Hydrogen-based economy

Early Hydrogen Fuel Cell 🔋🌱

BioSoil Hydrogen Cell 🟫 🌽🔋

Temporary Hydrogen Transition Unit 🔁

Early Hydrogen Fuel Cell combined with Rubber and Plastic 🔋🌱🔌🧴

Ethanol BioChem Сell ⚗️🧴

Diesel Сell boosted by Hydrogen ⛽💰

BioSoil Diesel Cell 🟫 🌽⛽💰

Rubber Cell🔌🪵🌽

Advanced Oil Power Plant 🛢️⚡

Hydrogen Backup Power Plant ⚡

Purification Сell 💨⚫

Waste-Fueled Desalination Сell 🗑️💨🌊

v5.0 — added Rubber Cell

This set of installations enables a transition to hydrogen as an alternative to diesel fuel already in the midgame, without the massive electricity demands of water electrolysis. In addition to hydrogen, these facilities also produce fertilizer, rubber, plastic, diesel, water, chlorine, salt, ethanol, sugar, graphite, electricity — and even generate gold, wood and corn indirectly through trade. Once diesel trading is established, the hydrogen economy can become self-sufficient in crude oil needs, funded by the resulting gold profits. Agricultural productivity also increases substantially due to fertilizer byproducts — one effective way to capitalize on this boost is through Food Pack production: https://hub.coigame.com/Blueprint/Detail/624 (which also provides additional supplies of crude oil).

Originally developed for the hydrogen economy, this concept has evolved to become suitable for all types of fuel strategies. A diesel-based economy will simply require a different, larger ratio of Diesel Hydrogen-boosted Сell — though hydrogen is still needed for other production types.

The core idea is that each cell functions as an independent unit, allowing you to combine them in various ratios depending on which resources you need more of, and to scale production with maximum flexibility. However, all cells share the same length to ensure proper alignment and follow a specific logic in the placement of input/output storages and pipes.

Cells are designed to be grouped into blocks of 4–5 units along the coast, near Cargo Depots, since maritime transport is extremely efficient: a single cargo trip delivers 5250 crude oil, making it ideal for meeting the high-volume needs of late-game production. Leave a gap of approximately 2 Vehicle Ramp widths between the Cargo Depots and the cells to simplify pipe and conveyor placement. Due to the distance restrictions between Cargo Depots, the spaces between them are ideal for storing crude oil, gold, and other trade resources. You can also leave gaps between the cell blocks themselves to allow for vehicle access, pipe and conveyor routing — or even railways.

Screenshot https://imgur.com/a/GaimGqS shows what this setup could look like. From left to right: Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Hydrogen Fuel Cell combined with Rubber and Plastic, Purification Cell, Hydrogen Backup Power Plant, Waste-Fueled Desalination Cell, Ethanol BioChem Сell, 2 Diesel Hydrogen-Boosted Cells, BioSoil Hydrogen Cell and BioSoil Diesel Cell. As you can see, there was an initial planning mistake in the placement of cells and Cargo Depots — there is too little space between them to allow for comfortable routing of pipelines and conveyors.

Some cells receive crude oil via pipelines from Cargo Depots, while others draw seawater for their processes. Most also emit CO₂, which can be routed to a Purification Cell that accepts input from the "top". The same pipeline network can connect producers and consumers of water, chlorine, and exhaust, allowing all of it to be integrated into shared routing.

A similar concept has also been launched for metallurgy and smelting - Metal-Smelting Industry: https://hub.coigame.com/Blueprint/Detail/1007.

1. Early Hydrogen Fuel Cell🔋🌱

https://imgur.com/a/fJJJS7q

This installation processes crude oil into hydrogen instead of diesel, making the process significantly more energy-efficient compared to electrolysis. It appears that diesel loses to hydrogen in terms of the amount obtained per unit of crude oil, even taking into account its slightly higher consumption by vehicles. This means that hydrogen is a more resource-efficient technology.

Main goals achieved during the design of the installation:

• Maximizing hydrogen output from petroleum products, with ammonia being the only exception as it does not convert into hydrogen.
• Modularity, scalability, and compactness — allowing easy expansion of production by adding new fuel cells in a row as needed (example – https://imgur.com/a/aotuY87).

Note: Newly placed cells will always align with the "bottom" edge ( where most of the storages are located ) — on screenshots, that's the edge on the left.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 268

Note: * – When using organic fertilizer as a component, or when upgrading the Chemical Plants to level 2 later on, all sulfur will be processed. In that case, sulfur storage can be removed, and hydrogen storages can be replaced with large ones of level 3–4. The use of organic fertilizer is optional — the facility will operate without it as well. However, when organic fertilizer is used continuously, upgrading the Chemical Plants is not required.

