Poet ethanol facilities to join Summit carbon capture pipeline

Summit Carbon Solutions has announced a partnership with Poet, the world’s largest bioethanol producer, to connect 17 facilities to the Summit carbon capture and storage (CCS) pipeline project.

The partnership will incorporate Poet’s 12 facilities in Iowa and five facilities in South Dakota to the pipeline for the capture, transportation and storage of 4.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) annually.

“Poet is excited to partner with Summit Carbon Solutions on this historic project,” said Jeff Broin, founder and CEO of Poet, in a press release. “As the world seeks low-carbon energy solutions, carbon capture ensures that ag-based biofuels will remain competitive for decades to come. This is a tremendous opportunity to bring value to farmers, bioethanol producers, and rural communities and counties in participating states, and I believe it will unleash even more opportunities for ag and bioprocessing in the future.”

The five plants in South Dakota will be included in Summit’s upcoming state application. In September 2023, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission rejected the previous pipeline project proposal due to violations of county ordinances. 

Summit will file separate applications for the plants in Iowa. Summit’s final arguments to the Iowa Utilities Board over the pipeline’s permit were concluded earlier this month, with the board set to make a decision whether to approve the project. 

Poet initially partnered with Navigator CO2 on the now-defunct Heartland Greenway pipeline project for CCS from 18 of its ethanol plants. The Navigator CO2 project was canceled in October 2023, citing the “unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes involved” in South Dakota and Iowa, according to a press release from the company.