How to deal with massive sour gas pockets? (and excess in general)

[Nehtaro]

1. I've been totally fine off of one reservoir for a long time now. However, I want to start petroleum burning and would like to have access to all three of the wells on my map. Unfortunately, one well is surrounded by two massive pockets of sour gas (separated by CO2). Together, they contain 44t of hot pressurized gas--enough to fill a 156x156 room at 1.8kg pressure, or a 47x47 room at 20kg pressure.

I don't want to have to build a 47x47 (or smaller with steel gas reservoirs) double-insulated storage room, don't want to pipe it out to space, and would prefer not to have to make a sour gas boiler (although I guess that could be fun). Are there any other solutions I missed? It's looking like making a boiler is my best bet, even though I have more than enough natural gas already.

 

2. 'More than enough' is my other question. A problem/annoyance I've had to deal with all game is an excess, whether it be natural gas, water, oxygen, food, power, you name it. The excess sometimes (not always) has surprising consequences.

With too much natural gas + too low power demands, my petroleum power never ran, no CO2 production, dead molten slicksters. The solution was to increase my power demands and more closely monitor my slickster count.

My two electrolyzers produce too much oxygen for my 16 dupes because of diver's lungs. As a result, my lines get backed up and the pumps mix up hydrogen and oxygen. I tried using a clock sensor to regulate the electrolyzer but that requires me to constantly monitor it and change it based on which exosuits the dupes are using more. I'll have to either add a gas filter or another dupe, or maybe combine my two electrolyzers (on opposite sides of the base) into a centralized oxygen storage and route from there into the base. I also have too much water, but there haven't really been any negative consequences from this.

Anyway, my problems this play-through have been more from the consequences of excess than scarcity, so I guess I'm looking for tips of any kind on how to deal with too much of a good thing. Examples of systems you've made would be appreciated! Bonus if they're applicable to survival xD

 

Thanks for reading the wall of text and thanks for any help!

tl;dr how to deal with massive gas pockets around an oil well? how to deal with systems which overproduce?

[beowulf2010]

There's a few routes to take for both of your issues. 

The least exploity, but hardest to implement, solution would be to liquify or even freeze to solid) the gasses for storage. Sour gas turns into methane which can then be reheated to natural gas and burned for power. Liquid oxygen is needed as an oxidizer for rockets.

You can also just vent all excess gas to space. The hoarder in me hates this solution. 

What I do is what we call the vent overpressure trick. Yes, it's an exploit but a relatively minor one in my opinion. Basically, get around 1.5kg of liquid in the same tile as a vent is and you can get 1000's of kg of pressure in a room.

[KittenIsAGeek]

@beowulf2010's example of  liquid on the gas vent is pretty good. I use it frequently as I consider it no different than a one-way valve.

Spoiler

My method uses a bit more water than some, but its reliable and very easy to do in a survival game.

Spoiler

Start with this:

Fill with water until it overflows:

Mop up on the outside and deconstruct the bottle emptier.

Build another airflow tile, add your vent and pipe, then seal off the room.

Works all the time and it doesn't glitch after reloads.

 

[beowulf2010]

That's a nice one Kitten. I assume the reservoir is on the output line to avoid the need for a second pump? 

I'll try to post mine tonight. I make 5x4 rooms with double output pumps, floor level flooded vent, and internal over/under flow piping. 

[FiannaTiger]

I can post my SPOM setup with automation for when the o2 backs up it turns off the gas generation and then starts it back up once the o2 clears out

[AffinityCraft]

Reroute sour gas into a thermal nullifier and a thermo regulator.

[tzionut]

Quote

no CO2 production, dead molten slicksters

I have no dead critters because i don't keep tamed critters. Only wild one allowed. So in my current game whit only pacifist dupes i am thinking of get rid of all the slickters and convert all the co2 in the map in polluted water. In my case i pump all the sour gas and liquefy it into methane, the methane was pumped and heated for natural gas. The sulfur resulted was heated till liquefy and disposed to void area. (i don't need any material i can't build or use it) 

[nets]

I handled the problem by pumping it into a vacuumed out room with an AETN. A room around an AETN with a POI ladder makes for about 64x64. It took twice as many cycles to cool down as initially calculated because i left a few extra ladders in there. Also the liquid methane wants to suck the heat out of the insulation tiles at the bottom (constant phase change). It's not enough to put much effort into, but an AETN is pretty much already made.

 

[Gurgel]

I just vent the trash into space. Same with liquids I do not need. Guess that will offend the "Keep space clean!" people

 

[JohnFrancis]

I ended up with a reasonably small pocket of sour gas only a few hundred KG's tops. I put a high pressure CO2 vent at the top of the room and pumped in CO2, it took a fair while 50-60 cycles and the CO2 overwrote the sour gas, not even a scrap left. Not sure of the exact mechanics but if you pump a gas into a room full of another gas it will overwrite some of the gas in there.

You have way more sour gas than I did you you may want to do it in bit sized pieces by letting a few pieces out at a time.

[avc15]

22 hours ago, beowulf2010 said:

You can also just vent all excess gas to space. The hoarder in me hates this solution. 

You can make this solution less wasteful by heating said gases first.

There's actually some realism to that approach, too - this is one of the ways that ice asteroids regulate their temperature when they approach the sun - geysers form that spew water into space. (the second way is formation of an atmosphere comprised mostly of water vapor)

[Zarylo]

Turn massive sour gas pockets into massive profit.

isolate a AETN with insulant, and pump off the interior with a pump (see picture).

once it's completely empty activate the AETN and pump in any sour gas you find in there. The AETN runs cold enough to turn sour gas into methane which can be stored  easily until you want to burn it for power.

I can't understand why people would want to get rid of sour gas, I boil my oil to get more of it.

EDIT: just realized I forgot to power pump and shutoff. Oops.

[Yunru]

20 hours ago, Gurgel said:

I just vent the trash into space. Same with liquids I do not need. Guess that will offend the "Keep space clean!" people

 

If we vent enough oxygen to space we'll be able to breath.

Or it'll explode.

Either way, breathing in space would no longer be a problem.

[fredhp]

There is a lot of power and water in that sourgas! 

When condensed, 44T of sour gas becomes 29,4T of natural gas. 
When burned by a natural gas generator, it generates 22110Kg of polluted water, 7370 Kg of CO2, and 26204444 W of power. 

A single natgas generator will run for 9Hrs with all that gas.