Compared to Update 2, the hydrogen output per unit of crude oil has increased even further — it's now an impressive 250 hydrogen from 120 oil. However, energy consumption has also increased proportionally. The output of sulfur and ammonia has decreased, and consequently, so has fertilizer production from them.

Options to achieve near-zero emissions:

• Exhaust from coal combustion and similar processes can now be fully removed using Exhaust scrubber ( Waste-Fueled Desalination Cell ).
• Adding chemical plants to process CO₂ in graphite ( Purification cell ).
• When electricity production reaches a significant level, consider switching steam production from coal boilers to electric ones — although this is no longer as relevant as it used to be.

Note: A pipeline outlet for CO₂ has been implemented for its transportation and injection into limestone formations using a Gas Injection Pump.

Since the installation produces a significant amount of hydrogen, it can also be alternatively used for fertilizer production, where hydrogen reacts with nitrogen to synthesize ammonia.

2. BioSoil Hydrogen Cell 🟫 🌽🔋

https://imgur.com/a/2bnovSQ

This facility likely offers one of the cheapest ways to produce hydrogen in midgame, potentially even surpassing the method of producing hydrogen from oil. This became possible thanks to one of the new trade options introduced in Update 3 — exchanging Dirt for Fuel Gas. The cell can be functionally divided into two parts: one that produces Dirt from compost, biomass, or grain, and another that converts fuel gas into hydrogen.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 168

Note: If you already have plenty of ways to extract Dirt, you can pause building half of the facility with Mixers and Crushers entirely and build only the Storage for Dirt — this part serves solely as a backup in case your Dirt supply suddenly becomes limited.

The installation will primarily use available dirt and, in decreasing order of priority, produce it from compost, biomass, and only when all previous options are exhausted, from wheat/corn. The only downside in midgame is that transporting a sufficient amount of resources requires a 6-module Cargo Depot — 2 modules for Dirt and 4 for Fuel Gas, which lies much further along the tech tree. Early on, you might have to rely on two 4-module ships.

Tip: It’s a good idea to plan ahead to combine this cell with the BioSoil Diesel Cell described below, as both can share a single cargo ship (8-module capacity) for fuel gas delivery under standard fuel consumption settings.

By using traded fuel, the cell eliminates the need for coal in steam production and powers its own ship with hydrogen. It also processes waste such as compost and biomass, making it more energy- and resource-efficient compared to oil-based hydrogen production. The cell also requires the least maintenance staff per unit of hydrogen produced.

Note: Two pipes extend from the "top" of cell — a smaller-capacity pipe supplies hydrogen to the ship, while a larger-capacity pipe delivers fuel gas for further processing.

2.1. Temporary Hydrogen Transition Unit 🔁

https://imgur.com/a/v2TYlD9

This facility allows you to turn leftover diesel into plastic and rubber, and even produce them from sludge, wheat, or potatoes. It's a temporary fix until you can build the core hydrogen economy cells for large-scale production. Unlike those cells, it's not designed around the hydrogen concept — it plays a transitional, supporting role and isn't meant to be integrated with other cells. Interestingly, plastic production is possible even without ethanol from corn or sugarcane, though it’s less efficient. You won’t even need to unlock ethanol and sugarcane research to get started.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 78

Note: You can enable/disable or adjust the production priority of rubber and plastic through the diesel pipes connected to the pipe balancer and by using it directly.

3. Early Hydrogen Fuel Cell combined with Rubber and Plastic 🔋🌱🔌🧴

https://imgur.com/a/ulzoLFF

This installation produces hydrogen, rubber, plastic, and fertilizer from crude oil. It is the most complex and sophisticated installation currently available here. Its core logic prioritizes rubber and plastic production as long as their storage is not full, with hydrogen produced only as a secondary output. Once the rubber or plastic storage is full, or if key inputs like chlorine or sulfur are unavailable, the facility automatically shifts to maximizing hydrogen production.

Interestingly, in the late game, it is possible to scale up plastic or rubber production if needed, using synthetic ethanol — once again derived from hydrogen. Hydrogen continues to prove itself as a highly versatile resource. I may later develop dedicated, compact supporting cells specifically designed for additional plastic production from hydrogen.

Note: When installing it after the other fuel cell, there is an opportunity to replace 4 Storage II with a large Storage III for hydrogen. Refer to https://imgur.com/a/aotuY87 and remove 4 Storages II.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 298

Note: * –When upgrading Chemical Plants and the Mixer to Tier II, the production of Fertilizer II increases to 63 and consumption of limestone, sulfur, and hydrogen will increase slightly.

