Electric Blast Furnace (GregTech 5 Unofficial)

The Electric Blast Furnace, or EBF, is a machine added by GregTech 5 Unofficial. It is an electric upgrade of the Bronze Plated Blast Furnace. It is a 3x3x4 multiblock construct, powered by Energy Units (EU), and allows for the smelting of more advanced materials than its unpowered counterpart.



Construction
The Electric Blast Furnace is a 4-block high hollow 3x3 box. The top layer is constructed from 8 Heat Proof Machine Casings around one Muffler Hatch. The Muffler Hatch must be facing upwards while facing an air block

Optionally, an additional casing can be replaced with an Output Bus.

The two hollow middle layers are constructed from 16 Heating Coils.

The bottom layer is more mixed, and must contain the following:
 * 1, placed in the middle of any side (not in a corner)
 * 1
 * 1 or more
 * 1 or more
 * 1 or more
 * 0-4 s, occupying the space not used by the other components

The bottom layer may also contain one or more Input Hatches, used to input fluid Oxygen gas or Titanium Tetrachloride.

The control block is crafted as follows:

There are two limitations on what materials an Electric Blast Furnace can smelt: Voltage and Heat Capacity. Both are determined by the structure of the EBF. Voltage is determined by the tier and number of Energy Hatches used. Heat Capacity is determined by what Heating Coils were used.


 * Cupronickel Coils have a Heating Capacity of 1800 Kelvin.
 * Kanthal Coils have a Heating Capacity of 2700 Kelvin.
 * Nichrome Coils have a Heating Capacity of 3600 Kelvin.
 * Tungsteel Coils have a Heating Capacity of 4500 Kelvin.
 * HSS-G Coils have a Heating Capacity of 5400 Kelvin.
 * Naquadah Coils have a Heating Capacity of 7200 Kelvin.
 * Naquadah Alloy Coils have a Heating Capacity of 9001 Kelvin.
 * Do not mix different types of Heating Coils.

Usage
While most recipes in the Electric Blast Furnace recipes consume 120 EU/t, there are some exceptions both higher and lower, peaking at 30720 for the crafting of Naquadah Alloy ingots.

However, as the MV Energy Hatch requires Aluminium—which can only be smelt in an EBF—to craft, the first EBF's structure must contain 3 LV Energy Hatches to prevent the machine from being overloaded. (Two would be enough ordinarily, but if any Maintenance problems are present, the EBF's energy consumption jumps from 120EU/t to 132EU/t, greater than the 128EU/t afforded by two LV Energy Hatches.)

Power is the most important issue when using an EBF. As it requires MV Electricity when only LV is available, it requires 5 Basic Diesel Generators, Gas Turbines, or Steam Turbines. 5 Steam Turbines consume 510 L Steam/tick, equal to 34 High Pressure Coal Boilers, 17 High Pressure Lava Boilers, or one fairly expensive Large Bronze Boiler. If a supply of Oil is readily available, a Distillery can easily supply enough Diesel to run a Blast Furnace.

One of the primary uses of the Electric Blast Furnace is the smelting of Iron into Steel. While the Bronze Blast Furnace can also produce Steel from Iron, the Electric Blast Furnace is faster and more energy efficient. Compare the Bronze Blast Furnace smelting one Iron Ingot into one Steel Ingot in 6 minutes for 4 Charcoal as opposed to the Electric Blast Furnace smelting one Wrought Iron Ingot into one Steel Ingot in 5 seconds for approximately 20,000 EU, including Oxygen and Wrought Iron processing. Using High Pressure Coal Boilers, 4 Charcoal can produce far more than 20,000 EU.)

Another important use of the Electric Blast Furnace is the smelting of Silicon Ingots, for if Applied Energistics 2 is installed alongside GregTech, all of its circuit recipes consume Silicon Plates. Silicon Dust can most easily be acquired by electrolyzing Silicon Dioxide Dust, a process which also generates 2000L Oxygen (useful for Steel or Annealed Copper). Silicon Dioxide Dust is most easily acquired by centrifuging Glass Dust.

As with all other GregTech multiblock machines:
 * Insufficient energy supply will destroy the currently processed material.
 * When the Output Bus is full, the Electric Blast Furnace will continue to work and will destroy all newly produced items.
 * Do NOT build a multiblock machine over chunk borders. Doing so can lead to unpredictable behavior. If the player has NEI installed (which is highly recommended), chunk borders can be viewed by pressing F9 (by default).
 * Before using the Electric Blast Furnace for the first time, maintenance must be performed.
 * To activate or deactivate the Electric Blast Furnace, hit its control block with a Soft Hammer.