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Crafting & Refining Basics: How refining works.

Quick Answer

Portable, Medium, and Large Refiners all share the same recipe list. They differ in input slots (1, 2, and 3 respectively), processing speed, and how they are powered.
Purification recipes are the backbone: Ferrite Dust into Pure Ferrite and Carbon into Condensed Carbon both run at 2:1.
Oxygen is the multiplier catalyst. Feed a raw material plus Oxygen and the refiner hands back roughly double what you put in, which is where most stack-growth loops come from.
Chromatic Metal comes from Copper, Cadmium, Emeril, or Indium. Higher-tier metals return more Chromatic Metal per unit consumed, so refine Indium if you have it.
Runaway Mould converts to Nanite Clusters at 5:1, and Tainted Metal converts at 1:2. Tainted Metal is the better rate by a wide margin.
A Portable Refiner burns fuel while it works (100 Carbon or 34 Condensed Carbon for a full charge). Medium and Large Refiners draw from your base power grid instead.
If a recipe below shows "varies", the exact ratio shifts with the specific input or has changed across patches. Load one unit and read the preview before committing a full stack.

Overview

The refiner is the single most-used machine in the game, and the recipe list is long enough that almost nobody memorises it. Most of what you actually need falls into five buckets: turning a common resource into its purified version, growing a stack you already have, feeding the Chromatic Metal pipeline, converting junk into nanites, and keeping the machine running. Everything below is grouped that way rather than alphabetically, because you rarely sit down wondering "what does Cobalt do" and much more often wondering "how do I get 500 more of this".

One habit worth building before you read the tables: the refiner UI previews the output the moment you drop something into an input slot. That preview is authoritative for your version of the game, and it costs you nothing to check. Treat these tables as a map of what is possible and the in-game preview as the final word on quantities. The crafting and refining basics guide covers the interface itself if you are still getting comfortable with it.

Refiner Tiers: Same Recipes, Different Capacity

Refiner	Input Slots	Power	Best Use
Portable Refiner	1	Consumes fuel (Carbon or Condensed Carbon)	Field work, single-ingredient purification while exploring
Medium Refiner	2	Base power grid	Two-ingredient recipes, most catalyst chains
Large Refiner	3	Base power grid	Three-ingredient recipes, bulk processing

The recipe list does not change between tiers. A Portable Refiner simply cannot attempt a two-input recipe because it has nowhere to put the second ingredient. That single limitation is why the Oxygen multiplier chains and Magnetised Ferrite are unavailable to you until you build a Medium Refiner at a base. Large Refiners also process noticeably faster per unit, which matters when you are pushing thousands of units through for Stasis Device and Fusion Ignitor production.

Single-Element Refines (Purification)

These take one input and need only a Portable Refiner. They are the recipes you will use most in the first twenty hours.

Output	Inputs	Ratio	Notes
Pure Ferrite	Ferrite Dust	2:1	The base of all Metal Plating and most structural base parts.
Magnetised Ferrite	Pure Ferrite + catalyst	varies	Two-input recipe. Requires a Medium or Large Refiner. Check the preview for your catalyst.
Condensed Carbon	Carbon	2:1	Also the compact refiner fuel. Refine before you need it, not after.
Ionised Cobalt	Cobalt	varies	Cobalt is abundant in underground caves, so the conversion loss rarely matters.
Chromatic Metal	Copper / Cadmium / Emeril / Indium	varies	See the dedicated chain below.

Ferrite Dust is the resource you will underestimate. Pure Ferrite feeds Metal Plating, Metal Plating feeds nearly every deployable and base component, and Magnetised Ferrite gates a chunk of the technology tree. Mining rocks casually never keeps up once you start building seriously. A mineral extractor on a ferrite hotspot removes the problem permanently.

Note the direction of the loss: every purification recipe here consumes more than it produces. That is by design. Purification is a tax you pay for a more useful material, and the way you avoid feeling it is volume at the source rather than clever refining.

Multiplier and Stack-Growth Chains

Oxygen is the catalyst that runs in the opposite direction. Instead of consuming two units to make one, an Oxygen-catalysed recipe takes a material plus Oxygen and returns roughly double the material you started with. This works on a wide range of raw resources, and it is the reason experienced players hoard Oxygen rather than spending it.

Output	Inputs	Ratio	Notes
More of the same material	Any compatible raw material + Oxygen	Roughly 2x input	Works on many common resources. Preview the exact return before committing.
Chlorine (grown)	Chlorine + Oxygen	Roughly 2x	The classic Units loop. Chlorine sells high, so the growth compounds into real money.
Carbon (grown)	Carbon + Oxygen	Roughly 2x	Useful when you are running Portable Refiners in the field and need fuel.
Cobalt (grown)	Cobalt + Oxygen	Roughly 2x	Pairs well with cave farming, where Cobalt is already plentiful.

The Chlorine loop deserves a specific mention because it is how a lot of players fund their first serious ship. Salt refines into Chlorine, Chlorine plus Oxygen returns more Chlorine, and Chlorine sells for a healthy price per unit. The bottleneck is Oxygen, not Chlorine, so build your farming around Oxygen first. Underwater Salt deposits and red Oxygen flora on the same planet make the whole cycle a single landing.

A practical warning: these loops are slow in a Portable Refiner and impossible in one anyway, since they need two input slots. Set up two or three Large Refiners at a base, load them, and go do something else. Watching a refiner tick is the least efficient use of your time in the entire game.

The Chromatic Metal Chain

Chromatic Metal is the universal intermediate currency of the technology tree. Warp reactors, hyperdrive upgrades, and a long list of base and ship components all demand it, and there is no way to find it as a raw resource. You refine it, always, from one of four metals.

