Mega Distillation Tower

The Mega Distillation Tower (MDT) is an LuV tier multiblock for mass distilling fluids into ALL of its constituent fractions simultaneously. The MDT is a direct upgrade from the Distillation Tower because it runs at 150% speed, only uses 90% of the EU/t normally required, offers 256 parallels, supports multi-amp and laser energy hatches for serious overclocking, and has unlimited tier skips. That means it can run any recipe regardless of voltage tier as long as there is enough power. The structure is built as a series of 6-block tall layers with the input on bottom and each layer above that dedicated to 1-2 unique outputs. The order of the outputs follows the NEI preview of the recipe and the number of outputs determines the minimum height of the structure. The MDT only outperforms the Dangote Distillus if it can take full advantage of its 256 parallels (3+ overclocks).

The MDT also has an alternate distillery mode which produces one fraction at a time but runs at 200% speed, only uses 50% of the EU/t normally required, and offers up to 1,024 parallels at maximum height. Distillery mode is only useful for niche applications such as RP-1 rocket fuel.

The MDT has no tiered components. The height ranges between 2-6 layers depending on the number of outputs. The rectangular base at the bottom is only for the controller, input bus, maintenance hatch, and energy hatch. The layer above that is only for the input hatch (bronze side) and output bus (steel side), and is not counted in the overall tower's height. The remaining 6-block tall middle layers each have two output hatches and the very top layer has one output hatch, for all the different output fluids. For example, distilling raw oil yields four different fluids which means the structure must be at least 3 layers tall with two output hatches on layers 1 and 2. Multi-amp and laser energy hatches are supported for serious overclocking. Use the Multiblock Structure Hologram Projector to visualize/build the structure with subchannel "height" to specify the total number of middle layers.

Base Structure

• Controller: Front center, 3rd layer
• 361 Clean Stainless Steel Machine Casing
• 215 Strong Bronze Machine Casing
• 179 Naquadah Sheetmetal
• 150-165 Naquadah Reinforced Distillation Casing
• 99 Stainless Steel Frame Box
• 80 Bronze Pipe Casing
• 43-44 Steel Pipe Casing
• 41 Solid Steel Machine Casing
• 1+ Energy Hatch: Any base reinforced distillation casing
• 1 Maintenance Hatch: Any base reinforced distillation casing
• 0+ Input Bus: Any base reinforced distillation casing
• 1+ Input Hatch: Bronze pipe casing on base structure
• 0+ Output Bus: Steel pipe casing on base structure
• 3-11 Output Hatch: Two per middle layer, one on top layer

Each Additional Layer

• 48 Clean Stainless Steel Machine Casing
• 57 Strong Bronze Machine Casing
• 32 Naquadah Sheetmetal
• 27 Stainless Steel Frame Box
• 16 Naquadah Reinforced Distillation Casing
• 14 Bronze Pipe Casing
• 6 Steel Pipe Casing

Wallsharing

MDTs may wallshare each of their sides to save on casings and sheetmetal. That does not include the output hatches due to the restrictions on their locations or the energy hatch because the MDT pulls as much power as possible while there are still parallels available.

The MDT has two operating modes, listed below. Switch modes in the GUI of the controller or by right-clicking the controller with a screwdriver. The distillery mode scales with the height of the tower and can only output one fluid at a time, but its additional parallels and energy efficiency are perfect for niche applications such as RP-1 rocket fuel.

• Distillation Tower Mode - Produces all constituent fractions simultaneously. Runs at 150% speed, only uses 90% of the EU/t normally required, and offers a fixed 256 parallels. Increase the height to output more fluid types.
• Distillery Mode - Produces only one fraction at a time. Runs at 200% speed, only uses 50% of the EU/t normally required, and offers up to 1,024 parallels based on the tower height. The equation for the number of parallels is ${\displaystyle {\displaystyle 256\times (1+\lfloor {\text{Output Layers}}/2\rfloor )}}$.

The MDT distills fluids into all of its constituent fractions simultaneously, similar to the regular Distillation Tower. Each fraction is outputted at a different layer of the structure based on the NEI preview of the recipe. The order is left-to-right and bottom-to-top as seen in the following images. For example, the order of outputs when distilling oil is sulfuric heavy fuel, sulfuric light fuel, sulfuric naphtha, and sulfuric gas. Those correspond to layers 1-2 on the structure since the bottom (layer 0) is for the input.

If the MDT is too short to accommodate all the potential outputs OR one of the output hatches is full, it displays the error message "not enough output space" in the GUI of the controller. It is highly recommended to place a super tank in front of each output hatch to create a large buffer for each fluid, then enable void overflow on any that are less desirable to keep the MDT running until the more desirable fluids are backed up.

The difference between the Dangote Distillus and the MDT (both in distillation tower mode) is not entirely obvious. The former has a very generous speed bonus but the latter has significantly more parallels. To help decide between the two, the following table compares the processing speed of acidic osmium solution for various overclocks. Note that the MDT consumes up to 2A of power with a single energy hatch while there are still parallels available so the comparison is a little unfair. The cells highlighted green indicate which multiblock is faster after normalizing for power.

From this information, it can be concluded that the Dangote is the superior option for 0-2 overclocks and the MDT is the superior option for 3+ overclocks. This behavior is consistent across all recipes.