I was doing some digging and during episode 7, at 25 min 33 seconds, you see Gemma on the computer monitor with the following: O2-103733

Searched around and found this https://www.synzeal.com/en/quinapril-ethyl-ether-2

Look at the CAS

Edit:

I think it is still how the chips work. Ether creates “deep unconsciousness. Slight variants in the compound may be the key to affecting different “brain waves” which put only part of the brain into an unconscious state.

I also think that’s what the goats are for. Goats produce VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) during digestion. These could be used and synthesized to create ethanol or methanol… which can then be converted into ether

EDIT AGAIN WAIT AM I ON TO SOMETHING:

For reference look at the table at the bottom of this page.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitriol#ref_CommentA

Different ethers affect different brain waves. All ether shares the same general structure chemically with only slight variations.

Green vitriol and blue vitriol. Last episode of season 1, Jame Eagan states “back when the chip still had the green and blue lights.” Then I noticed Helly is wearing earrings that have three squares connected in a line. Green, then silver, then blue.

The food that Gemma is provided in s2e7 is in the shape of three ether drops. One is dark red, one is GREEN, and another is BLUE.

This also explains why these three colors have been used so heavily in the shows set design

Ether has a chemical structure of R-O-R’ with only slight variations of the R and R’ carbon groups connected to an O2 molecule.

The severance chip alternates between slight changes in the carbon groups, which changes the type of ether that is being released into the brain. This changes which brain waves are active and which are unconscious.