Suggestion: Chemical Engineering

First off, great mod. I enjoy it a lot.

Did a search for "chemical" and checked the already suggested suggestions thread, and turned up nothing. So apologies if it is in planning, or has been suggested and I missed it.
A Google search for "minecraft chemical mod" and "minecraft chemistry mod" turned up MineChem as the most relevant mod. Appeared to have a full periodic table but no real purpose other than possibly serving as a base for other mods.

Also, this is a bit more of a general category suggestion (and in fact more of a 'is-this-planned?' question than anything else), so no specific recipies or such mentioned.

Name:
Chemical Engineering and Chemical Process Plants

Describtion:
I believe an untapped avenue for Industrial Craft is that of chemical reactions and chemical engineering. In most modern process plants (even large furnaces) large chemical process sections exist. These are typically geared towards concentrating ores (sorting the desired from the unwanted), before other processes such as electrical smelting (gold, iron, etc.) or electroplating (copper).

Your typical chemical reaction (if oversimplified) has some standard parameters that IC² can use to simulate a simplified (and more generic) chemical process with:

1. Heat in reaction (in degrees Centigrade), changing based on reaction (Exothermic [heat-making] or Endothermic [heat-eating]). Some reaction may require player to remove heat (cooling fans, coolers, etc.) or add heat (Heaters, etc.), in essence keeping it within a specific margin.

2. pH level (Again, pH levels are typically important for both getting a reaction to work, and nasty side effects at both extremes.)

3. Concentrations (A simple use for this would be to indicate how much slurry (solid-in-liquids, or gunk) you have).

4. Efficiency (Not directly manipulated. Essentially reports back how well you are maintaining the reaction).

Recipe:
N/A. Would personally like to see more 'build-it' recipes (like railcraft choke furnace) for chemical tanks/reactors/mixers/etc.

Starting point:
Since this would be a rather new avenue, I would suggest to first start with a simple chemical reactor (I.e. big tank for stuff to happen in). Adding sufficient water to the tank, along with reagents (chemicals that fizzle and make stuff happen), along with sand or dirt or cobblestone (i.e. common blocks), and getting the heat, pH and concentration right, it starts leeching some useful ores from the reaction, along with producing waste (useless except perhaps for recycling).

As a poor 'no-thinking' example: The reactor can leach copper from sand when setup for it, and kept at pH (3.1 to 4.1, best 3.5), and Heat (140°C to 240°C, best 155°C).
Each sand block added ups the concentration by 0.1%.
Each copper ore leached out drops concentration by 4% (one copper ore per 40 sand or less if closer to optimum reaction values), drops heat by 10°C, increases pH by 0.1, and produces twenty waste.
Some other items can lower or raise pH (like clay lowering pH or... or... not sure really).
EU can be converted into heat added (heaters) or heat removed (coolers).
Reactor chamber may require way to monitor Heat/pH/Concentration and output signals at user defined levels (Hi level and Lo level for each of the three).

Essentially the same as heap leach processes in real life. I'd keep recovered ores ratio low, as not to discourage mining.
(Starting point idea probably overlaps in function with EE, but that is another mod and does not require maintaining some form of reaction to obtain results).

Quote from "Sebra"

Recipes would be hardest. You need to describe how each material reacts with each in each condition. For example Iron with Coal in right temperature and proportions produce Steel with some rate. You need quite skilled Chemist to describe it all with a slightest sign of realism.

Yes, to some degree. You don't have to describe each material with every other material, in each condition, just how each material usable (I.e. limit the subset) affects the three (or four) parameters [pH, Heat, Concentration, (and Pressure)]. Reactions would likely be defined seperately.
Well, at least that is how I would do it for the sake of simplicity. Realism doesn't always equal fun.

I.e. If I was to code it, I would define a reaction (similar to a recipe).
A reaction would state:

• What its reaction ranges are (Ex. Heat: 100 , 200; pH: 6, 8; Concentration: 50, 80) (Thinking about it I'd probably just define a range, and make the average of the two numbers, i.e. the centre, the optimal value)
• What it causes at optimal and worst (Ex. Concentration: -3, -4; Heat: -10, -10; pH: 0.1, 0.1) and similarly what it produces (Ex. Copper: 1; Waste: 20)
• How long the reaction takes (i.e. how many ticks before it again applies it cause, and produces something, if possible). (Ex. TimeTicks:100)
• What reagents it accepts. (Ex. Sand) (For the sake of simplicity, I would not define the effect of a reagent per reaction, but let a reagent always have the same effect.)
• Other information such as reaction ID, name, description, whatnot.

I would then define a reagent (Which describes a block or item, so that the blocks or items themselves do not need editing).
An reagent would define:

• The Item/Block ID. (Ex. Block.sand)
• Effect when added to a reaction (Ex. Concentration: 0.1; Heat: 0; pH: 0)

A block (single block machine)/blockgroup (choke furnace equivalent) would simply define what reactions it can run. (Ex. for chemical reactor: Reaction.SandToCopper; Reaction.DirtToTin; Reaction.CobbleToGold;)
And how much water it initially takes to fill up. (Maybe water should also be a variable in all reactions, so that you can consume it over time?)

You could then even define something like a...
Reactor.BakingLine:
Reactions { Reaction.DoughToBread; Reaction.MakeCharcoal }

Reaction.DoughToBread:
Ranges { Heat: 280, 320; pH: 7, 7; Concentration: 90, 100 }
Cause { Concentration: -8, -10; Heat: -10, -10; pH: 0, 0 }
Produces { Bread: 1}
Time { Ticks: 40 }
Accepts { Reagent.Dough }

Reaction.MakeCharcoal:
Ranges { Heat: 321, 999; pH: 0, 14; Concentration: 40, 100 }
Cause { Concentration: -40, -40; Heat: -20, -20; pH: 0, 0 }
Produces { Charcoal: 1}
Time { Ticks: 40 }
Accepts { Reagent.Dough; Reagent.Log }

Reagent.Dough:
ID { Item.Dough }
Effects { Concentration: 20; Heat: 0; pH: 0 }

Where Item.Dough would be made from things like wheat and water, etc.

Haven't yet thought about how to do heater/coolers (EU to Heat+ or Heat-) or heat exchangers (Balances heat between two reactors), etc. (Nice idea though with Nuclear Reactor. Using a nuclear reactor to provide heat for chemical reactions is even being considered in real life, with the new research into liquid salt thorium reactors).

Disclaimer: I've only recently gotten Minecraft, and only just started looking at Java and minecraft modding, so examples above might be wrong approach entirely.

[OT]

Quote from "Warlord Mike"

Also, completely random and off-topic, but is that a Corgi as your avatar?

Toypom actually. He is hyperactive and heck-of-a-fun dog. Also naughty, but that is part of his charm.
Also not very well house broken. But you can't stay mad at him.
[/OT]

[OT]

Quote from Mister_Omega

Reading all of this a few times, I could swear that you're a chemical engineer yourself;

Close. Control System Engineer. So I'm just a pleb, not a genius. Chemistry and I don't actually get along all that well.
[/OT]

Quote from Mister_Omega

...Add-on, maybe? If not implemented into core IC2.

I'm starting to look into MineCraft modding, and have taken a quick glance at the IC² API, so maybe given time I could try.
Heading to Madagascar for a small project though, so probably will not even get to start until I am back in 3 weeks.

Quote from Mister_Omega

this is a spectacularly well-thought out idea

Thanks. But I think it is more a case of new avenue gives lots of possibilities, rather than well conceived idea. There is probably a better way of doing this.
(For example, in the bakery example I use below, pH does not make the world of sense.)

