The proposed $8 billion carbon dioxide pipeline project in the United States, led by Summit Carbon Solutions, has faced criticism for its potential environmental impact.
While the project aims to capture and store carbon emissions from ethanol plants, it may not fully address the issue of greenhouse gas emissions in the industry.
Summit’s proposed pipeline would capture carbon dioxide emitted during the fermentation process of ethanol production across five Midwestern states.
However, it would not capture carbon dioxide emitted by the fossil fuels used to power industrial equipment at ethanol plants.
This means that a significant portion of the plants’ total emissions would remain in the atmosphere.
Daniel Sanchez, an assistant professor at the University of California-Berkeley, emphasized that capturing carbon dioxide from industrial equipment is more expensive due to the higher concentration of natural gas used.
Separating carbon dioxide from water vapor and other gasses requires additional processes.
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While the pipeline project has the potential to capture and store millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, it represents a small fraction of the total greenhouse gas emissions from power plants in the United States.
Some critics argue that the project is a “drop in the bucket” and may not significantly impact overall climate change mitigation efforts.
To achieve net-negative emissions, ethanol plants would need to implement a combination of strategies, including replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, capturing and storing fermentation emissions, and adopting climate-smart farming practices.
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