Fertilizer Synthesizer

Fertilizer Synthesizer
Uses Polluted Water to produce Fertilizer
Fertilizer Synthesizers convert polluted dirt into fertilizer for domestic plants.
Research	Agriculture (Research)
Dimensions	4×3 tiles
Category	Refinement
Power	-120 W
Heat	+3 kDTU/s
Overheat at	75 °C
Decor	-15 (Radius: 3 tiles)
Piping	Input: Polluted Water Intake
Requires	Dirt: -65 g/s Phosphorite: -26 g/s Polluted Water: -39 g/s
Storage Capacity	Dirt: 136.5 kg Phosphorite: 54.6 kg Polluted Water: 195 g
Effects	Fertilizer: +120 g/s @ 50+ °C Natural Gas: +10 g/s @ 76 °C
Auto In	Green: Enable Red: Disable
Other Properties	Susceptible to flooding
Materials
Metal Ore	200 kg

Fertilizer Synthesizer uses Polluted Water, Dirt and Phosphorite to produce Fertilizer, as well as Natural Gas. Fertilizer is dropped in lumps of 10 kg at 50°C, which can be hotter if any input was above their minimal temperatures. Natural Gas is released at fixed 76 °C into the surroundings.

Ratios

Constantly running Synthesizer produces 72 kg of Fertilizer per cycle, which equals to 14.4 Micronutrient Fertilizer uses.

It consumes:

• 39 kg of Dirt per cycle, almost as much as 8 Sleet Wheats (enough to feed 3 dupes).
• 23.4 kg of Polluted Water per cycle (exactly two Lavatory uses). Pincha Pepper (the least demanding plant) requires 35 kg/cycle.
• 15.6 kg of Phosphorite per cycle, which can be provided by 6.2 wild Dreckos or 1.6 tame and happy.

As can be seen, Synthesizer provides noticeable resource conservation (roughly 50% per unit output) with minuscule requirements.

All of the ingredients can be obtained renewably via Ranching. Two tame Pips, two tame Dreckos, and two Pufts supplying an Algae Distiller can fully supply one Synthesizer.

The Natural Gas output of the Synthesizer can be burned to produce 7.5g/s of Polluted Water and about 88W of power.

Heat economy

The sum of inputs' Total Heat Capacity is bigger than the sum of outputs' THC. Which makes Synthesizer heat-destroying if input resources are warm enough. 41 °C Polluted Water and 30 °C solids are enough to breach this threshold (machine's heat output included). Heating solids is a hassle, so it is recommended to feed Synthesizer with hot water, which provides more than half of the THC anyway. With 75 °C water and 30 °C solids it will destroy ~20% of heat.

Tips

• Synthesizer outputs at temperature above its overheat, which means that either its output materials should be quickly removed away, the building must be made from Gold Amalgam and/or cooled regularly.
• Keeping Synthesizer in Carbon Dioxide pit will make collection of Natural Gas easier, as it will flow upwards.
  • However, dupes will have to hold their breath to collect the Fertilizer, and the Natural Gas layer can inflict the Eye Irritation debuff on them.
• The Natural Gas output can be used to offset most of the energy requirements and refund some Polluted Water.
• The output is enough to feed a Gas Range that is cooking quality food for a little more than one meal per cycle (50s = 5kg Natural Gas = 500s Fertilizer Synthesizer runtime). Stuffed Berry (4400 kcal per cooked meal) for example would feed more than 5 dupes per cycle. This improves up to 2x if cooked by a cook with higher Cuisine attribute (reduced cooking time uses less Natural Gas).
• Germs in the Polluted Water are not destroyed, they are transferred to the produced fertilizer.
• Fertilizer can be cooked into dirt, allowing potential renewable supply of dirt.
• Reservoirs of Polluted Water that had been around can be used to cool Metal Refineries, and then channeled to a Fertilizer Synthesizer that has been placed in a well to delete some heat. The Natural Gas that is emitted can be left to subside at the bottom of the well (which should have a Carbon Skimmer at the bottom) for easier execution of the abovementioned tip.

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