The Congressional Budget Office in December published a report that examines the status, federal support and future potential of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the U.S. The report, in part, discusses CCS at ethanol plants.&nbsp;The report identifies 15 CCS projects that were currently operating as of September 2023, along with an additional 121 facilities that were under construction or in various stages of development as of that date with completion planned through the 2020s. Of those 121 facilities, six were under construction, 69 were in an advanced development stage, and 46 were in an early development stage.&nbsp;The CBO estimates that the 15 currently operating CCS facilities have the capacity to capture 0.4 percent of the nation’s total annual CO2 emissions. If the additional 121 projects are all completed, that volume would be boosted to 3 percent of current annual CO2 emissions. The CBO explains those percentages are small in part because CCS is generally used in sectors that have the lowest costs for capturing CO2—including ethanol production—and those sectors account for a small share of total U.S. CO2 emissions.&nbsp;According to the report, the per-ton cost of capturing CO2 varies considerably among industries. CO2 capture is less expensive in natural gas processing, ammonia production and ethanol production, where it costs roughly $15 to $35 per metric tons. The cost rises to $50 to $120 metric ton for power generation and other industrial processes, such as the production of cement, iron, steel or hydrogen.&nbsp;The CBO estimates that 2.483 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions are from sources that are potential candidates for CCS. Ethanol production accounts for 45 million metric tons, or 1.8 percent, of that volume. Electric power, industrial energy, iron and steel making, cement production, natural gas process and ammonia production account for 62.1 percent, 31.2 percent, 1.7 percent, 1.7 percent, 1.1 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.&nbsp;A full copy of the report is available on the CBO <a href="https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2023-12/59345-carbon-capture-storage.pdf">website</a>.

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The Congressional Budget Office in December published a report that examines the status, federal support and future potential of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the U.S. The report, in part, discusses CCS at ethanol plants. 

CBO report examines the potential for CCS in the US

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