Molecular Recycling Plant
Molecular construction is an old concept. Molecular furnaces break down the physical
structure of matter, as the name implies, on a molecular level. This means that any
material can be 100% recycled, with the only loss being the energy necessary to power
the plant. Imperial Army Corps field headquarters have up to 2,000 I2F-5 and I2F-73
industrial construction droids serving as mobile processing and manufacturing plants.
Newer I2F-73s are equipped with repulsorlift which enhances their mobility, and they
are often used to transport other droids. Smaller Army units may have construction
droids assigned to them depending on their mission profile. Such construction droids
are capable of manufacturing everything from glow rods to blaster packs to repulsorlift
engines upon demand, using the crudest and most impure raw materials. Construction droids
are also employed by civilian firms, for example by recycling skyscrapers on Coruscant,
consuming an entire multi-km building and leaving a new one behind. The technology has
also been incorporated into mining droids for many centuries. If the Army Corps can keep
the complex in production, it can operate without Imperial resupply indefinitely.
Imperial Engineer Umak Leth came up with a new model. It used a much more sophisticated way
of magnetically separating matter into constituent elements, then shaping them with force
beams and industrial automata. This new technology was incorporated in the Silencer-class
Assault Ships, later known as World Devastators. The resulting machine was capable of
incredibly efficient large-scale stripmining and construction.
After the NIF aquired the technology of World Devastators, they did not
only start constructing new Devastators. The Molecular Recycling Plant was introduced,
first aboard the largest of Imperial warships, replacing the old garbage compactor /
ejector systems. Although waste materials are still compacted to save volume, waste is
no longer ejected by so equipped Imperial ships. The materials are instead recycled back
into useful supplies, while some organic waste is re-used for power generation. The most
developed of NIF core planets, like Oetrago, also feature civilian recycling centres,
making garbage planets and industrially polluted planets like Eriadu or Sleheyron a
thing of the past. Environmentalists rejoice, although the Scrapper's Guild has expressed
grave concerns for their business, should recycling plants continue to be deployed.
The end result of such a plant deployed on an Imperial warship is that it becomes almost
completely self-sufficient with supplies. Only vapourized materials suffered by battle
damage and a certain amount of luxuries and naturally-grown foods needs to be resupplied.
While the MRP uses up energy which comes from fuel, the MRP can recycle other materials
into fuel as well, though obviously energy is lost in the process which necessitates
eventual restocking. Imperial ships carry several years of supplies, and the MRP can
typically increase this period by a factor of ten times or more under normal operations.
Although this technology could potentially save large amounts of space on NIF
warships which could then be used for improved military capabilities, the saved space is
generally only used for ship operations, since a more military application would require
substantial refitting of the vessel. The newest NIF ship designs has started to make use
of MRPs for increased space and power generation, although it seems that the current
design trend lean more towards increased automation, which is a different way to save on
crew, crew space, and crew supplies.
Name/Type: Molecular Recycling Plant
Designer/Manufacturer: Umak Leth / NIF
Designation: Material Recycling and Power Generation Unit
Efficiency: 100 % Matter Conversion.