The Carbon Dioxide Industry: A Merchant & Sequestration Perspective Today

The global merchant CO2 industry represents around 22 million metric tons of consumption annually; of which the US is in excess of 40% of this grand total. To follow in tonnage, would be Europe, then Japan. Let’s say the merchant CO2 industry in the US is slightly over 9 million tons annually. The ethanol industry accounts for the highest percentage of merchant CO2 supply to adjacent refining plants, than any other sectors; approximately 45% of the approximate 110 merchant CO2 sources which have CO2 liquefaction/purification plants alongside these ethanol facilities. Virtually all the CO2 from the merchant CO2 plants is liquefied and purified to a beverage grade standard; where the assumption is that all grades of product would be well covered when producing beverage grade. These plants generally do not include facilities which recover for EOR (enhanced oil recovery), nearby feedstock requirements via pipeline; or more modern day sequestration operations which are also delivered via pipeline – however on sequestration, this is now evolving…