Red Trail Energy LLC (RTE) and carbon crediting platform Puro.earth announced the issuance of RTE’s CO2 removal credits on the Puro Registry on March 6, making RTE the first ethanol production facility to generate CO2 removal certificates (CORCs) in the voluntary carbon market.

RTE captures CO2 from the ethanol fermentation process at its 64 MMgal/year corn ethanol production facility and stores it in a permitted underground Class VI well 6,500 ft beneath its facility.

Carbon removal credits are generated through bioenergy with carbon capture and storage from ethanol production in compliance with Puro’s geologically stored carbon methodology. Carbon removal will be available as CORCs to help buyers complement their emission reduction activities in pursuit of net-zero targets.

Under the guidance of Puro.earth and clean energy advisory firm EcoEngineers, RTE was issued more than 150,000 CO2 removal certificates from the first 14 months of CCS operation. Prior to the issuance of the certificates, RTE underwent independent verification and successfully met all requirements of feedstock sustainability, carbon sequestration permanence and financial additionality.