Quote from Mister_Omega

and an excellent end game time eater

Well, it need not be just endgame.
A single reactor early on, running simple reactions that don't need much heating and pH management could be viable to boost mining income a bit.
I.e. early game you probably can't automate, but you can manually watch over the reaction.

I would probably define three tiers of reactors, scaling up in cost and reactions they can do. (I.e. cheap-and-limited to expensive-and-versatile).
Tier 3 reactors doing complex reactions would probably need the outputs from tier two reactors as inputs, and similarly tier 2 from tier 1.
For example, let us consider a three tier bakery.

Tier 1 { Mill } -> Tier 2 { Dough Mixer } -> Tier 3 { Continuous Oven }
(Note, the Mill, Mixer and Oven are all 'reactors')
Wheat -> { Mill } -> Flour
Flour + Water -> { Dough Mixer } -> Dough
Dough -> { Continuous Oven } + Heat (Added to oven) -> Bread

And from this example, I can already see it would make sense to have water as a parameter of all reactors/reactions.
Water is, afterall, the most versatile and precious substance on the planet. It just isn't that expensive given its abundance.
Heck, I mean even large industrial furnaces use water (Not inside, that makes it go 'Kaboom!'. But for cooling of the outer shell).

[OT]
kevindude:

[/OT]

@Everyone:
Thanks for the praise. I don't deserve it, but thanks anyway.

If Alblaka does not want to or does not have the time, I'll give it my best (but still pitiful) attempt as an addon.
I'm sure the core IC² mod team has more than enough vision to code into reality, to spend time on this tangent but I still hope they will.
Trying to get mod forge and MCP set up before heading off on the trip, then perhaps I can use my time off to slap together some noob java code.

Edit:
I was thinking about 'catastrophic failures' earlier on. Would probably define some generic 'Kaboom' situations, such as poisonous gas, explosions, and such.
A reaction could then be defined to call such an action, as opposed to just making something.
Example:
Reaction.Kaboomy:
Ranges { Heat: 1000, 9999; pH: 0, 14; Concentration: 0, 100 } //I.e. any really high heat.
Cause { Concentration: 0, 0; Heat: 0, 0; pH: 0, 0 }
Produces Action { Reactor.Action.Kaboom }
Time { Ticks: 1 }
Accepts { } //Blank means accepts nothing. No need, just blowing up, who cares what is inside?

Since there seems to be interest in this, I figured starting to define some reactions/uses is perhaps a good idea.

For now exact numbers (balance) and how (what reactors used, user actions required, etc.) are irrelevant, but rather we should just aim to brainstorm some reactions we want.
Again, they need not be specifically 'chemical' in nature (Food and beverage reactions, or ore smelting reactions, or even WMD is all fine).

So, for round 1 (Brainstorming) of the design process, I'll start off with some reactions.

End Product: Bread
Inputs: Water + Wheat




Reaction:
Wheat -> Flour
Flour + Water -> Dough
Dough -> Bread




Reason:
Because pounding three wheat bundles into a baked loaf of bread on a wooden workbench just seems odd.




Description:
Wheat is somehow ground, then mixed with water, then finally baked. To make it worth while to use, maybe end up with 1 bread per 2 wheat instead of 3?
Maybe allow similar reaction for making cake and cookies, also producing a bit more per input than just crafting would.

End Product: Copper
Inputs: Sand + Water




Reaction:
Sand + Water -> Slurry Copper
Slurry Copper -> Copper




Reason:
Because I never know what to do with all that sand, dirt and cobblestone until I get a recycler... or four.




Description:
Sand is turned into Slurry Copper in some reactor, which can then be smelted (furnace or whatnot) into copper.
Lots of sand required for one copper, so mining is still a faster/better way to get copper.

End Product: Tin
Inputs: Dirt + Water




Reaction:
Dirt + Water -> Slurry Tin
Slurry Tin -> Tin




Reason:
Because I never know what to do with all that sand, dirt and cobblestone until I get a recycler... or four.




