Dehydrator

The Dehydrator is a mid-game food processing building that converts prepared meals into long-lasting dehydrated food packs. It is fueled by Natural Gas and requires both food and Plastic as inputs, making it a specialized piece of infrastructure for turning surplus cooked meals into compact storage that never spoils.

A full cycle consumes 6000 kcal of food prepared with the Gas Range and 12 kg of Plastic to produce 6 dehydrated food packs. An alternate recipe uses 1 Duplicant and 25 kg of Plastic to create a single dehydrated Duplicant pack. In either case, the inputs must first be loaded into the building, and Natural Gas must be piped in for operation. The dehydration process takes 250 seconds, and afterward the building needs an additional 50 seconds to unload. Dehydrated food packs are produced at the bottom middle cell, along with 6 kg of water at 95 °C.

Each dehydrated food pack contains 1000 kcal and never spoils, but it must be restored in a Rehydrator before it can be eaten. Any spice applied to the original food is preserved through dehydration and will remain after rehydration, so the Dehydrator can be used without losing seasoning investment. Since the output is compact and stable, it is especially useful for preserving large food surpluses for later use or for transporting calories across long periods without rot.

There are a few practical details worth keeping in mind:

• The building emits Carbon Dioxide during operation, at a rate of 5 g/s, for a total of 1250 g per cycle.
• Supplying food or Plastic to the Dehydrator is an operation/supply task and can be handled by a Duplicant or by an Auto-Sweeper.
• Emptying the Dehydrator is a supply task that requires Duplicant operation.
• Some of the liquid removed during processing inevitably ends up on the floor, so the output area should be designed to handle stray water.
• Because the output water is hot, the collection setup should tolerate elevated temperatures if it is placed near sensitive systems.

The Dehydrator is most useful when you already have a stable source of cooked food and Plastic, and want to convert excess meals into a non-perishable reserve. Its long cycle time and water output mean it works best as part of a controlled production area rather than as an ad hoc kitchen extension.