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3 years ago This issue is stale because it has been open 90 days with no activity. Remove stale label or comment or this will be closed in 3 days
There is SO much interesting content that can be added regarding this topic, so I'll try to keep it simple with background/a summary, then I'll discuss further details for additional complexity:
I'm a mechanical engineer working for an industrial gas company, and the concept of simply vacuum freezing compressed air to liquefy and separate gases feels so wrong. I suggest replacing all gas liquefaction recipes with a multi-stage air separation process: In reality, air separation is incredibly complex, but boiled down, you can think of it as a massive refrigerator. You compress the gas, you cool the compressed gas via heat exchanger, then you expand it, drastically cooling the gas (see http://www.airproducts.com/~/media/Files/PDF/products/en-supply-options-air-separation-plant-poster.pdf for more details)
While many tiers of this tech could exist, the idea I had specifically honed in on, was the following: -A multiblock "Main Air Compressor" (MAC) that uses a turbine item, accepts energy and lubricant (maybe air... maybe required at higher tiers?) and outputs "Hot Compressed Air" -Use of the "Large Heat Exchanger" to cool the air to "Cooled Compressed Air" with some fluid ("Water"->"Hotspring Water" would be acceptable, "Chilled Cooling Water"->"Water" would be ideal, but I don't know what would be reasonable for chilled water... maybe a "Vacuum Freezer" recipe...) -A multiblock "Turboexpander" that uses a turbine item and accepts "Cooled Compressed Air" and "Lubricant" and outputs "Liquid Air" and "Hot Lubricant" (disclaimer, turboexpanders CANNOT output liquids in reality, that would obliterate your the turbine blades) -"Hot Lubricant" must be cooled and cycled back into the "Turboexpander" (this cooling process is less intense than cooling the compressed air, but I wanted to capture the re-circulation of lubricant somehow. I would be ok with the "Turboexpander" accepting "Lubricant" in similar fashion to the "Large Combustion Engine", though that would make it comically unrealistic)
Consequences of mis-management: -The "MAC" could drastically increase turbine item damage if its output hatch is full (representing compressor surge) -Not supplying the "LHE" with "Chilled Cooling Water" would simply result in it not running (causing compressor surge, seen above, or inefficient starting/stopping of the "MAC" with a safety logic system). -Failing to supply the "Turboexpander" with "Lubricant" will result in the explosion of the machine. Trust me, it would happen for SO many reasons.
Different options exist to upgrade/expand on the process, such as replacing the centrifuging recipe with a "Coldbox" multiblock, or requiring upgrades to the "Turboexpander" (either better turbines, or a better multiblock, I don't know) to yield higher tier noble gases. Say 1st tier structure gives "N2" and "O2", 2nd gives "Ar", and 3rd gives "Noble Gases Cell". You could add extra compression/intercooling stages to your "MAC" to achieve the same purpose, but you might start getting overwhelmed with different stages of compressed air, so that might not be worth it.
There is a lot more complexity I would be happy to get into regarding construction of the multiblocks/multiblock controllers or their possible upgrades. If you have any interest in implementing the ideas, I would be happy to offer further ideas/input.