Carbon dioxide or CO2, a byproduct of ethanol, has several uses: refrigeration, fire extinguishers, foaming rubber and plastics, meat processing, sodapop, and hard seltzers, for example.
National headlines scream a CO2 shortage in some areas in the U.S. In Wisconsin, CO2 production is strong, but there are some transportation problems causing delays in getting the final product to the customer.
Neal Kemmet, president of Ace Ethanol, says ethanol plants are keeping up with CO2 demand in the Midwest. When supply is tight, it’s because plants had down time, such as for cleaning or when ethanol demand is low. For example, ethanol plants reduced hours or went offline during the height of the pandemic when travel was low.
Travel has since picked back up as well as our ethanol plants.
In other ethanol news, Kemmet praises the new agricultural maritime export facility in Port Milwaukee to be finished in 2023. The first phase of The DeLong Company’s facility will be to export Dried Distillers Grains or DDGs to new markets overseas.
