Pipeline setbacks have eyes on alternatives

With S.D. resistant to carbon sequestration projects, ethanol industry could have other options

As new uses for carbon dioxide from ethanol plants emerge, CapCO2 is partnering with a Adkins Energy plant in Lena, Ill., to produce green methanol. Photo courtesy of Adkins Energy.

Burying thousands of miles of pipelines leading to underground storage facilities for carbon dioxide emissions just doesn’t make sense to Jeff Bonar.

Of course, he has a dog in the fight.

Bonar is the chief executive officer of CapCO2. And to him, a better use of carbon dioxide emitted by ethanol plants is to convert it into green methanol, which is already being used as a replacement to diesel fuel. The green methanol industry doesn’t need tons of infrastructure across private property like carbon sequestration pipelines require, he said.

Green methanol became a topic of discussion at a Brown County Commission meeting earlier this summer. That’s when Jared Bossly, a prime local opponent to Summit Carbon Solutions’ plan to build a carbon sequestration pipeline, broached the topic.

The pipeline would enter Brown County to attach to an ethanol plant on the west side of Aberdeen. Plans called for it to cross Bossly’s property.

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