Enhancing Biomass Project Economics with CO2 Market Opportunities

The U.S. merchant CO2 industry represents well over 20 million metric tons of consumption among a wide range of applications far beyond the obvious such as beverage carbonation, firefighting and chilling with dry ice. In fact, the lion’s share of usage has been dedicated to cryogenic freezing, chilling and gas flush applications in food processing, primarily for most forms of meat and vegetable-based perishables. Next in large market demand beyond food processing is usage in dry ice pressing and chilling, then beverage carbonation and an ever-growing variety of industrial uses, many of which are green in nature. This demand is what is typically found in developed world markets. In developing countries, the majority of CO2 is used for beverage carbonation, cylinder gas usage and a nascent demand in food applications.

The CO2 industry would benefit very well from biomass sources in many markets, and this need is stronger than ever due to existing and potential loss of the usual types of supply. One particular concern today is the potential loss of CO2 byproduct availability from the ethanol industry, which represents over 40% of all raw gas supplies to the merchant markets…