Ethanol Gas

Ethanol Gas is the gaseous state of Ethanol. It is produced when Ethanol is heated to around 80 °C, and its thermal performance is slightly lower than Hydrogen Gas. Because of that, it can still serve as a useful heat-transfer medium in environments above 100 °C, where its behavior makes it practical for moving heat around hot machinery and sealed systems.

In normal base-building use, Ethanol Gas is most closely associated with Ethanol Distillers and the wider ethanol power chain. Ethanol Distillers consume Lumber and output Ethanol, which can then be used for power generation or, if heated enough, can transition into Ethanol Gas. The source material notes that an Ethanol Distiller requires 1 kg/s of Lumber while active, produces Polluted Dirt in 20 kg chunks, and can be automated with Auto-Sweepers. It also points out that Ethanol produced from the distiller can be piped into a Petroleum Generator to produce power.

Ethanol systems are often judged by their heat and resource economy. Ethanol Distillers can run as net heat negative if the Lumber input is at least 38.6 °C on its own, or 34 °C if the output is being fed into a Petroleum Generator. The distiller itself does not overheat, which makes it easier to integrate into industrial layouts without needing special cooling for the building. Since the process creates both Polluted Dirt and Carbon Dioxide alongside the fuel chain, the surrounding setup usually needs a plan for byproducts as well as heat.

Practical notes for handling the ethanol chain include:

• About 1.8 domestically growing Arbor Trees can supply enough Lumber to keep one Ethanol Distiller running.
• One Ethanol Distiller can support 5 Slicksters or irrigate 15 Nosh Sprouts.
• Four Ethanol Distillers are needed to support one continuously running Petroleum Generator.
• A constantly running distiller produces nearly 200 kg/cycle of Polluted Dirt, enough to keep 3.33 Composts occupied if they are flipped instantly.
• That Polluted Dirt can also support about 3 Pokeshells or 1.4 Sage Hatches.
• If all Carbon Dioxide from the distiller and generator is converted to Petroleum with Molten Slicksters, three distillers can support one generator, with the remaining carbon dioxide supplied by the Slicksters.

There is no especially clean small-scale ratio for the full ethanol economy, especially once trees, distillers, generators, composting, and Carbon Dioxide handling are all included. Larger setups can work efficiently, but they quickly become infrastructure-heavy, with significant demands for piping, pumps, and byproduct management.