4. Ethanol BioChem Сell ⚗️🧴

Biochemical processing module for industrial cane conversion

This facility processes sugar cane into key industrial resources — ethanol, sugar, and plastic. It is available in two configurations:

1. Universal version ( Ethanol BioChemU Сell https://imgur.com/a/mDS0KU2 ) — also produces fertilizer, enabling a self-sustaining production loop primarily focused on cultivating sugar cane as a raw material.
2. Optimized version for supplying BioPharma Cell ( Ethanol BioChemS Cell https://imgur.com/a/Cfy0ogw ) — delivers maximum output with minimal footprint, making it ideal for integration into pharmaceutical supply chains https://hub.coigame.com/Blueprint/Detail/942.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 262/178

Note: * – In case of excessive plastic production and when the storage is filled with it, the cell will switch to producing only ethanol, and its output will increase to 84. By manually pausing certain ethanol Fermentation Tanks, it is also possible to increase sugar production instead, depending on current needs. Alternatively, sugar production can be completely disabled by pausing the conveyor leading from U-shape balancer to the sugar Storage — screenshot 3.

Tip: Consider pausing construction of about half the buildings at first, as the facility has high output capacity. You can gradually complete the rest as resource supply and demand grow.

The facility has two separate pipe outputs for CO₂ and Exhaust, allowing both to be routed for further processing.

5. Diesel Hydrogen-boosted Сell ⛽💰

https://imgur.com/a/yKlbAXB

This is the most efficient refinery when it comes to diesel output per unit of crude oil — but there’s a catch: it needs hydrogen to reach its full potential. You might wonder why diesel matters in a hydrogen-based economy. The answer is trade. The hydrogen economy is highly efficient at processing crude oil, and that advantage is worth using to generate profit.

We produce diesel and trade it for gold. That gold is then used to buy crude oil, which we refine back into diesel. The profit comes from the difference between the cost of the oil and both the cost and the amount of diesel that can be produced from it. The cycle can repeat endlessly — until all storages are completely filled with gold.

Gold is a valuable resource — it can be also used to purchase uranium ore and is essential for producing advanced electronics-based goods, which in turn can be traded for other raw materials. In Update 3, gold is also used to purchase bauxite, which is then processed into aluminum. And aluminum is a key component of Consumer Electronics, space technologies.

These are the kind of far-reaching consequences the Hydrogen economy can have. As a bonus, the oil refining process also provides fertilizers.

The cell comes in two versions — an earlier one with coal boiler, and a later one with electric boilers.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 256

Note: To start the cycle, water needs to be delivered a few times. After several runs, however, the facility will begin generating its own water, so the water storage should then be set to export.

Advantages over traditional gold mining and refining industry:

• The process is endless and independent of ore deposits, since all essential inputs are obtained through trade.
• It’s fully automated — no need to periodically expand new mining zones.
• Logistics are extremely simple and efficient: just 2 Cargo Depot and 1 refinery, which can be placed right next to each other and connected with pipes and conveyors.

In this way, the gold profit from just a few of these cells can be enough to supply through trade all the crude oil needed to sustain entire hydrogen economy and even more, even if your island consists of nothing but a single bare rock.

6. BioSoil Diesel Cell 🟫 🌽⛽💰

https://imgur.com/a/EXHhHpI

This cell is a modification of the BioSoil Hydrogen Cell, designed to generate an additional source of profit through diesel sales — this time via an intermediate stage that converts dirt into fuel gas. Essentially, this setup turns grain into gold. With substantial agricultural production, it becomes extremely profitable.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 210

7. Rubber Cell🔌🪵🌽

https://imgur.com/a/NTwryyZ

This facility is designed for the efficient disposal of excess sulfur by converting it into other valuable resources through trade. It is intended to operate alongside the Diesel Hydrogen-Boosted Cell or the BioSoil Diesel Cell, from which it receives diesel. The produced rubber is then exchanged via contracts for wood, and wood is further exchanged for corn. This creates a closed loop, as the obtained corn can again be used in the BioSoil Diesel Cell.

