Praxair Inc. is constructing an industrial gas facility at Osage Bio Energy’s Appomattox Bio Energy ethanol plant near Hopewell, Va., and has signed a 15-year contract with Osage to purchase CO2 from the plant. The 65 MMgy barley-to-ethanol Appomattox plant is scheduled to come online in August. The Praxair plant is expected to become operational by the end of 2011. When the project is complete, Praxair will capture 190,000 tons of CO2 annually from fermenters at the Appomattox plant, and will use it to produce 450 tons per day of CO2 for use in food processing and beverage applications. Praxair expects the project to cost more than $15 million.
Osage is not the first producer to allow a Praxair CO2 facility to be co-located with an ethanol plant. Praxair said it uses other ethanol producers as feedstock sources, but couldn’t release details due to confidentiality agreements. Converting CO2 from a waste product into a co-product provides ethanol producers with another revenue source. Osage confirmed that economics were the driving factor in its partnering with Praxair, but declined to release details regarding the price it will be paid for CO2.
“Biogenic carbon dioxide from our fermentation process is a wonderful source for food grade applications,” said Craig Shealy, president and CEO of Osage Bio Energy. “Praxair is a top-tier industrial gas company, and we are excited to work with them to co-locate a plant on our site.”
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The Appomattox plant will be the first commercial-scale barley-based ethanol plant in the U.S. and Osage has been working for years to develop a market for barley in the Mid-Atlantic to be used for ethanol production. The plant’s strategic location is what attracted Praxair, according to company officials, who said Praxair has a growing customer base in the Mid-Atlantic.