plants do not degrade themselves, they require bacteria and fungi etc to break down their large macromolecules into the monomeric forms.
Basically what you are describing is a composting process. There are several types of processes.
Anaerobic digestion
Aerobic digestion
Composting
Thermal depolymerization
Sludge disposal
I simplified it and created some sort of mixture of them for the digestion machine, so the product is fertilizer/compost and natural gas and some other simpler byproducts I do not remember right now.
Wow, Space Orbinomics is going to be intense, I see. Soon we won't just have to worry about killing the crew with high G acceleration, but also if there's enough soy in the hyrdoponics bay to feed them!
I'm curious to know how all this life support information is going to be implemented in the actual Orbinomics engine itself, if you'd be interested in sharing some of the juicy details, AR81.
Just like accounting. If you remember the old beta, every day that passes you have costs that automatically are added. Same happens to waste management. It is not going to be really intense, you will see data, inventory, since the waste management process is going to be automated. At least that is the concept, for it is not yet implemented, for I am in the research process to create a simplified model that could be somehow similar to real life.
You have an input, process and output. With no waste hardware, all waste must be dumped, so garbage inventory will grow up and that will represent a cost for you when you deliver the garbage. But if you buy the proper hardware, waste treatment changes, material flow will change and you will see different figures in your inventory.
If you have a greenhouse, plants will absorb some CO2, so you may have to consume less expensive, corrosive and toxic lithium based CO2 absorber. But a greenhouse will not work without fertilizer, so it will be useless and essentially disabled until it has everything it needs to work.
Simplifying the model is key, if you do not want a sluggish model.
Handling inventories could or could not be quite challenging. I still do not know, for this is the first time I ever attempted this. The model is incomplete and theoretical at this moment, no implementation yet, for I still need to convert chemical formulas into kg to see proportions that are needed for each process.
I still do not know how inventories will behave. You know right now as much as me. What is certain is that I foresee that waste treatment will reduce your costs. For some reason people are told that clean processes involve costs...
Everything involve costs. In real life if you want more revenue, you will need to start a project, and even if it only takes one meeting to figure out how, it has costs. If you fire people, you increase utilization, but you reduce know-how inside the company, and since usually those who are fired are cheaper workers, company efficiency becomes reduced, for you have a high manpower reduction against a small cost reduction.
So the concept of "pulling this handle I get revenue, pulling this handle I reduce costs" is a falacy.
Just like it would be too expensive for you to buy discardable styrofoam glasses to drink at home, instead of having a reusable porcelain cup or an ordinary glass to drink, a clean process not only involves higher costs, but also pollution.
I recall I worked for a factory where they had key workers to manufacture a very profitable product. They found a Brazilian supplier that had a cheaper raw material that produced acid gases, so workers were exposed to that. I could not breath inside for more than 5 seconds... I asked the financial manager to authorize purchase of masks for those workers and he replied "is this expense absolutely necessary" and I replied "go inside, and if you can stay for more than 60 seconds breathing that, I will not ask you to purchase those masks".
There were 7 people there, they bought only 4 masks. In the long run, those sick workers will mean reduced production and reduced profit, so they sacrificed long term profit to obtain short term liquidity. This short term view, plus the idea that utilization is more important than quality, and liquidity is more important than profit, and short term is more important than long term, is what leads to the idea of "higher costs" of clean processes.
But if you go in a 4 year trip to Jupiter where you could die if you do not plan for the long run, and you do not reduce costs and mass onboard, you will be screwed.
In this game I am not considering the problems of pollution, like poisoning or biohazards. The only impact you will see will be on costs and if they run out of supplies, health of passenger may be affected, and you might have to pay a medical bill.
