INSIGHT: Startup developing carbon-capture tech, eyes oil’s CO2 demand

HOUSTON (ICIS)–A startup company expects demand for carbon dioxide (CO2) from enhanced oil recovery and other uses could exceed supplies of the gas, opening an opportunity for the firm’s carbon-capture units, which forego solvents to capture the gas from the atmosphere.

• Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in the US consumed 1.9 billion cubic feet/day of CO2 in 2022 to produce 245,000 bbl/day of crude, according to the consultancy Advanced Resources International, implying that each barrel required 7,755 cubic feet or 2.5 tonnes of CO2.
• The start-up company, Carbon Capture & Commercialization, expects a shortage of CO2 given its use in oil production and depletion from natural reservoirs. Companies like Occidental Petroleum are already turning to direct air capture (DAC) to secure supplies of the gas for EOR.
• Carbon Capture estimates that its units will be able to capture CO2 from the atmosphere at a cost of $100/tonne.

The company does not plan on operating the units and selling the CO2, said Sam Adams, managing director at Carbon Capture. He talked about the company in an interview with ICIS. Instead, Carbon Capture intends to sell or lease the units and leave the business of capturing CO2 to another company.

THE CO2 SHORTAGE
Carbon Capture is betting that US oil producers will require new sources of CO2 to replace supplies from natural underground reservoirs.

Natural sources accounted for more than three-quarters of the CO2 used in enhanced oil recovery in 2022, according to the consultancy Advanced Resources International.

The following shows the principal natural reservoirs that supply CO2 for EOR:

• McElmo Dome in Colorado state.
• Jackson Dome in Mississippi state.
• Bravo Dome in New Mexico state.
• Doe Canyon in Colorado state.
• Sheep Mountain in Colorado state.

Source: Advanced Resources International

Kinder Morgan says it is the largest CO2 transporter in North America, with shipments of 1.5 billion cubic feet/day. Other large players in the CO2 market include ExxonMobil, which increased its role with the 2023 acquisition of Denbury, and Occidental Petroleum.

Occidental Petroleum has already realized that it would run out of CO2 if it wanted to develop an additional 2 billion bbl of oil in the Permian basin, CEO Vicki Hollub said in 2022 at the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference.

That impending shortage is what initially compelled Occidental to pursue direct air capture. Developing more natural sources was not worth the cost, according to Hollub.

Other oil and gas producers could face the same constraints in the next few decades, according to Global Energy Monitor, a non-profit organization that monitors energy projects with the intent to promote decarbonization. It said most estimates point to the US running out of natural CO2 by mid-century.

Before such shortages take place, oil producers will need to operate wells that could benefit from EOR. Developing new reservoirs of natural CO2 will need to be prohibitively expensive. And other sources of CO2, such as natural gas processing plants or ethanol plants, will need to be insufficient to meet demand.

OTHER MARKETS FOR CO2
While EOR is the most significant market for CO2, it is not the only one.

Concrete is another one as well as older buildings, said Adams of Carbon Capture.

Many of these older buildings will be unable to meet new greenhouse gas regulations without prohibitively expensive upgrades. Modular carbon-capture units could allow these buildings to satisfy regulations, including those mandating net-zero CO2 emissions.

Carbon Capture cited also greenhouses.

Some polyols are made with CO2, and other CO2-based products could become commercialized if producers could secure a pure, low-cost and reliable source of the gas.

If algae-based chemical and fuel production ever reaches a large enough scale, these operations could require CO2.

If fertilizer producers want to convert green ammonia into urea, they will need a source of CO2.

If e-fuels and e-chemicals take off, these would require a source of CO2 to react with green hydrogen.

Cold storage and carbonation in the food and beverage market are well established markets, although they would require food-grade CO2.

CO2’S JOURNEY FROM TRASH TO TREASURE
To speed up CO2’s transition into a commodity, production costs will have to decline.

The current ethanolamines-based process used in carbon capture is not cheap because of the costs involved in releasing the CO2 from the solvents, Adams said.

Those carbon-capture costs can be $900/tonne, according to Adams. The World Economic Forum (WEF) places the cost of direct air capture at $600-1,000/tonne.

That compares with $100/tonne that Carbon Capture expects that it can achieve with its technology.

CCC DITCHES SOLVENTS FOR GRAPHENE INK
Carbon Capture’s technology is avoiding the costs inherent in solvent-based DAC by relying on ceramic beads coated with plasma-functionalized graphene ink, Adams said.

When it is time to release the CO2, a current is passed over a stack of the beads, heating them to 100-120 degrees Celsius, Adams said. It can take up to an hour to regenerate the beads and release the captured CO2. In all, the system consumes 100kWh/tonne of CO2, Adams said.

So far, the company’s beads have gone through 20 regeneration cycles without any significant degradation, Adams said.

However, the graphene-based ink will degrade if it is overheated, and that limits how many watts can go through a single system and how large that system can be. Larger systems take longer to regenerate.

To work around this constraint, Carbon Capture installs the systems in shipping containers that are up to 40 feet, according to Adams. A 40-foot unit could capture 1,500 tonnes/year in an urban setting. At full production, that could reach 1,800-1,850 tonnes/year. Regeneration times take 45-60 minutes for a 40-foot container.

The ceramic beads would be contained in a cartridge, Adams said. These can be collected from the units and shipped to a central location, where the beads could be regenerated and the CO2 is extracted.

WORKING ON SERIES A FUNDING
These are still early days for Carbon Capture’s technology.

The company is working on starting its Series A funding, with an initial tranche of $2 million, Adams said. If Carbon Capture can close that first tranche, it could develop a pilot plant in the subsequent six to nine months.

The company does have a prototype, and Adams uses technology readiness levels (TRL) to measure the technology’s. On a scale from 1 to 9, the carbon capture capabilities are at TRL7, while the release is at TRL3, he said.

Still, Carbon Capture’s thesis for future commodity market for CO2 holds true, then the oil industry will need to find a source for the gas if it intends to continue EOR. The future of carbon capture could depend on continued oil production.

Insight by Al Greenwood