Partnership to Use Low-Carbon Fertilizer in Corn Fields to Make Greener Ethanol

DEERFIELD, Ill. — CF Industries Holdings, the world’s largest producer of ammonia, and biofuel giant POET LLC are collaborating on a pilot project aimed at showing that the use of low-carbon ammonia fertilizer can significantly reduce the carbon intensity of corn production and ethanol.

With low-carbon fuel standards growing ever more stringent, demand for ethanol with a lower carbon intensity than is currently available is expected to increase significantly.

Ammonia is commonly used as a direct application fertilizer for U.S. corn production, but the conventional ammonia production process is emissions intensive. 

As a result, representatives of the joint venture said, ammonia production is a significant contributor to the lifecycle carbon intensity of corn production and thus ethanol production. 

They contend that producing ethanol with corn grown using low-carbon ammonia can reduce the carbon intensity of ethanol up to 10%. 

The companies are targeting the fall of 2024 for the first applications of low-carbon ammonia with subsequent applications in spring of 2025, to produce a first crop to be harvested in the fall of 2025.

“Fertilizers manufactured with a lower carbon intensity provide a quantifiable and certifiable method of decarbonizing bioethanol inputs,” said Bert Frost, executive vice president, sales, supply chain and market development, CF Industries, in a written statement.

“We look forward to demonstrating these benefits not just for ethanol production but for corn growers as well,” Frost said.

The companies intend to jointly develop a low-carbon fertilizer supply chain to track, validate and certify carbon intensity reduction originating from low-carbon ammonia manufacturing at CF Industries’ Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana, through ethanol production at POET’s locations in Bingham Lake, Minnesota; Emmetsburg, Iowa; Fairmont, Nebraska; and North Manchester, Indiana.

This includes implementing supply plans with fertilizer retailers serving farms that supply corn to these POET bioprocessing plants and developing monetization opportunities for farmers who use this low-carbon fertilizer. 

For the demonstration project’s fall 2024 and spring 2025 low-carbon ammonia applications, the companies will leverage green ammonia produced at CF Industries’ Donaldsonville Complex. 

Green ammonia refers to ammonia produced with hydrogen sourced from an electrolysis-based production process that produces no carbon dioxide emissions but is otherwise identical to commodity ammonia. 

CF Industries recently completed installation of a 20MW electrolyzer at its Donaldsonville Complex, and company officials said the start-up of the electrolyzer is imminent.

They said the company also intends to purchase renewable energy certificates to pair with the start-up to enable green ammonia production. 

CF Industries will have additional low-carbon ammonia at the Donaldsonville Complex beginning in 2025 when a large-scale carbon capture and sequestration project at the facility commences. 

Christian Mcilvain, president of POET Grain, said the partnership with CF Industries is a continuation of his company’s longstanding commitment to bringing new value to its producers.

“We want to prepare and educate our corn producers on the realities of the impact of the carbon in their grain. This initiative not only gives producers a low-carbon ammonia option but also provides the opportunity to educate them on their farm’s carbon score and what that could mean for their grain value,” Mcilvain said.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue