Filter (Methane)

This filter catches Methane – the game also calls the gas “Volatiles”, and the English filter label says “Methane”. In IC10 it is the same thing: the fraction is RatioMethane; there is no LogicType RatioVolatiles. The filter fits any gas filter slot, and its reserve starts at 100.

Methane has two sides:

• Fuel: together with an oxidiser it burns. 2 mol of methane and 1 mol of oxygen give 3 mol of pollutant and 6 mol of carbon dioxide, releasing 286 kJ per mole of methane. From 573.15 K (300 °C) it even ignites by itself with more than 1 mol.
• Poison: like pollutant it warns from 0.5 kPa partial pressure and harms from 1 kPa.

Where you meet it:

• Vulcan: according to the world data the air consists of about 47 % volatiles. Nothing burns outside because oxygen is missing – but any mixing with breathing air is dangerous there.
• Ice (Volatiles): one piece releases 20 mol of methane and 2 mol of hydrogen when melted.

Filtered methane is valuable because it serves as fuel. Store it separately from every oxygen line and far from wall heaters, which make a spark every tick. Below 195 K it can turn liquid.

Lifetime: every 145 ticks in which it actually catches methane cost 1 point of reserve – 100 points last a good two hours of continuous use, and it takes liquid methane along. The medium version lasts about five times, the heavy one about twenty times as long; they are made in the Hydraulic Pipe Bender. The catalytic filter (about eighty times) is only available from the trader Cosmic Curiosities. More on separating gases in Filtration: separating gases, changing filters, getting rid of waste gases.