Short answer
Lava occurs deep underground in Sandustry’s Lava Cave. To move it around a factory, freeze it into a solid form, handle the resulting Cinder with a Grabber, Conveyor Belt, or Launcher, and ignite it again where it is needed. Lava can also be held in a Filter and used to ignite resources such as Residue; when Water lands on Lava, the Water becomes Steam while the amount of Lava does not decrease.
Find the source, then make it movable
The official Lava page describes Lava as a liquid found naturally deep underground. Liquid movement is not the same as solid logistics, so the documented process uses Snow, including Snow made by a Cryoblaster, to freeze Lava into Scoria. A weapon can destroy the frozen material, which drops Cinders. Those Cinders can be picked up or routed with ordinary solid-resource logistics.
This is the core Lava loop: locate the cave, freeze the liquid, break the solid, move the Cinders, and reignite them at the destination. The page does not provide a universal throughput or an optimal factory layout, so this guide keeps the sequence conceptual. Test the space around a new Lava line before committing your main production area.
Holding Lava in a Filter
The official tips describe a controlled holding setup: configure a Filter to allow Cinder, place a solid block below it, fill the filter with Cinders, and ignite them. The result is a contained Lava pocket that can be positioned where the factory needs a heat source. This is useful because it turns a deep-world material into a deliberate automation component.
When Residue moves over a Filter filled with Lava, the Residue touching the Conveyor Belt can ignite and become Burnt Residue. The exact design still depends on the current build and on how you route the belt. Treat the filter as a source-backed mechanic, not as permission to copy a layout from an old screenshot without testing it.
Lava and Water
The Water page and Lava page describe a clear interaction. When Water lands on Lava, the Water evaporates and creates Steam; the amount of Lava does not decrease. That makes the interaction useful for understanding the material simulation, but it is not a complete water-production blueprint. Keep water lines away from Lava when your goal is to preserve liquid handling rather than create steam.
The source also warns indirectly that state changes are part of logistics. Lava is not launchable as a liquid, while Cinders can be moved through the same solid transport tools used elsewhere. If a route feels impossible, ask whether the resource should be converted first rather than forcing a pipe, launcher, or conveyor to do a job the material state does not support.
Common mistakes
Do not claim that Lava is reduced by contact with Water; the official page says the amount does not decrease. Do not promise a fixed output rate, a perfect burner footprint, or a map-wide Lava coordinate from this evidence. Do not treat Cinder and Lava as separate unrelated resources: the documented conversion is what makes the logistics loop work.
For a new factory, isolate the Lava experiment from the main line, use a clear Filter boundary, and keep a path to move Cinders. Once the behavior matches the source, connect the heat step to the production chain that needs it. If the current version behaves differently, capture the version and re-check the official page before changing the guide.