Description:
Dirt is turned into Slurry Tin in some reactor, which can then be smelted (furnace or whatnot) into Tin.
Lots of dirt required for one tin, so mining is still a faster/better way to get tin.

End Product: Iron + Redstone
Inputs: Cobblestone + Water




Reaction:
Dirt + Water -> Slurry Iron + Redstone Sediment
Slurry Iron -> Iron
Redstone Sediment -> Redstone




Reason:
Because I never know what to do with all that sand, dirt and cobblestone until I get a recycler... or four.




Description:
Cobblestone is turned into Slurry Iron and Redstone Sediment in some reactor, which can then be smelted (furnace or whatnot) into Iron and Redstone.
Lots of Cobblestone required for one Iron and redstone, so mining is still a faster/better way to get Iron and Redstone.
Also, given cobblestone can be 'generated' rather easily, EU cost (as Heat+ added) should be high.

End Product: Uranium
Inputs: Uranium Ore + Water + Redstone + Eggs + Milk + Sugar




Reaction:
Uranium Ore + Water -> Slurry Uranium
Slurry Uranium  + Eggs + Milk + Sugar -> Uranium Cake
Uranium Cake + Redstone -> Concentrated Uranium Cake
Concentrated Uranium Cake + Water -> Wet Uranium Cake
Wet Uranium Cake -> Uranium




Reason:
To have an example of a more complex reaction, that is split-able.




Description:
Uranium Ore is turned into slurry in some reactor. The slurry is mixed with egg, sugar and milk and somehow baked to get Uranium cake (Puntastic but not edible).
Uranium Cake is then mixed with redstone, giving concentrated uranium cake.
The concentrated uranium cake is then mixed with water, giving wet uranium cake, that can be centrifuged to give uranium.
This bonus of this long-way-around for processing uranium is that you get more uranium per uranium ore block mined than the 'normal' method.

End Product: XP
Inputs: Rotting Flesh + Water + Wooden Sword




Reaction:
Rotting Flesh + Water -> Tha-Unspeakable-Brew
Tha-Unspeakable-Brew  + Wooden Sword -> Tha-Thrice-slain-Abomination
Tha-Thrice-slain-Abomination -> XP




Reason:
Because this is brainstorming and nearly anything goes.




Description:
Zombie meat is mixed with water, giving Tha-Unspeakable-Brew, which is a high exo-thermic reaction (Read 'Kaboom'-in-a-few-batches).
Tha-Unspeakable-Brew is thrown into a mixer along with a wooden sword, spitting out a Tha-Thrice-slain-Abomination.
Tha-Thrice-slain-Abomination can ground in a macenator for XP.

Quote from I don't now

Maybe add yellow dye to the uranium process when you make the cake so it's yellowcake uranium?

Clever, I didn't even think of that.

I also like the other reactions. All brainstorming welcome...
...
...
I'm going to regret that, aren't I?

Acids and alkalines for changing pH will probably need to fall into 'Strong', and 'Weak' at least, for rough and finer control.
I figured that one would use something renewable for the 'Weak' category at least, to allow for renewable reactions, or at least the means to control more accurately.

To this end, I considered Milk and sugar.
Sugar, it turns out after a Googles-of-revealing (<- See what I did there? It's so funny. Everyone should laugh... ... ... No? Not even a chuckle?) that sugar is neither acid or alkaline, so scrap that idea.
Milk (the unpasturised kind that still has lactic acid producing bacteria) can be argued to be 'refineable' to a weak acid. Similarly, milk contains calcium, which is an Alkaline (I think, definitely when in Calcium Hydroxide form).
So with a really cheap and small reactor could run a reaction that produces both calcium and lactic acid from milk.
Voila, renewable weak acid and base. Maybe -0.1 and +0.1 pH. But numbers unimportant for now.
(And yes, I understand that It is likely that in real life neither of those are 'weak', but in response I argue )