Ethanol Producers, Advocates Aim for Net-Zero Ethanol by 2050

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December 16, 2021

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by Susanne Retka Schill (Great Plains Institute) As US and world leaders engage on climate change and carbon reduction efforts, leaders in the American ethanol industry have announced pledges and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The country’s largest ethanol producer, POET LLC, and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), representing another large portion of the industry, have separately pledged GHG reductions of 70 percent within a decade and goals of net neutrality by 2050. The American Coalition for Ethanol also supports state and federal policies that aid in ethanol reaching net neutrality by midcentury.

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Cooper (Geoff Cooper, CEO of the RFA) cites three studies over the past three years supporting the current state of ethanol carbon intensity:

In 2019, a US Department of Agriculture study that determined corn ethanol’s lifecycle analysis showed GHG reductions of 43 percent compared to gasoline. With added improvements in biorefineries and on farms, the report projected that a reduction of more than 70 percent in lifecycle emissions is possible.
In another report, researchers at Argonne National Laboratory, developers of the GREET model used to calculate carbon intensity scores of fuels and feedstocks, outlined the significant improvements made in corn ethanol both on farm and at ethanol plants. The improvements lowered corn ethanol’s carbon intensity between 2005 and 2019. When compared to gasoline, the results showed a 44 to 52 percent reduction in carbon intensity. (Carbon intensity scores determine the amount of credits a company can generate in a low-carbon fuel policy).
About the same time, a group of scientists from Environmental Health & Engineering, Inc., Harvard University, Tufts University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a paper finding that the average gallon of ethanol reduces GHG emissions by 46 percent.

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Several producers are looking at carbon capture and other options, including replacing natural gas with biogas or augmenting electricity with wind or solar.

Making it pay is key, Cooper cautions. “Ethanol producers, like any other business, need to show their investors a return on investment for these sorts of projects. ... "

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Multiple ethanol plants are developing individual or group carbon capture projects. These projects are responding to the changes to the 45Q tax incentives and taking advantage of programs like California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions is developing a project to collect carbon dioxide from at least 30 ethanol plants to be transported by pipeline into North Dakota and secured permanently underground through geologic storage. Valero, an oil refiner with 14 ethanol facilities producing about 1.7 billion gallons annually, is developing a pipeline in partnership with BlackRock and Navigator. Valero is expected to be the anchor shipper with eight ethanol plants connected to the system.

Beyond those two projects, ethanol producers with carbon capture operating or under development include Archer Daniels Midland in Illinois, Red Trail Energy in North Dakota, Blue Flint in North Dakota, White Energy in Texas, Alto Ingredients in Illinois, One Earth Energy in Illinois, and Green Plains Inc. with its 13 Midwestern plants.

Two other projects illustrate ambitious plans to expand low-carbon energy. In Illinois, Marquis Energy announced its carbon capture project to reduce the carbon intensity of the 365 million gallons produced annually.

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In addition, Marquis announced plans to add facilities to produce blue hydrogen and ammonia, plus a soybean crushing facility to produce feedstocks for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuels.

In California, Aemetis Inc. is collecting and upgrading dairy biogas and installing other carbon intensity-reducing technologies at its 60-million-gallon ethanol plant. It also has a carbon capture project in the planning stages.

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The country’s largest ethanol producer, POET LLC, announced its commitment this fall to reduce the carbon intensity of its ethanol by 70 percent compared to gasoline by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality at its facilities by 2050.

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But with a significant portion of its carbon intensity coming from agriculture, the company is rolling out a program to incentivize carbon intensity-reducing farm practices.

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“We often describe the corn kernel and biomass as nature’s battery,” Berven (Doug Berven, POET vice president of corporate affairs) says. “We soak up the sun in the leaves, and it goes into the biomass and corn kernel. We can store that indefinitely and then take it into a processing facility like the 33 in the POET family and we can unleash that stored energy into all different types of energy sources and products.”

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ACE (American Coalition for Ethanol) received a $7.5 million grant this fall through the US Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The grant is for a project to incentivize carbon reduction farm practices among farmers supplying corn to Dakota Ethanol in eastern South Dakota. About two-thirds of the grant will go directly to farmers to support practices that improve nutrient management and build soil carbon. READ MORE

Carbon capture firm nabs $30M in VC funds (Axios)

From the Farm: EPA and Ethanol (WCIA)

Excerpt from Axios: A carbon capture and storage (CCS) startup billing itself as the industry's first "vertically integrated super developer" has raised $30 million in Series A funding.

Driving the news: Carbon America this morning announced the funding from investors including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, ArcTern Ventures, Energy Impact Partners and others.

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The company declined to name projects or clients it is working with but told Axios its "target customers" are in the ethanol, steel, cement and power industries.

The first projects will be in the ethanol sector, with the first expected to be in operation in 2023, the company said. READ MORE

Excerpt from WCIA: “And they should look at these carbon credits and look at the amount of money being thrown at carbon capture and see if we can get some of that money for ourselves, because I think there will be plenty of money for that.”

Will EPA get involved in some of the offers that companies give to farmers about sequestering carbon in a cornfield?

“I’m guessing they will because the regulations on this and the science on this is still not that exact. And so EPA is going to be the referee or judge, if you will, and they are going to play a big role,” Crowe (David Crowe, lobbyist for Illinois Corn Growers) said. “And if history is any indicator, they won’t necessarily be friendly to us without a lot of intervention.” READ MORE

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