor: Combines sulfuric heavy fuel + hydrogen → heavy fuel

Both reactors produce sulfuric acid as a byproduct, which you can ignore for now.

Step 3: Hydrogen Generation via Electrolyzer

Both chemical reactors require hydrogen as an input. Generate it using an electrolyzer:

Use an electric pump (or any fluid pump) to extract water

Pump the water into an electrolyzer

The electrolyzer splits water into hydrogen and oxygen

Extract the hydrogen and route it into both chemical reactors

The oxygen can be left as waste

Pro Tip: Energy pipes, fluid pipes, and item pipes can all occupy the same block space, allowing for compact, efficient layouts.

Step 4: Mixing Light and Heavy Fuel into Diesel

Connect the outputs of both chemical reactors into an electric mixer. This machine combines:

Light fuel (from the light reactor)

Heavy fuel (from the heavy reactor)

The result is diesel.

Complete Process Overview

Here’s the entire diesel production chain at a glance:

Crude Oil → Split into two distilleries

Distillery 1: Crude Oil → Sulfuric Heavy Fuel

Distillery 2: Crude Oil → Sulfuric Light Fuel

Water → Electrolyzer → Hydrogen + Oxygen

Chemical Reactor 1: Sulfuric Light Fuel + Hydrogen → Light Fuel

Chemical Reactor 2: Sulfuric Heavy Fuel + Hydrogen → Heavy Fuel

Electric Mixer: Light Fuel + Heavy Fuel → Diesel

Power Generation with Diesel

Once you’ve produced diesel, pump it directly into your Medium Voltage diesel generator. It will begin converting diesel into electricity at 400 EU per millibucket, providing reliable mid-game power generation.

Beyond Diesel: Other Diesel-Based Items

Now that you’re producing diesel, you have access to several advanced items for the mid-game:

Diesel Jet Pack: Uses diesel fuel for flight

Diesel Chainsaw: Powered by diesel

Diesel Mining Drill: The upgraded version of the standard mining drill, featuring Silk Touch and a 4×2 harvest area

Conclusion: Entering the Mid-Game

Congratulations! With diesel production now active, you’ve completed the electric age of Modern Industrialization. This setup provides stable, efficient power generation and unlocks access to diesel-powered tools and equipment. Your next progression will take you into the mid-game and eventually the end-game content, but for now, you have a solid foundation for industrial advancement.

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