Green Plains Launches Carbon Capture at Nebraska Biofuel Refineries
Biofuels refining company Green Plains has started up operations of the carbon capture and storage (CCS) equipment at its biofuels refinery facility in York, Nebraska.
The CCS equipment delivers biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) to the Tallgrass Trailblazer pipeline for permanent sequestration. Green Plains also plans to bring other CCS systems online at its Central City and Wood River facilities in Nebraska by the end of the year.
“Bringing carbon capture online at York reflects the continued progress we’re making in executing our carbon strategy,” Green Plains CEO Chris Osowski said in a statement. “It’s the result of strong planning, disciplined execution, and a team-wide focus on optimizing every part of the platform to create long-term value.”
Green Plains has been producing biofuels from corn since 2007. In addition to the York refinery, the company has nine biorefineries in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.
Platform capacity companywide is to convert more than 300 million bushels of corn into nearly 1 billion gallons of biofuel ethanol, 290 million pounds of renewable corn oil and 2.5 million tons of distillers grains and ultra-high protein.
Green Plains quotes the U.S. Department of Agriculture in reporting that every gallon of biofuel produced reduces greenhouse gas emissions 43% compared to a gallon of conventional gasoline.
On the carbon capture side, the company’s Advantage Nebraska plan aims to reduce and remove emissions from the 287 million gallons of ethanol produced annually at York, Central City and Wood River.
Green Plains is in partnership with Summit Carbon Solutions to transport CO2 from biofuel producers to the CCS system capable of moving up to 18 million metric tons of compressed CO2 per year. Destination for the CO2 is long-term geologic storage in North Dakota.
About the Author
Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor
Managing Editor
For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
Rod Walton has spent 17 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.
Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.
EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.