Since the traded corn significantly exceeds what is required to sustain the loop, the surplus can be used for Hydrogen production in the BioSoil Hydrogen Cell, as well as for Food pack production and feeding the settlement https://imgur.com/a/uVhUtA2. Thus, with a large volume of sulfur production in your economy, it becomes possible to stop growing corn entirely and obtain it solely through trade, while still fully sustaining Hydrogen and Food pack production with it. In principle, the entire economy could be switched to using only Fertilizer I, without using sulfur or limestone, while the freed-up sulfur could be used for trade.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 120

8. Advanced Oil Power Plant🛢️⚡

https://imgur.com/a/ZLSjSut

This facility generates 54 MW of electricity directly from crude oil. Significant volumes of crude oil are handled within the hydrogen economy. Thanks to the production cells mentioned above, the system also generates considerable gold reserves — making crude oil an easily accessible resource. Due to the high productivity of agriculture, it also makes sense to engage in Food Pack production, which serves as another source of crude oil: https://hub.coigame.com/Blueprint/Detail/624. As a result, producing electricity from oil is a relatively cheap and practical solution due to its abundant availability. Moreover, since the advanced version of this plant operates without emissions, it does not contradict the idea of zero-emission manufacturing. This also allows the hydrogen economy to establish its own power sources early on, without relying on the more complex and technologically demanding rollout of nuclear power.

The power plant comes in two versions — one focused on higher fuel efficiency, and the other on increased water production.
The 300 MW single-unit version of the power plant is available here: https://hub.coigame.com/Blueprint/Detail/1054.

Note: It can operate without CO₂ recycling, but in that case, emissions will be released into the atmosphere.

Startup Procedure:

1. Connect the plant to 2 Seawater Pumps and 1 Liquid Dump set to priority 2 ( Oil Power&Water Plant requires 3 Seawater Pumps and 2 Liquid Dumps) — this is critical infrastructure for the power plant’s operation. Their inputs are located near the water storage. Set the water storage to import mode (for some reason, this setting doesn't get saved in the blueprint). Also connect pipelines to a crude oil supply source.
2. The facility is equipped with an electric boiler for initial startup. Set it to produce 12 steam per minute (for some reason, this setting doesn't get saved in the blueprint). Once the system processes its first batch of self-produced fuel, the main gas boilers will take over and the electric boiler will shut off automatically.
3. When the storage of Medium Oil is full, unpause the main steam pipeline leading to the turbines.
4. Switch the water storage to export mode set to priority 2 — the facility produces water in surplus. Alternatively, the water storage can be connected to a shared pipeline outside the facility.
5. Remove the electric boiler — it is no longer needed.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 168

Note: Timely export of all solid and liquid byproducts is crucial for the power plant’s operation. Gases are easier to manage — they can be vented through backup Smoke Stacks if processing is not possible due to full storage, and so on. Therefore, the power plant will issue warning notifications when storage levels exceed 75%.

9. Hydrogen Backup Power Plant⚡

https://imgur.com/a/aHI60m6

In a hydrogen-based economy, there is no inherent backup energy source, so this gap should be addressed. If conditions are favorable and a significant hydrogen surplus has been accumulated, this power plant can serve to balance the system’s energy load during sudden demand spikes, while also producing water and chlorine as by-products.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 37

Note: 1 Seawater Pump and 1 Liquid Dump must be added manually on the shoreline; pipe outputs are provided for them.

Note: For the first start-up of the boilers, water must be delivered by trucks; after that, the facility will provide water for itself.

10. Purification Сell 💨⚫

The cell is designed for carbon dioxide purification and graphite production.

Resource Productivity:

This is the maximum possible efficiency of the cell.

Maintenance staff: 140

Note: There is no need to install all chemical plants at once — only as many as required to handle the actual amount of CO₂ produced by your hydrogen cells.

After installing this gas purification cell your hydrogen production will be nearly zero-emission.

11. Waste-Fueled Desalination Сell 🗑️💨🌊

https://imgur.com/a/KG8u8xo

The Waste-Fueled Desalination Cell has been redesigned by removing biomass combustion — since biomass is now more profitable to convert into dirt — and adding the ability to purify exhaust gases from all cells that burn coal in boilers or produce plastic, and possibly even from additional sources.

You can now continue using coal boilers for as long as you like, since at least the exhaust can be handled by this cell as early as the mid-game. The cell features two exhaust input pipes — one from the "top" and one from the "bottom"— as well as a hydrogen input, which now also connects via pipe from the "bottom". All that's left is to connect pipes from the coal boilers and from the balancer near the plastic production to the input pipe of this cell — to completely get rid of the exhaust and, in return, gain some water.

At the "top" of the cell, multiple pipes are routed together. For clarity, here's a list of the connections from bottom to top:

1. Brine output
2. Seawater input
3. Seawater input
4. CO₂ output
5. Exhaust input

Note: For the first start-up of the Incineration Plant, water must be delivered by trucks; after that, the facility will provide water for itself.

Resource Productivity:

Maintenance staff: 91

Tip: The cell has high processing capacity, so as before, you can pause construction of about half of its components in midgame.