CO2 shortage: Freight gets a fright, better diversity of supply needed now, National says

The decommissioning of the Marsden Point refinery, in Whangārei, left Kapuni as the sole domestic liquid CO2 supplier. Photo / NZME

It’s not just brewers and beer drinkers getting anxious about the liquid carbon dioxide shortage.

National’s energy and resources spokesman Stuart Smith said high-value exporters and various local food producers were concerned about the Kapuni CO2 plant’s temporary closure.

He said the Taranaki plant’s closure had combined with global CO2 shortages and the Marsden Point overhaul to make the country vulnerable.

“I’m hearing more from freight forwarders,” Smith said today. “We’re getting really short.”

The CO2 is used in food packaging, soft drinks, beer, hospitals, and animal slaughter.

Smith said cheese and yoghurt producers also used the product, and people in these sectors had voiced concerns to him.

“Then we’ve got other high-end exports: Meat and fish.”

Since Marsden Pt ceased refining, Todd Energy’s Kapuni plant in Taranaki has been the only domestic producer of food-grade CO2.

“We’re all crossing our fingers and hoping they can get their plant back online,” Smith said.

Todd has not disclosed precisely why it shut the plant down.

“They have a failure, something failed and they’re looking to rectify that. But they’re not sure what has failed, that’s the problem,” Smith added.

He said the Government sat on its hands when warnings about ending refining at Marsden Pt were raised.

“What you need is a diversity of supply.”

He said New Zealand was dependent on imports now but it was often a low-priority market for overseas producers.

“Mostly it’s been about the core sectors that are impacted, anyone that needs CO2 to drive some of their production processes,” BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope told the Herald today.

He said there did not seem to be a widespread belief supplies would run out completely.

“My understanding is it’s more about temporary shortages and again, the knock-on effect that has on delays.”

Briefing notes in late 2021 said ending refining at Marsden Pt in Whangārei would impact liquid CO2 supplies.

Megan Woods, Minister of Energy and Resources, told her colleagues closing the refinery would challenge the CO2 supply chain.

Warnings about CO2 shortages surfaced last year as well, and were implicated in a chicken nugget shortage last July.

F+B Tech magazine in June last year said over-reliance on Kapuni could jeopardise availability of cheese, preserved meats, sparkling beverages and ready-to-eat meals.

Overseas, CO2 shortages were reported in the United States last year.

Ammonia plant closures for maintenance and contamination of a Mississippi deposit were partly blamed, but Chemical & Engineering News said the biggest cause was simply demand outstripping supply.

The Compressed Gas Association said liquid CO2 was used also in fire extinguishing, freezing and chilling food products, water treatment, testing aviation components, and controlling chemical reactions.

Solid carbon dioxide, known as dry ice, was used in vaccine cooling, food chilling and freezing, blood and tissue sample preservation, heat treating of metals, and for special effects in stage productions.