Output	Inputs	Ratio	Notes
Chromatic Metal	Copper	varies	Most common source. Found on red-star systems and in Copper deposits.
Chromatic Metal	Cadmium	varies	Yellow-star systems. Better return per unit than Copper.
Chromatic Metal	Emeril	varies	Green-star systems. Better return again.
Chromatic Metal	Indium	varies	Blue-star systems. Best return per unit of the four.

The pattern to internalise is that the return improves as you move up the metal tier: Copper, then Cadmium, then Emeril, then Indium. If you have access to blue systems, refining Indium gives you the most Chromatic Metal for the least mining. Early on you will be stuck with Copper, and that is fine.

The long-term answer to Chromatic Metal is not mining at all. Find a Copper, Cadmium, Emeril, or Indium hotspot, drop a mineral extractor and a supply depot on it, then wire a Large Refiner nearby. The extractor fills the depot while you are elsewhere in the galaxy, and you come home to a pile of metal waiting to be refined. Every player who complains about Chromatic Metal shortages is still mining by hand.

Nanite Chains

Nanites buy upgrade modules and multi-tool blueprints, and the refiner offers two reliable conversions.

Output	Inputs	Ratio	Notes
Nanite Clusters	Runaway Mould	5:1	Mould comes from Abandoned Buildings and derelict interiors. Slow but repeatable.
Nanite Clusters	Tainted Metal	1:2	Each unit returns two nanites. Tainted Metal comes from derelict freighters.

Tainted Metal is ten times more efficient per unit than Runaway Mould, and the gap is not close. A single derelict freighter run typically yields enough Tainted Metal to matter, and derelicts also drop salvaged components and upgrade modules along the way. Runaway Mould is still worth grabbing when you happen to be standing in front of it, but nobody should be building a nanite strategy around mould farming.

Refining is only part of the nanite picture. Scrapping ships, breaking down damaged technology modules, and selling salvaged data all compete for your attention, and the dedicated nanite farming guide compares the actual rates. Use the refiner for the Tainted Metal you already have rather than treating it as your primary source.

Fuel and Power Notes

Item	Cost	Notes
Portable Refiner fuel	100 Carbon (full charge)	Carbon is everywhere. Any plant or wooden object works.
Portable Refiner fuel	34 Condensed Carbon (full charge)	Same charge, one third of the inventory space.
Medium / Large Refiner	Base power grid	No consumable fuel. Requires sufficient generation and wiring.

Carry Condensed Carbon rather than raw Carbon when you are refining in the field. The inventory savings are significant on long expeditions, and you can top up by refining raw Carbon in the same machine you are fuelling.

Base refiners need real power. A couple of solar panels and a battery will run a single Large Refiner, but a processing bank of three or four wants proper generation behind it. Biofuel reactors are the quick fix. Solar plus batteries is the setup you will actually keep, since it needs no refuelling while you are away from the base.

The Nutrient Processor is a separate machine with its own recipe list and does not overlap with refiners at all. If you are chasing food-based Units or the Cronus expedition-style cooking objectives, the cooking and Nutrient Processor guide covers that system.

Looking Up a Single Resource

For where an individual element comes from and what it feeds into, see the resources and items index.

FAQ

Why does my refiner show a different output amount than a table I found online?

Refiner ratios have been adjusted across several updates, and some community tables were built years ago and never revised. The in-game preview updates the moment you place an input, and it always reflects your current version. When a preview disagrees with any written reference, including this one, trust the preview.

Can I use a Portable Refiner for two-ingredient recipes?

No. The Portable Refiner has a single input slot, so any recipe requiring a catalyst is physically impossible in it. You need a Medium Refiner (two slots) or Large Refiner (three slots), both built at a base and powered by your grid.

Does refining speed differ between refiner tiers?

Yes. Larger refiners process faster per unit, which becomes noticeable when you queue thousands of units. For small batches the difference is irrelevant, so do not tear down a Medium Refiner just to chase speed.

What happens if I remove a refiner while it still has materials inside?

Picking up a Portable Refiner returns its contents to your inventory in most cases, but this has been an inconsistent spot historically. Empty a refiner before dismantling or relocating it. Losing a full stack of Indium to a careless pickup is an avoidable mistake.

Is there a recipe list inside the game?

The refiner interface lets you browse recipes you have already discovered, and discoveries are tracked per save. Deliberately dropping one unit of every new material you find into a refiner is a cheap way to fill out that list, and it costs almost nothing.

Key Takeaways

Three chains earn their setup cost and the rest are situational. Chromatic Metal is mandatory, so automate it early with an extractor on the highest-tier metal hotspot you can reach and stop mining it by hand. Tainted Metal at 1:2 is the best nanite conversion in the game, which makes derelict freighter runs a resource activity rather than just a combat one. The Oxygen multiplier loop on Chlorine remains the most reliable refiner-based Units engine, provided you farm Oxygen as the primary input instead of treating it as a leftover.

Ferrite purification is not a chain worth optimising. It is a tax you pay constantly, and the fix is supply volume, not refiner cleverness. Runaway Mould sits in the same category. Refine it when it falls into your lap and never build a session around it.

The mistakes that cost people the most time are consistent. Refining a full stack without previewing the output first, which turns a bad ratio into a large loss instead of a one-unit lesson. Trying to run catalyst recipes in a Portable Refiner and assuming the recipe is broken. Underbuilding base power so a bank of Large Refiners stalls halfway through a queue. And standing there watching the progress bar when the entire point of a base refiner is that it works while you are three systems away.

Load the machine, walk away, come back to a full output slot. That is the whole discipline.

No Man's Sky Refiner Recipes: Input & Output Reference Tables