THE BIOMASS BOTTLENECK

This pilot project is about to complete its three-year trial as a novel way to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while providing a viable commercial product that pays the bill. The CO2 is soaked up by the corn plants as they grow; injecting the gas into the sandstone permanently stores it. But the use of corn for fuel, which accelerated in the U.S. in the 2000s, is controversial. Corn could feed people and livestock; growing plants for biofuel takes land that could otherwise be used to grow crops. Burning ethanol in cars produces new CO2 emissions, as does harvesting and trucking the corn. Fermenting, pipelining and injecting all require energy that, in the Midwest at least, may come from fossil fuels. It is unclear whether corn-based ethanol can yield even a small net reduction in atmospheric CO2- The Decatur plant is one example of a suite of processes known as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, or BECCS. Although the facility uses grains, most techniques target woody plants, including trees, shrubs and grasses, which are converted into liquid fuels or burned to create electricity. The emissions from those activities could be sequestered underground or collected and sold as a raw material primarily for chemical plants or to pump into stubborn oil deposits to force out more oil.