Insight Focus
- A new project has been announced to capture the carbon from 17 ethanol plants in the US.
- There are still regulatory hurdles to surmount.
- Ultimately, this could lead the way to a cleaner way to produce biofuels.
Ethanol Carbon Capture Advances
US biofuels company POET LLC – the largest biofuels producer in the world – announced last week that it would connect its 17 Midwest ethanol plants to Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed CO2 pipeline system. The system is slated as the world’s largest carbon capture and storage project and is located in the US Midwest.
The Summit project will capture CO2 from the fermentation process of biorefineries (such as ethanol plants), compress the captured CO2 and channel it to the state of North Dakota where it will be permanently stored underground in deep geologic storage locations.
Summit said the project will drastically reduce the carbon footprint of ethanol production and enhance the long-term economic viability of the ethanol and agriculture industries.
POET’s addition to the system will facilitate the capture, transportation and permanent storage of 4.7 million tonnes of CO2 annually from the 17 POET bioprocessing plants.
Project Awaits Regulatory Approval
A few hurdles stand in the way of the Summit project, however, as regulatory approvals for the pipeline need to be secured in the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa.
In mid-2022, for example, Summit’s request for approval of the pipeline was rejected by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The PUC and NGOs have reservations about the project’s safety.
Specific reservations involve concerns such as the depth of the pipeline. There are question marks over whether a buried depth of six feet is adequate to prevent the pipeline — which will transport CO2 ranging in temperature from 26 degrees Celsius to 49 degrees Celsius — from frost heaving during winter months. Another worry is the concern over the possibility of CO2 leakage into groundwater and wells.
“Summit has not refiled its permit request as yet but has indicated that it intends to do so in the near future,” Leah Mohr, spokesperson for the South Dakota PUC, told Czapp on January 30.
Investment to Generate Economic Opportunities
POET is the largest bioethanol producer in the world. According to Bruce Rastetter, founder and executive chairman of Summit Agricultural Group, the partnership “ensures that decarbonizing bioethanol will lead to exciting new market opportunities for producers, rural economies, and American energy security.”
As one of the largest private investments in the region, according to Summit, the project will generate thousands of jobs during construction and hundreds of full-time jobs once operational.
“As the world seeks low-carbon energy solutions, carbon capture ensures that ag-based biofuels will remain competitive for decades to come,” Jeff Broin, POET founder and CEO, said in a press release.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to bring value to farmers, bioethanol producers and rural communities and counties in participating states, and I believe it will unleash even more opportunities for ag and bioprocessing in the future.”
