Views from the Cab

By David Tollefson, Columnist

In my column a week ago about my trip to the Big Iron farm show at West Fargo, N.D., I mentioned being in line for noon lunch with a nice young fellow who was with Summit Carbon Solutions.  

In exploring online more information about this forward-thinking solution for some of the world’s pollution problems, it is a complicated issue.  

North Dakota, of course, is one of the leading states producing crude oil for our part of the world. So, it makes sense that officials of the oil business are also part of the solution for the carbon dioxide problem.  

From Wikipedia comes a definition for Carbon Dioxide (CO2): “a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms, found in the gas state at room temperature.”

As mentioned above, Summit Carbon Solutions is the company preparing to build the mult- billion-dollar pipeline through several states, ending in western North Dakota where they will pump the CO2 a mile down into the ground for permanent storage.  

The company project strategy is “Summit Carbon Solutions seeks to lower the carbon intensity score of ethanol plants, increasing their competitiveness and profitability.”

On the Summit website is a “Facts” section:

*Ethanol is critical to the Midwest.  The industry contributes $50 billion to the gross domestic product of the United States every year, supports 400,000 jobs, and purchases approximately half of all the corn grown in the country.

*Agriculture remains at the heart of our U.S. economy. According to the USDA, corn production in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota alone provides a total value of nearly $38 billion.

*Summit Carbon Solutions will allow its ethanol plant partners to sell their product at a premium, in low carbon fuel standard markets, which will bring dollars back to local communities and shareholders in the Midwest.

*Low Carbon Fuel markets are expanding. California, the largest ethanol consuming state, and Canada, the largest U.S. ethanol export partner, have both adopted low carbon fuel standards that pay more for lower carbon fuels.

*Almost all gasoline-fueled vehicles on the road today can use ethanol blends (E10, E15, or E85).

*At our partner ethanol facilities, CO2 capture, dehydration and compressor equipment will be installed to capture CO2 emissions currently permitted and released.  CO2 capture, dehydration and compression is an established process that has already been deployed at more than 40 ethanol plants across the United States.

*CO2 lines of varying sizes (four to 24-inch nominal diameter) and pumpstations will safely transport CO2 from the ethanol plants to the sequestration sites in North Dakota.  There are already more than 5,000 miles of CO2 lines in the U.S., all of which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation. There have been zero fatalities or public injuries requiring hospitalization associated with CO2 lines over the past 20 years.

*Captured CO2 will be safely and permanently stored in geologic storage areas in North Dakota. Wells will be drilled over a mile below ground where CO2 can be safely stored based on the robust regulations and strict requirements put in place by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

In a related development, from the West Central Tribune in Willmar, comes a column dated last April 28, 2022:

From Grand Forks, ND

Minnkota Power Cooperative and Iowa-based Summit Carbon Solutions have signed a partnership agreement for an ambitious carbon dioxide storage plan in the state.

On Thursday, April 28, leaders of the two companies met at Minnkota’s Grand Forks facility for the event, which was attended by several local business leaders and state lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford. Leaders say the partnership agreement creates the chance to cooperate instead of compete on a goal they both desire – the reduction of carbon emissions, and the success of rural communities.

The agreement provides Summit access to Minnkota’s 100-million-ton underground CO2 storage facility near Center, North Dakota, which is the largest of the three permitted sites in the United States.  

Summit is planning to build 2,000 miles of pipeline in five states that will link dozens of ethanol plants, to transport and store CO2 underground in North Dakota.

Bruce Rastetter, Summit Agriculture Group CEO, said the project is beneficial to corn farmers, because it provides another opportunity for revenue. Corn sold to an ethanol plant yields the fuel, a byproduct (DDG’s or dried distillers grains used for animal feed), and CO2. Usually, that is released to the atmosphere, but therein is the benefit of the pipeline, to save the CO2 rather than add to the other pollutants from internal combustion engines.

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In conclusion, the Associated Press in a release of March 2, 2022, says “North Dakota’s biggest oil driller said Wednesday it will commit $250 million to help fund a proposed pipeline that would gather carbon dioxide produced by ethanol plants across the Midwest and pump it thousands of feet underground for permanent storage.”

“Continental Resources, headed by billionaire oil tycoon Harold Hamm, discussed the investment into Summit Carbon Solutions’ $4.5 billion pipeline at an ethanol plant in Casselton, in eastern North Dakota.”

“The pipeline system would extend 2,000 miles and could move up to 12 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. That’s equal to removing the annual carbon emissions of 2.6 million cars.”

Hamm told Associated Press that his company is looking at the pipeline project as more than an investment.

“We feel it’s the right thing to do at the right time,” Hamm said. “Carbon capture and storage is going to be more and more important every day as we go forward in America.”

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Please contact David Tollefson with thoughts or comments on this or future columns at: adtollef@hcinet.net