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Ethanol producers gather in NOLA to discuss new opportunities

Ethanol producers are talking about new opportunities for the renewable fuels industry. 

Jeanne McCaherty with Guardian Energy says, “I’m very excited about the ethanol industry. I think we’ve got more opportunities than we’ve ever had.”

McCaherty tells Brownfield being able to drive ethanol to lower and lower carbon intensities just opened up a whole new market opportunity for the industry beyond fuel. “Now you have people that are trying to make lower carbon-intense plastics, packaging, you know, a lot of different raw materials, whether it’s methanol, sustainable airline fluids, and ethanol is a great raw material to start with that and make that happen.”

And McCaherty says just like fuel, the other products are renewable and environmentally friendly. “If you look at our carbon, we reuse it every year and we pull CO2 out of the air so that helps the environment. We sequester carbon in the earth in our corn. Then we make new chemicals and start all over again next year so that’s the definition of renewable and we’re right in the heart of it.”

McCaherty says many of the new market opportunities are old technology with a new flair thanks to ethanol.

Brownfield interviewed McCaherty during the National Ethanol Conference in New Orleans.