Frontier Infrastructure Holdings LLC, a portfolio company of Tailwater Capital and a leading developer of low-carbon infrastructure across the Mountain West and Texas, announced a strategic partnership with Gevo, Inc. and its Verity platform to deliver North America’s first fully integrated carbon management platform for ethanol producers. The collaboration provides end-to-end solutions from carbon capture through permanent sequestration and carbon dioxide removal and tax credit monetization.
At the heart of this collaboration is Frontier’s Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub in Wyoming, which houses the country’s deepest Class VI carbon storage well and nearly 100,000 acres of pore space. Gevo’s expertise in bioenergy carbon capture and storage (BECCS) and its Verity digital tracking platform will be key components of the partnership. Together with Union Pacific Railroad’s CO₂ transportation network, the platform will enable ethanol producers to access carbon management infrastructure without relying on pipelines.
“Our partnership with Gevo and Verity removes the key obstacles facing ethanol producers in managing carbon,” said Steven Lowenthal, Co-CEO of Frontier Infrastructure. “By combining rail-based transportation with proven sequestration and transparent tracking, we are helping facilities start capturing value from their CO₂ streams within 24 months, instead of waiting years for alternative solutions.”
A Major opportunity for the market
The new platform targets over 200 ethanol plants across North America, which collectively produce around 70 million tons of high-purity CO₂ each year. The rail-based infrastructure addresses a significant market gap, especially for the 60% of ethanol facilities located more than 50 miles from planned pipeline routes. For these facilities, the Frontier-Gevo solution offers the first commercially viable path to carbon management, allowing them to qualify for low-carbon fuel contracts and meet increasingly stringent sustainability requirements.
Notice to Proceed: Granger Carbon Terminal (GCT)
As part of this announcement, Frontier has issued a formal Notice to Proceed for the Granger Carbon Terminal (GCT), a key CO₂ transload facility that will connect rail and truck deliveries to the Sweetwater Hub’s CO₂ injection infrastructure. The first phase of GCT, set to be operational by 2027, will handle 500,000 metric tons of CO₂ annually, with the potential for future expansion up to 2 million tons depending on demand.
Leveraging Frontier’s existing infrastructure and its partnership with Union Pacific Railroad, the GCT facility will become the central hub for Frontier’s “Stack to Sequestration” CO₂-by-rail solution. Initial commitments from leading ethanol producers, such as Midwestern Renewable Energy (MRE), an existing Verity client, have already been secured.
“This partnership fundamentally transforms the economics and timeline for carbon management in the ethanol industry,” said Jim Jandain, CEO of Midwestern Renewable Energy. “With rail transportation, permanent sequestration, and Verity’s digital verification in one integrated package, we can go from decision to implementation in under 24 months. For MRE, this is all about securing our position in the low-carbon fuel market while the opportunity is still available.”
