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Tallgrass to capture CO2 from Nebraska ADM plant

An ethanol plant in Eastern Nebraska has agreed to transport its carbon dioxide to a future sequestration plant in Wyoming.

“Scott Prestidge, manager of corporate communications with Tallgrass, says the system will be able to capture 10 million tons of CO2 annually, with ADM utilizing a portion of the available capacity to help decarbonize the plant in Columbus.” “There’s going to be a great need for carbon capture and sequestration investments. There are a number of critical businesses and industries like power plants and biorefineries that are going to need those tools.”

The two companies announced last week that carbon dioxide will be transported through a former 400-mile natural gas pipeline to a sequestration hub in Eastern Wyoming.

Nebraska Farm Bureau President Mark McHargue tells Brownfield carbon capture helps increase sustainability for the state’s ag industry. “As far as producing an energy source for transportation when we look at running our equipment that agriculture certainly is a large energy user, if we can have a fuel out there that has a very low-carbon footprint that gives viability to the entire sector.”

He says ethanol plants may be forced to go offline without increased demand evolving technology. “We lose the distiller grain coming out of that. It really is a pretty big circle that we’re talking (about). It’s not that we’re going to wake up one day and we’re going to have another 50 cents on corn going into ethanol plants, but I think it’s going to be more of a situation where we’re going to have strong, viable ethanol plants.”

Tallgrass says project should be operational in 2024.

Scott Prestidge and Mark McHargue: