Carbon Dioxide Vent

Carbon Dioxide Vent is a geyser that intermittently emits Carbon Dioxide at high temperature. Like other Carbon Dioxide sources, it can help sustain carbon-based ecosystems, feed certain critters and plants, or be captured for industrial use, but it is generally one of the least valuable geysers because of its low overall output and poor thermal utility. Over its full activity cycle, it averages about 63 kg/cycle and around 44.4 kDTU/s of heat, making it a low-priority geyser in most colonies.

The vent produces Carbon Dioxide at roughly 100 g/s at about 500 °C, which is hot enough that it is not immediately useful for Slicksters and can be a hazard if released into a confined area. Because Carbon Dioxide is heavier than most gases, it tends to settle into pits and low spaces, which makes the vent easy to contain if the colony wants to stockpile gas for later use. It can also be cooled and stored as a liquid or solid if the colony has the means to condense it.

Useful applications for Carbon Dioxide include:

• Feeding Dusk Caps and Oxyferns, both of which require a Carbon Dioxide atmosphere.
• Supporting Slicksters and Molten Slicksters, which breathe Carbon Dioxide and produce Crude Oil or Petroleum.
• Supplying Carbon Skimmers or Algae Terrariums, both of which convert Carbon Dioxide into Polluted Water.
• Creating sterile storage conditions for frozen food, since Carbon Dioxide is considered sterile.
• Filling low-lying carbon pits early in the game until the gas can be processed, compressed, vented into space, or otherwise managed.

Because the vent’s output is modest and its gas is hot, it is usually more of a support feature than a major industrial resource. In practice, colonies that discover one often route it into gas storage, use it to maintain specialized rooms, or simply treat it as a convenient way to handle excess Carbon Dioxide rather than a primary source of fuel or cooling.