Carbon capture and sequestration—and the quest to build pipelines for it—is not the only near-term CO2 utilization option available to U.S. ethanol producers. Companies like Carbon Sink LLC, CapCO2 Solutions, and HYCO1 have developed on-site carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology platforms capable of turning waste CO2 streams into high-value products. Their respective tech packages have different origins and serve different end-use industries, but each offers a viable alternative for ethanol plants still waiting for—or off route from—one of the proposed multistate carbon pipelines still jostling through the middle stages of regulatory development and land right-of-way negotiations. &nbsp;Ethanol, Carbon, and the Global Shipping Industry&nbsp; Based in Arlington, Virginia, Carbon Sink brings a roster with rich experience in energy project development and finance, fuels, chemicals production, and systems integration. It also boasts some big-name partnerships. Formed roughly three years ago, Carbon Sink has signed agreements with Maersk, the global shipping giant, along with Haldor Topsoe, a global technology provider. The company’s focus is green methanol, which it produces via renewable energy from hydrogen derived from water and waste CO2—preferably in pure form, like the CO2 captured from corn ethanol plants. Shipping companies want to use green methanol in place of diesel—and they need a lot of it.According to Jim McVaney, communications director for Carbon Sink, when the company was formed roughly three years ago, there was a single shipping vessel in the North Sea that was known to occasionally run on green methanol. Today, the Carbon Sink team has now identified more than 160 ships that are, or will soon be, running on the clean fuel. Maersk is among the first to do it with massive container ships. Household brands like Nike, Ikea, and Syngenta have all communicated their intent to work with companies such as Maersk to make carbon reduction or utilization a priority, McVaney adds.While it seems almost futuristic for Maersk and other larger shippers to go all-in on the transformative repowering of marine shipping, the technologies behind green methanol production are not novel. McVaney says all the equipment used in Carbon Sink’s process is readily available, commercially proven, and backed with an EPC guarantee.Topsoe’s Henrik Wolthers Rasmussen, managing director of the Americas, says the company is excited to have a cooperation agreement in place with Carbon Sink. “The U.S. market is an ideal environment for broad utilization of our world-class methanol synthesis and electrolyzer technologies, and Carbon Sink is well positioned to identify and execute a multiplant development strategy to meet growing market demand for low-carbon methanol,” Rasmussen says.Carbon Sink is already working with Red River Energy, a 35 MMgy corn ethanol plant near Rosholt, South Dakota, to develop its system. The design requires roughly 12 acres, along with access to water, storage, and rail. CO2 from the ethanol plant will be piped into the adjacent Carbon Sink facility where renewable energy (i.e., wind) will power a system supplied by Topsoe.McVaney says that a single standard-size Carbon Sink plant will make enough fuel for three Maersk ships each year (roughly 30 MMgy of methanol). The production process also creates excess heat, which could be sent back “over-the-fence” to the host ethanol plant. As for contracts, the team is looking at three options: long-term supply agreements, joint ventures, and plant acquisitions. Red River Energy opted for a long-term supply contract with a fixed price for its CO2. Ethanol plants located in wind-producing regions are best suited for a Carbon Sink adjacent project (i.e., colocation). Although they have not disclosed their power supplier, the team says they have an agreement with a globally recognized green power provider.CapCO2 Solutions Goes Modular&nbsp; CapCO2 Solutions, based out of New York, is also developing a process to produce green methanol using CO2 sourced from ethanol production as a main feedstock. “The best source of bio-CO2 anywhere in the world is from an ethanol plant,” says Jeff Bonar, CEO.Bonar and his team have also familiarized themselves with the shipping industry, which is broadly interested in green methanol. While Bonar recites similar facts about the shipping industry's growing interest in, and active adoption of, green methanol, he also points out another fact important to CapCO2’s version of the green methanol story.“Green methanol is not as hard to produce as sustainable aviation fuel,” he says. “So we can do it right now.” And according to one of Bonar’s presentations on the potential of methanol production from ethanol fermentation CO2, some ethanol producers could be “sitting on a gold mine,” as one large methanol broker said recently.To make green methanol right now, CapCO2 will utilize a unique, modular technology created by Real Tech Carbon out of Poland. The patented process can fit inside a shipping container. Although traditional methanol production methodologies require a big capital investment and big footprint, CapCO2 can produce its product with only a few methanol modules at each ethanol plant.According to Real Carbon Tech, the Polish company designing the modules, traditional methanol synthesis technology relies on so-called loop methods. The loop method requires complex production steps, including repetitive feedstock purifications and syngas production stages. Conversely, the CapCO2 process will eliminate the syngas phase. Where other processes use multiple reactors, compressors, columns, drums, boilers, and other equipment, the CapCO2 process achieves 100 percent efficiency in a single cycle with a much smaller reactor.Real Carbon Tech first tested and showed the viability of its process at a cement plant in Poland. According to Bonar, cement plants produce dirtier CO2 than ethanol plants. The modular design is compact and efficient, and only requires a CO2 interconnect at the plant to to nearby production modules.Adkins Energy, an ethanol plant in Illinois, is the first U.S. ethanol facility to sign on with CapCO2. Bonar expects the system to be up and running this summer. The Adkins facility sources its electricity from nuclear energy, which helps the plant’s carbon score. Other plants not linked to nuclear energy will need to have access to wind, solar, or other forms of renewable energy.When CapCO2 was working to bring the designs of Real Tech Carbon’s system to the U.S. its management team initially thought there were only a few manufacturers that could build or supply the high-pressure vessel needed for the system. One was in Japan, the other in Germany. But Bonar and his team have now found options in the U.S. They are still talking with several fabricators to fine-tune their build-out process as they work to expand across the U.S.“It’s not complicated,” Bonar says of the value proposition of their system. “We focus on CI score and revenue.”The CapCO2 process can reportedly reduce a plant’s CI score by roughly 25 to 30 points. The company’s website claims the system could potentially generate $100 million—per plant (based on 260,000 tons of CO2 captured per year)— in annual revenue.“Our plan is to do carbon capture and utilization as a service,” Bonar says. “We’ll supply the equipment, and we’ll arrange the green methanol buyer, and then we’ll have a generous revenue split.” In some cases, ethanol plants have expressed interest in owning the equipment themselves, and Bonar says the company is open to that process as well. Bonar has also created a map of possible ethanol plant sites where the CapCO2 process would work, given all the details and energy requirements. The map, he says, includes many ethanol plants well suited for running a CapCO2 modular system.HYCO1: From Houston to the Ethanol Sector&nbsp; HYCO1 is actively developing multiple high-value CO2 utilization projects in collaboration with ethanol producers, says Greg Carr, president and CEO of the Houston-based firm that intends to make high-value products from waste CO2 streams.The company has already tested and proven its tech in the field. In the spring of 2023, the company announced its partnership with Lyons, Kansas-based ethanol producer Kansas Ethanol to develop a CCU facility dubbed Green Carbon Synthetics Kansas LLC. The facility will utilize the catalyst-based system that turns carbon dioxide and various methane sources into chemical-grade syngas. Its catalyst is noncoking, so it lasts a long time. It is also made from base metals, not expensive noble metals. At 95 percent per pass, the catalyst is also highly efficient at converting CO2. Like other systems that utilize carbon, excess heat will be made from HYCO1’s process.Once complete, the facility will produce roughly 4,000 barrels per day of synthetic base lubricating oils and low-carbon jet fuel, methanol and alternatives to so-called “group 4” base lubricating oils, high-melt paraffin waxes and specialty solvents, ammonia, acetic acids, and commodity chemicals.Carr says the company has additional projects in development. Mike Chisam, CEO of Kansas Ethanol, offers some insight as to why HYCO1 and other carbon utilization tech providers are gaining serious traction across the industry.“Although most ethanol producers are considering or pursuing underground carbon sequestration in our industry to decarbonize,” Chisam said of the HYCO1 project, “we believe that carbon utilization, which supports a circular carbon economy, represents the best use of our CO2 and positions us more competitively in the market.” Author: Luke Geiver&nbsp;&nbsp; Contact: writer@bbiinternational.com

2024-02-06 - How CCU Platforms Stack Up (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

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With carbon capture and sequestration pipeline projects delayed, ethanol producers are finding—and adding—carbon utilization technology platforms of all kinds.  

How CCU Platforms Stack Up

How CCU Platforms Stack Up

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