At the moment, the $210Macquisition includes existing CCS assets and this comes with a total sequestration capacity of 1M tonnes every year, along with an ethanol production facility.

Since 2022 this CCS site has been in operation and right now it is capturing 160,000 metric tons of carbon on a yearly basis. At the same time, this site is also generating monetizable tax credits which fall under section 45Q of the tax code. Currently this plant has a long and excellent history of safe and reliable operations and Gevo’s plans for this site involve keeping the employees that are working the plant and CCS well.

The hope is that the site will be used for Gevo’s own fuel and chemical products, as well as energy production, whilst it also provides carbon sequestration expansion potential for more than five times the current operations using the available pore space and wellhead capacity.

A large benefit of this site being one of the few operating CCS sites in the country with a large capacity, is that it makes it possible to enable the future production of clean energy and steam. This is significant because it is the production of clean energy and steam that leads to the creation of net-zero fuels and chemicals. Furthermore, these two ingredients also provides opportunities to reach Net-Zero 1, if that is what is required.

Right now Gevo has laid out its plans which involve continuing to operate the Red Trail Energy facility, whilst also integrating Gevo’s proprietary solutions. Doing this further enhances the plant’s efficiency sustainability and finally the ability to further reduce the ethanol CI.

Gevo stated that, ‘the acquisition expands the platform for future alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at the site with existing low-carbon ethanol supply and CCS. Gevo expects to expand the site to include net-zero SAF production, using the low-carbon ethanol combined with clean energy.’

Gevo CEO, Dr. Patrick Gruber, commented, “We accomplish several things with this investment. It immediately puts us on a path to becoming self-sustaining and profitable as a company in advance of our Net-Zero 1 project’s commercial operation. Not only are we securing an excellent site for additional SAF asset deployment, but we also mitigate risk around carbon sequestration regarding our Net-Zero 1 plant site in South Dakota. This acquisition gives us the opportunity to build capability as a company and is a terrific training ground for our Net-Zero 1 project, as we inherit a trained cadre of employees who understand plant operations. Carbon abatement for fuels and chemicals is core to our business. This acquisition enables immediate market development for sequestered carbon. We expect our ownership of these assets to generate significant near-term and long-term value for our shareholders, while adding new jobs and economic growth to rural communities in the region.”