The natural gas vent is early-mid source of power generation, it’s also one of the easiest vents to tame. This design is more advanced than our basic design. If you are new to the game you may want to try the basic version before moving on this design.
Basic setup
Make sure you have researched steam turbines, thermal regulators, and basic automation. Natural gas will come from the geyser at around 150°C (302°F), which we will cool to a set temperature set in the thermo sensor. The advantage of natural gas is that by building everything out of steel, nothing will over heat.
The system works by in taking a small amount of natural gas, cooling it to a desire temperature and then outputting it off to storage.
Cooling Loop
A gas pump will fill the gas reservoir with a high threshold of 10%, at which point automation will switch the pump off. The natural gas will then circulate through the 2 thermal regulators in steam chamber. Set the gas reservoir low threshold to 0%, so when the system is empty the pump will start up again.
The steam will keep the regulators cool, converting heat to extra power for the process. You will need extra power to run the system as the steam turbine won’t be enough.
Connect a thermal sensor in the steam chamber to the the 2 thermal regulators, set to send green if below 175°C (347°F). This will prevent them overheating.
Cold Gas Separation Automation
The important step is to use a pipe thermo sensor to sort cold gas from hot gas where the cooling loop and out pipe meet (but not joined). Set the thermal sensor (pictured bottom right) to send a green signal to open the gas shut off if temperature is below 20°C (68°F). If the gas is too hot it will go around the loop again.
This can be tricky until you know how it works, check out our How to use a pipe thermo sensor, guide to sorting hot and cold liquids for more information
Power Setup
Connect up the power grid and the system is operational. One natural gas generator is enough to power the system, the excess gas can be used to power the base.
Tips
Starting the system can be tricky, with the steam chamber you can pump some water in or build some ice temp-shift plates (which will melt). Then it’s a matter of time until it turns to steam. You’ll need the steam to push any oxygen out of the steam chamber before closing it off. If a layer of oxygen gets trapped between the steam and turbine the system will overheat and break.
Always have enough storage, don’t let the system lock up. If the system locks up, the cooling loop will continue to cool the gas until it turns to liquid and breaks the system. If you need to, vent excess hydrogen to space.
Use insulated ceramic tiles to keep the heat trapped. Ceramic tiles will greatly reduce heat leaking into your base.
Use a gas filter to separate any trapped oxygen from hydrogen gas before sending to storage. This will prevent any hydrogen generators from being damaged when they use the gas.