Salt

Salt is an edible-free mineral resource found naturally in the Tide Pool Biome and Rust Biome, and it also appears as a product of several industrial and biological processes. It is one of the game’s more useful midgame materials because it connects water treatment, chlorine-related systems, and several transformation recipes.

Dasha Saltvine produces harvestable Salt by consuming Chlorine gas and Sand, giving a renewable source in chlorine-rich setups. Salt Water and Brine can also be processed through the Desalinator: 5 kg/s Salt Water becomes 4650 g/s Water + 350 g/s Salt, while 5 kg/s Brine becomes 3500 g/s Water + 1500 g/s Salt. In addition, heating these liquids to just above their vaporization points can separate them into Steam and Salt: Salt Water at 101.69 °C yields 93% Steam and 7% Salt, and Brine at 104.75 °C yields 70% Steam and 30% Salt. This makes Salt recoverable from hot saline fluid systems as well as from dedicated desalination.

Salt has several important uses. The Rust Deoxidizer consumes Rust and Salt to produce Oxygen, Chlorine, and Iron Ore at a rate of 750 g/s Rust + 250 g/s Salt = 570 g/s Oxygen + 30 g/s Chlorine + 400 g/s Iron Ore. This makes Salt a direct input for oxygen generation and an indirect way to obtain Iron Ore while also producing a small amount of Chlorine.

It is also processed in the Rock Crusher, which can refine Salt into Table Salt: 100 kg Salt = 5 g Table Salt + 100 kg Sand. This conversion is extremely inefficient from a material standpoint, so it is mainly of niche value rather than bulk production. Salt can further be used with the Geotuner at an average rate of 83.3 g/s per Geotuner to boost geysers and increase Polluted Oxygen or Chlorine production. This makes Salt a recurring consumable in geyser tuning systems, especially when trying to improve gas output from targeted vents.

Another major use is in the Bleach Stone Hopper, where Salt is combined with Gold to make Bleach Stone and Sand: 30 kg Salt + 500 g Gold = 10 kg Bleach Stone + 20 kg Sand. This provides a way to convert excess Salt into a chlorine-related industrial material used elsewhere in the base.

Salt can also be turned into Salt Water through the Emulsifier, which mixes fresh water and Salt in the ratio 93 kg Water + 7 kg Salt = 100 kg Salt Water. This is useful when a player needs Salt Water for desalination, cooling, or other saline-fluid chains.

For space play, Salt can be harvested on rocket missions to renewable space POIs, especially in Interstellar Oceans, at a rate of 37.5–125 kg per cycle. Salt also has a thermodynamic quirk: repeatedly boiling and condensing Molten Salt can be used as a heat multiplication method because of the difference in specific heat capacity between its liquid and gaseous forms.