By : Franyi Sarmiento, Ph.D., Inspenet, June 15, 2022
The American FS Bioenergía, the world’s largest producer of bioethanol from corn, continues to make progress in its objective of minimizing the carbon footprint of its operations in the production of biofuel and has just confirmed that it will build an underground storage facility in the new biorefinery that it plans in Brazil, to sequester and bury the carbon dioxide emissions resulting from such operations.
The warehouse will be located two kilometers deep in the third plant that FS Bioenergy is building in the country, in the prefecture of Lucas do Rio Verde (Mato Grosso), and the first for the multinational to process corn for biofuel in Brazil, according to statements made. by Daniel Costa, Vice President of the Group, on the Moneytimes economic portal.
The executive has not reported the investment that the construction of this CO capture warehouse will entail2, but it does depend on its capacity: 400,000 tons of carbon sequestration and storage, which will allow FS Bioenergía to reduce the emissions footprint of this plant by about 30 g CO2/MJ.
“Every time a liter of ethanol is used, carbon emissions are reduced by 80% compared to gasoline,” says Costa Lopes, ratifying the importance of this Brazilian energy matrix.
This new infrastructure is expected to be operational in 2024. It is expected that by 2023, the bioethanol plant will be installed, and it will cost 2.3 billion Brazilian reais. It will add another 585 million liters of ethanol per year to FS’s accounts, 1.40 billion/l from the last harvest, according to information collected by Moneytimes.
Brazil has set a production goal for corn-derived bioethanol, through its RenovaBio decarbonization program, of 10 billion liters by 2030. For the 22/23 campaign, this number should reach 4,200 million liters.
This material from the Renewable Energy portal was edited for clarity, style and length.