Carbon capture, utilisation and sequestration company, 1PointFive – a subsidiary of Occidental – have announced that they have leased more than 55,000 acres along the Texas Gulf Coast to develop a carbon capture and sequestration hub with the capacity to hold approximately 1.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) – reportedly the world’s first large-scale direct air capture plant.
The Bluebonnet Hub is located in Chambers, Liberty and Jefferson counties near refineries, chemical plants and manufacturing facilities along the Gulf Coast from Beaumont to Houston. The hub, which is expected to be operational in 2026, will provide for CO2 captured off-site to be securely stored in saline formations that are not associated with oil and gas production.
1PointFive has completed drilling a stratigraphic test well and subsurface assessment to characterise the site’s ability to securely store CO2 and expects to apply for two Class VI permits in 2023. 1PointFive and a subsidiary of Enterprise Products Partners L.P. are furthering the development of a CO2 transportation solution to gather CO2 from regional emitters and deliver to 1PointFive’s hub.
“We are progressing our plans to build sequestration hubs that will provide a solution for carbon intensive industries to help reduce their emissions,” said Jeff Alvarez, president, 1PointFive Sequestration. “This hub is located between two of the largest industrial corridors in Texas so captured CO2 can be efficiently transported and safely sequestered. Rather than starting from scratch with individual capture and sequestration projects, companies can plug into this hub for access to shared carbon infrastructure.”
Siemens Energy will supply a motor-driven 13,000 horsepower (hp) fully modular wet gas compressor package and a motor-driven 8,500 hp dry gas compressor for the DAC plant. The equipment will compress the captured CO2 for additional processing and pressurise the final product into a pipeline for injection into underground reservoirs.
Commenting on the collaboration, Siemens Energy president and CEO, Christian Bruch, said: “We are honored to be part of such an important project. Technologies to effectively capture and sequester CO2 will be a necessity if we want to achieve our climate goals. Close partnerships with partners like Occidental are the base to scale up innovative solutions.”
According to Siemens Energy, policy incentives, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, are accelerating DAC technology as a climate solution to help organisations reduce their CO2 emissions.
