Building a Sustainable Fuel Industry
Cobalt provides the leadership and foresight required to create truly sustainable biofuel solutions. We are developing technologies and approaches that incorporate the requirements of farms, watersheds, and communities as well as the markets.
By addressing the needs of our stakeholders, from farmers and suppliers to local communities and consumers, we are creating viable economic models that invigorate rural economies, minimize pollution and create demand for clean transportation fuels.
Closed Loop Production
Cobalt’s closed loop approach closely monitors inputs as well as byproducts at all stages of the fuel production process and assesses their long-term environmental and economic impacts. Cobalt’s closed loop analysis is a necessity when producing new fuels for a clean energy world. Cobalt is firm in its belief that reducing the environmental impact will dramatically improve economics in the long run.
Crop and Soil Sustainability
Long ago farmers learned that successively planting the same crops depletes nutrients from the soil. For centuries, sustainable soil practices included rotating crops to maintain soil fecundity.
Cobalt is dedicated to sustaining soil quality, in order to support agricultural communities and biofuel production over time.
A biofuel industry that relies on a single crop breaks this conventional wisdom and increases the need for fertilizers and soil fortifiers. Cobalt’s concern for soil sustainability led to the concept of designing facilities that process a diversity of feedstocks. The ability to process a range of plant materials allows farmers to rotate their crops, helping preserve the soil over time. The ability to process a range of non-food crops ensures that we have an abundant supply of feedstock and avoids the risks associated with single-crop dependence.
Invigorate Rural Economies
Cobalt’s ability to tailor biofuel production to local crops extends biofuel opportunities to a broader swath of rural America. By processing a diverse range of local crops, Cobalt expands the biofuel revolution to additional rural economies. Cobalt’s work with local agricultural communities is building sustainable partnerships which, in turn, lead to better products.
Sustainable Water Use
In a typical fuel alcohol production process, five or more gallons of water are required to produce a single gallon of biofuel. As a first step toward water sustainability, Cobalt has developed technology that drastically reduces water consumption by capturing, filtering, and recycling effluent water back into the fermentation process. Rather than draining fresh water resources and dumping waste water, Cobalt is developing a closed loop approach toward water consumption.
By conserving and recycling water, Cobalt is helping to preserve local ecosystems and lighten the impact of biofuel production.
Reduced Carbon Footprint
From tilling to tailpipe, biobutanol has a carbon footprint 33% smaller than gasoline. Cobalt is committed to developing technology to further reduce the net carbon output of biobutanol production.
Market Sustainability
Cobalt knows that even the cleanest biofuels will not succeed commercially if they are not affordable. Furthermore, inexpensive biofuels will not solve today’s energy problems if the fuels are not produced in a sustainable process. Accordingly, Cobalt applies good environmental practices that minimize our environmental-footprint, create lasting supply chains and substantially reduce the cost of biobutanol.
By integrating biobutanol with locally-sourced sustainable crops, Cobalt ensures a healthy supply of low-cost feedstock material and a strong community to support our facilities. Through a continued focus on water technology, Cobalt is ensuring the availability of fresh water to support our communities, thus creating clean fuels for generations to come. Cobalt’s focus on carbon reduction will drive demand from climate-conscious consumers.
Cobalt believes good sustainability practices lead to good business practices.