Steam Methane Reformer

The Steam Methane Reformer reacts a gas with water to make Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide. It is the Stage 6 Hydrogen source for the Ammonia Synthesizer. Methane is its main feed. Syngas from the Coal Gasifier also works, at a lower Hydrogen yield. Fed Carbon Monoxide instead, it runs the water-gas shift, which turns the Carbon Monoxide into more Hydrogen and a little Carbon Exhaust.

It is built as a fired tubular reformer: burners under a firebox heat a row of catalyst-filled tubes, and a steam drum on top feeds them water.

Like other RNGTech machines, each Steam Methane Reformer you craft rolls its own rarity and affixes.

Obtaining

Crafting

The Reformer's recipe uses up one Reforming Catalyst Bed, so craft two: one for the recipe and one for the Gear slot.

Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Notes
Steam Methane Reformer Titanium Casing + Reforming Catalyst Bed + Titanium Plate + Machine Frame + Bus Bar		Requires the Titanium material to be enabled.
Reforming Catalyst Bed Titanium Plate + Blaze Powder + Titanium Gear		Requires the Titanium material to be enabled.

Breaking

Mine a placed Steam Methane Reformer with a pickaxe. It drops itself with its rolled traits, plus any installed Gear. Fluid in its tanks is lost.

Usage

Reforming gas

1. Install a Stage 6 or higher Heat Core and a Reforming Catalyst Bed in the Gear tab. The Reformer needs both to run.
2. Fill the water tank, and fill the gas tank with Methane, Syngas, or Carbon Monoxide. Make Methane from algae biomass in the Melter, or take it from Bio Generators fitted with a Fluid Pump.
3. Supply FE.

Each reform uses 1,000 mB of gas and 500 mB of water. Methane makes 1,500 mB of Hydrogen and Syngas only 500 mB, so treat Syngas as a stopgap until your Methane supply is running. Methane and Syngas both also make 500 mB of Carbon Monoxide. See the recipe table for time and FE costs.

All four tanks hold 8,000 mB. The Reformer stops when either output tank is full, so drain both.

You can read the Reformer from the outside. Facing the front:

• The window shows four reformer tubes. An installed Catalyst Bed shows as pellets packed inside them, and the tubes glow red-orange while the Reformer runs.
• The installed Heat Core sits in the burner bay under the firebox, in its material's colour, and blue burner flames light under the tubes while it runs.
• The three glasses on the right show the feed gas, Hydrogen, and second output levels. The glass on the steam drum shows the water level, and the gauge beside it rises while the Reformer runs.
• The Servo works the feed valve above the feed glass, and the Battery Cell sits at the front left with a charge window.
• Smoke rises from the flue stack at the back while it runs, and the lamp at the front lights.

The screen's status line tells you what is missing: Heat Core, catalyst, fluid, power, or output space. You can empty any tank with the purge buttons on the Process tab, or by right-clicking the Reformer with a Purge Bucket. Each purge voids up to 1,000 mB.

Water-gas shift

The shift uses 500 mB of Carbon Monoxide and 500 mB of water, and makes 500 mB of Hydrogen and 125 mB of Carbon Exhaust. It needs the same Heat Core and Catalyst Bed as a reform.

The gas tank and the second output tank each hold one fluid at a time. The second output tank holds Carbon Monoxide after a reform and Carbon Exhaust after a shift, so a Reformer cannot start a shift while that tank still holds Carbon Monoxide; drain or purge it first. In practice, run the shift in its own Reformer and pipe the first Reformer's Carbon Monoxide into it.

Shifting the Carbon Monoxide from one Methane reform adds 500 mB of Hydrogen, about a third more. The cost is in the algae: the Algae Photobioreactor grows one Algae Biomass in 600 ticks on Carbon Monoxide but needs 1,200 ticks on Carbon Exhaust, so a shift loop needs about twice the Photobioreactors. See the carbon loop.

