Ethanol Maker Valero Joins Massive Carbon Capture Project in Heart of Corn Country

Valero, the second-largest U.S. ethanol maker by market share, is joining a massive carbon-capture and storage project proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions in the heart of corn country, lending validity to the embattled scheme. 

After Poet, the world’s largest producer of biofuel, signed onto the project earlier this year, Valero has now agreed to transport CO2 from eight of its facilities through Summit Carbon Solution’s proposed $8 billion pipeline. Valero joining Poet now indicates that half of the corn ethanol industry in the U.S. will be involved in the project, which now would involve 57 plants across the upper U.S. Midwest region. 

Summit is proposing to build the pipeline through Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota, with the ability to carry 18.5 million metric tons of CO2 per year. Both Poet and Valero were previously a part of another similar project, however, due to regulatory challenges and push back from some farmers, it was abandoned in late 2023. 

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