Ethanol producers are leading the way in capturing carbon | Commentary

To say reducing carbon is all the rage would be quite an understatement — you can’t pick up a newspaper, listen to a news broadcast or talk to a politician without carbon becoming part of the conversation.

There are lots of buzzwords that come with the new emphasis on carbon — carbon footprint, carbon index, carbon capture, carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas and climate-smart carbon practices.

Well, in the biofuels industry we have made great strides to not only reduce the carbon intensity of the products we grow and produce, but also to capture and repurpose any carbon we emit. In fact, we have been at the forefront of such efforts for decades as we strive to reduce energy inputs and improve our yields and profitability. Energy costs are a big part of the balance sheet of an ethanol plant, so it has been in our interest to reduce them as much as possible. In addition, we have had to combat the net energy balance argument, where critics claim we use more energy in the production of ethanol than we produce. That claim has been proven false time and time again.

Since the energy used by ethanol plants has been in large part derived from natural gas, a carbon-based fuel, it is now even more important to be recognized as a key part of the global effort to reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change. Many ethanol plants have joined with the U.S. Department of Agriculture through various partnership programs to develop climate-smart practices, share information and collectively work to be part of the climate solution. For starters, the corn we process into food, feed and fuel is being grown in fields that act as carbon sinks, the corn plant absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil. Adding those benefits to higher yields and less energy inputs demonstrates we are already a climate-smart industry.

At the ethanol plant, our efficient designs have resulted in higher yields, meaning we take less energy to produce more ethanol. Our byproducts ranging from animal feed to corn oil further reduce the carbon and energy inputs and put us on the road to a net zero carbon footprint.

But we are just getting started. This unified effort to reduce carbon has spawned innovation that will take the CO2 ethanol plants produce and not only capture it, but also return it to the soil through a game-changing proposed pipeline project. Currently, ethanol plants that do not capture their CO2 emissions and sell to greenhouse projects to enhance plant growth or sell to the soft drink industry, release their CO2 into the atmosphere. Now, an option exists for these plants to capture and sell their carbon emissions through a pipeline developed by Summit Carbon Solutions that will collect CO2 from plants throughout the Midwest and permanently store it deep underground.

Clean, renewable energy in the form of biofuels from agriculture significantly reduces harmful emissions and is already a far superior additive to petroleum. Now, with an additional value proposition of capturing carbon, ethanol producers solidify their position as leaders in the global effort to protect our planet while sustaining agriculture.