The carbon capture technology developed by NET Energy and tested at its prototype natural gas power plant in La Porte, Texas, has caused quite a bit of discussion. The prototype plant uses a technology called Allam Cycle that uses the carbon dioxide that is belched into the atmosphere with conventional power plants to turn the turbines before being sequestered into the ground.
About a year ago, NET announced it would start to build commercial-size carbon capture plants, one of which is to be located near Odessa, Texas. The plant will run on natural gas extracted from the nearby Permian Basin. It will thus use fossil fuels to generate much-needed electricity without contributing to climate change and without relying on unreliable renewable energy, such as solar and wind.
Some of the carbon dioxide captured by the Odessa plant will be used to help extract more oil and gas from the ground that can be refined and used for power generation and other industries. NET also intends to use its carbon capture plants to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it into the ground.
Unfortunately, NET has run into problems that will delay the establishment of the Odessa plant to late 2027 or early 2028. For starters, the company has discovered that it has difficulties acquiring critical components necessary to build and operate the Odessa carbon capture plant. NET is being forced to set up a supply chain from scratch to construct the first plant and subsequent carbon capture power plants.
The cost of the project also has spiked to $1 billion. However, the company is confident that subsequent plants will be much quicker and cheaper to build and put into operation.
The development of this technology is vital. Carbon capture power plants have advantages that go beyond sequestering carbon dioxide and keeping it out of the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide has more uses besides extracting more fossil fuels from the ground. It can be used to create a variety of products that several companies are developing.
A company called Twelve, for example, would like to turn carbon dioxide into syngas by combining it with hydrogen. Syngas can be used to make fossil fuel-free jet fuel. Twelve has also explored ways to transform syngas into auto interiors, laundry detergent, and sunglasses lenses.
A running shoe company called On has been working on an idea to make parts of its shoes using a process that converts carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide and then to ethanol. That is converted to polymerizing ethylene, which is used to make the foam material for the shoes.
The Air Company, a New York-based startup, is making high-end products such as vodka and perfume using carbon dioxide. It uses a process that combines carbon dioxide with water and energy to create ethanol.
A Canadian company called Carbon Cure is injecting wet concrete with carbon dioxide. The process not only increases the strength of the concrete but reduces the amount of cement needed to make it.
Carbon dioxide even can be used to make food. Solar Foods makes a protein powder, while Air Protein makes a kind of fake meat from the greenhouse gas.
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No less an entrepreneur than Elon Musk is interested in using captured carbon dioxide to create rocket fuel. Musk is considering direct air capture, but he could also locate a NET carbon capture power plant at his Star Base launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas. As his ambitions include helping NASA return to the moon and establishing a settlement on Mars, Musk will need a lot of rocket fuel.
All of these companies need a lot of carbon dioxide with which to create their products, and NET could use some customers to sell its sequestered carbon dioxide to. The match, as the cliché goes, would seem to be made in heaven. Texas and the rest of the world would be able to use a new way to generate electricity without emitting greenhouse gases, with a fuel readily available. In turn, a whole host of startups would get a substance with which to create a myriad of products. And the United States would gain another means of energy dominance. That is the definition of win-win.
Mark Whittington, who frequently writes about space policy, has published a political study of space exploration titled Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon? as well as The Moon, Mars and Beyond, and, most recently, Why is America Going Back to the Moon? He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner. He is published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Hill, USA Today, the LA Times, and the Washington Post, among other venues.