Where the products go

• Hydrogen feeds the Ammonia Synthesizer, which makes Ammonia for the Fuel Cell. The Fuel Cell can also burn Hydrogen directly, for less FE.
• Carbon Monoxide is the best carbon input for the Algae Photobioreactor. A second Reformer can shift it into more Hydrogen, and the Syngas Combustor can burn it as a weaker fuel to get rid of it.
• Carbon Exhaust from a shift is a slower carbon input for the Algae Photobioreactor. The Ammonia Synthesizer also takes it to make Urea.

Gear

The Gear tab has four slots:

• Heat Core (required): Stage 6 or higher, so a Titanium Heat Core or an Exotic Heat Core.
• Catalyst Bed (required): a Reforming Catalyst Bed. Like other machine parts, it rolls its own affixes, and they apply to the Reformer.
• Battery Cell (optional): Stage 6 or higher, such as an Arclite Battery Cell. It adds energy storage on top of the small internal buffer.
• Servo (optional): Steel Servo or better. A Nullite Servo also auto-purges: when an output tank is full, it voids the extra gas instead of stopping the machine.

Automation

Side	Behavior
Top	Accepts FE.
Bottom	Does not accept FE.
Sides	Accept FE.
Any	Fill water and Methane, Syngas, or Carbon Monoxide, and drain Hydrogen and the second output, through any face.

The Reformer has no item automation. Gear slots are manual only. The back cabinet has a port plate sized for a Universal Connector, the tidiest place to attach one.

Gas reforming recipes

The Steam Methane Reformer uses the rngtech:gas_reforming recipe type. The Catalyst Bed in each recipe is the Gear slot requirement, and it is not used up.

Input		Output	Time	Energy	Min. catalyst stage
1k500	→	1.5k500	18 s	12,000 FE	6
1k500	→	500500	15 s	9,000 FE	6
500500	→	500125	12 s	6,000 FE	6

Screen

The Steam Methane Reformer screen has four tabs:

• Process: water, gas, Hydrogen, and second output tanks with purge buttons, progress, energy, and status. Hover for exact amounts.
• Gear: Heat Core, Battery Cell, Servo, and Catalyst Bed slots.
• Stats: the machine's current stats, including traits and Gear.
• Refinement: refine the placed Reformer's traits with a catalyst.

Data values

Name	Resource location	Form	Translation key
Steam Methane Reformer	rngtech:steam_methane_reformer	Block	block.rngtech.steam_methane_reformer
Reforming Catalyst Bed	rngtech:reforming_catalyst_bed	Item	item.rngtech.reforming_catalyst_bed

See also

• Coal Gasifier and Syngas Combustor, the rest of the gas chemistry chain.
• Fuel Cell: how Hydrogen becomes power, as Ammonia or burned directly.
• Stages: where the Reformer fits in Stage 6.

RNGTech wiki

Guides	Automation · Battery Cells · Dormant Machines · Gear · Getting Started · Heat · Machine Mastery · Machine Stats · Modpack Creators · Power Chains · Rarity and Affixes · Stages · Uniques
Processing	Alloy Furnace · Component Assembler · Component Recycler · Crusher · Furnace · Melter · Metal Press · Resonance Calibrator · Wooden Composter
Power generation	Bio Generator · Cavitation Generator · Corrosion Cell · Fuel Cell · Potential Reactor · Solar Panel · Solid Fuel Burner · Syngas Combustor · Vacuum Collapse Generator
Energy storage	Battery Chassis
Fluids and gases	Algae Photobioreactor · Ammonia Synthesizer · Coal Gasifier · Fluid and Compressor Tanks · Silica Gel Dehumidifier · Steam Methane Reformer · Wooden Dehumidifier
Refinement	Affix Forge · Exotic Affix Forge
Logistics	Universal Cable
Tools	Forestry Cart Station · Miner's Companion · Modular Tools · Tool Bench