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Carbon capture
creates new opportunities for ethanol, panelists say.
iStock: photosbyjim
Between a total of six interruptions by
passionate protestors, panelists at the National Carbon Capture
Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday morning discussed how carbon
capture and sequestration (CCS) pipelines have the potential to create
new opportunities for the U.S. ethanol industry.
“Carbon sequestration represents a huge
opportunity in scale for these plants to really drop their carbon
intensity,” says Chris Bliley, vice president of regulatory affairs at
Growth Energy.
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Summit Carbon Solutions says CCS can
reduce an ethanol plant's carbon intensity score by 30 points and has
the potential to help plants reach net-zero emissions by the end of
the decade.
Panelists discussed how lowering carbon
intensity opens up new opportunities for the ethanol industry, such
being used for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production.
Sustainable Aviation
Fuel
Noppinger says ethanol needs CCS to lower
its carbon intensity enough to be used in SAF production.
“That's what the consumer is demanding,”
he says. “That's also what maximizes the credits and incentives to
make it economic and competitive with jet fuel.”
“The aviation industry is not going to be
running off of solar panels or batteries,” says Nick Noppinger, senior
vice president of corporate development for Wolf Carbon Solutions. “It
has to find another way to decarbonize and SAF...is the pathway.”
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Noppinger says ethanol needs CCS to lower
its carbon intensity enough to be used in SAF production.
“That's what the consumer is demanding,”
he says. “That's also what maximizes the credits and incentives to
make it economic and competitive with jet fuel.”
A Sustainable
Cycle
Elizabeth Burns-Thompson, vice president
of government and public affairs at Navigator CO2, says the
opportunities don't stop at the ethanol plant. By including fertilizer
plants on the CCS pipeline, not only does the carbon intensity of the
fertilizer go down, but so does the carbon intensity of the grain
produced with the fertilizer and the ethanol produced with the grain.
She also says in the future there is
potential for carbon captured at ethanol plants to be used to produce
plastics and other products made with petroleum today.
Talking About
The Why
She wrapped up her comments on the panel
emphasizing the importance of talking about “the why.”
“You really do need to start with the why
because as we’ve seen, this is an emotional issue,” she says referring
to the many interruptions throughout the panel by protestors shouting
and chanting opposition to CCS pipelines. Concerns about safety,
eminent domain, and water and air quality were raised.
So, what is the why?
“We’ve fueled innovation for decades and
this allows the Corn Belt to continue to fuel innovation into
future,” Burns-Thompson says.
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