One of the major challenges of widespread
nanofacture
is keeping a consistent flow of feedstock to the nanofab units and
protecting the local environment from becoming depleted. To combat
this, many societies developed Municipal Feedstock Utilities that keep
a constant flow of refined feedstock accessible to the public and
industry on demand. Similar to municipal water works or ancient gas
systems, the flow of feedstock solution is pumped from central holding
reservoirs and towers through pipes and into a reclamation system that
then cycles
back to a refinery that breaks down the "waste" feedstock and
reintegrating it back into it's reservoirs. These pipes are commonly
subterranean or underwater in nature or coupled with other utility
lines. Reservoirs are commonly built in sealed or underground lakes and
pools to prevent contamination of the solution. In
megastructures
or tall buildings these reservoirs are often placed in the top floors
of the building to assist with pressures and regulating speed of
distribution.
The central benefit of this system is that it ensures all connected
nanofabs have access to the full
spectrum of elements allowed by law, while preventing consumption of
the local materials or property. Often this removes the need for
citizens to gather or purchase feedstock on a separate basis, offering
access for nominal exchange or fees. Some Feedstock Utilities offer a
credit system for recycling and preventing material loss.
The typical system is designed to have a centrally located refinery and
processing plant. From here, pipes are constructed that lead to
reservoirs and tanks placed for optimum levels of distribution in the
supplied municipality. These tanks are then routed through subterranean
pipes to all customers, buildings and locations that require feedstock.
After flowing through the nanofab suite, the feedstock effluent pipes
then flow back to holding pools and then into the refinery where
processing begins for re-integration into the reservoirs. The solution
is magnetic in nature, and can be pushed smoothly by linear accelerator
pumps. Even the nanofabs are designed to not stop the flow or divert it
completely but rather filter off any elements required by
nanofabrication at time of operation. This constant motion prevents any
chance of settling happening outside of designed traps and pools.
Feedstock Utilities can be of very small local design like a single
building, or massive megastructures and even weaving their way through
an entire J Brain! How the system is fed varies greatly, but usually
break down into three formats: Local, System or Wormhole.
A local style Utility relies totally on resources mined from the
stellar object it is built on. Mines transport the base material from
parts of the planet or asteroid to the refinery. There the raw material
is broken down, filtered out, or Pico-converted to essential matter and
stored in large hoppers used to supplement the reservoirs at a rate
that keeps the feedstock solution at a constant "richness" and
proportions.
A System style supplied Municipal Feedstock Utility usually gains its
raw materials from off-world or long outside of the municipality's
orbit. Although the matter still is in the orbit of the local star or
Oort
Cloud. These items are mined,
and usually refined out at its mining site. These items are then
shipped back to the Utility via a magnetic accelerator or coil system
similar to that used by
Dusters
or
Squirts.
The loose material appears like a stream a few millimeters to a few
meters in width depending on the demand. These streams are then ducted
through "targeting pump satellites" to an Orbital Receiving Facility.
This is usually found in a stationary orbit or attached to an orbital
station itself. It then prioritizes feedstock for where it needs to go
and organizes delivery via a variety of systems and networks.
Wormhole Style Utilities are very similar to system fed utilities, but
include small (5cm to 5m) wormholes to allow material being broken down
in another system to be shipped similar to beamriders or linear
accelerator to the purchasing utility. Once it exits the wormhole link,
it then is treated and moved about like a normal system fed utility.
Often these wormhole stations are located near or at the solar "poles"
of a system so orbiting mines can always see them and
control streams better.
Once a society has access to technology that can manufacture elements
cheaply and in bulk quantities, the supply systems quickly become local
in nature
and only deal with occasional loads of off site matter when they run
low on total available matter to continue growth.
