The Portable Oxygen Generator is one of the most useful base utilities you can build in Subnautica 2. It produces oxygen continuously through electrolysis, runs off a battery, and gives you a reliable air source without depending solely on your tank. Getting it unlocked takes a bit of exploration, but the payoff is worth every minute spent hunting fragments.
How do you unlock the Portable Oxygen Generator?
Unlocking the Portable Oxygen Generator requires scanning 2 Portable Oxygen Generator fragments. These aren't blueprint fragments you find scattered randomly across the seafloor. The Portable Oxygen Generator appears as a placed object inside the Great Jaw core, meaning you need to physically locate and visit that area to find the scannable units.
Bring your Scanner and make sure you have enough oxygen to explore properly. If you're struggling with air management during deeper runs, check out this guide on how to replenish and increase max oxygen before heading into the Great Jaw core.
Scan both fragments in a single trip if possible. The Great Jaw core can be a hazardous area, so going in twice unnecessarily burns time and resources.
Scanning fragments in Great Jaw
What materials do you need to build it?
Once you've scanned both fragments and unlocked the recipe, the Portable Oxygen Generator is built using the Habitat Builder. The material cost is straightforward:
Titanium is one of the most common resources in the game and shouldn't be a bottleneck. Lithium requires a bit more targeted gathering, but it's reliably found in several biomes. Once you have both, equip your Habitat Builder, find a suitable spot in your base, and hold Left Click (PC), RT (Xbox), or R2 (PlayStation) to place and construct it.
The Portable Oxygen Generator requires a battery to function. Make sure your base has power or that you slot in a battery before expecting it to produce oxygen.
What does the Portable Oxygen Generator actually do?
The Portable Oxygen Generator is classified as a Utility building. Its in-game description confirms it produces oxygen over time through electrolysis, and it requires a battery to operate. In practical terms, this means it functions as a base-level oxygen source that keeps replenishing air as long as it has power.
This makes it a strong companion piece to a well-powered base setup. If you haven't sorted out your base's power situation yet, the Subnautica 2 oxygen and power base guide covers everything from the Habitat Builder to power sources and storage in one place.
Without a functioning battery or base power, the Portable Oxygen Generator produces nothing. Always verify your power supply before relying on it during a dive.
For everything else you need to survive and progress in one of the best survival games in early access right now, the full Subnautica 2 guides collection has you covered from the first lifepod to the deepest biomes.