Carbon Capture Costs: FEED & pre-FEED Cost Reports

Electricore Inc., with Svante Inc. and Kiewit Engineering Group Inc., is conducting a pre-FEED study for a 1 million tonnes/year VeloxoTherm™ carbon capture system at LafargeHolcim’s cement plant in Florence, Colorado. The system will capture CO₂ from both kiln flue gas (14% concentration) and a natural gas-fired steam generator (8.5% concentration), with storage options including saline formations, depleted oil reservoirs, and the Sheep Mountain CO₂ reservoir. The study will also evaluate expansion to 2 million tonnes/year and target DOE’s $30/tonne capture cost goal, progressing from design selection (FEL-1) to pre-FEED engineering (FEL-2).

Scope starts with the receipt of natural gas and fuel gas mixture from the existing Plant 01 and Plant 09 source and terminates with hydrogen (H₂) at the required specification and conditions to be used as fuel in the existing SMR unit. High concentration CO₂ from the ATR is captured and H₂ production from the proposed facility will replace the fuel gas feed to the primary reformer for heating. The facility capacity is based on the heating duty required to replace the current fuel source. The scope for the study involves the new ATR unit and associated downstream shift, CO₂ capture, and syngas purification unit. The project scope also includes an ASU to supply oxygen to the ATR unit.

Membrane Technology & Research Inc., with Sargent & Lundy and CEMEX, is designing a full-scale Polaris membrane CO₂ capture system for the CEMEX Balcones cement plant in New Braunfels, Texas, targeting about 1 million tonnes of CO₂ capture annually. The study will develop the design basis, process design, cost estimates, permitting and safety reviews, constructability assessment, and a techno-economic analysis. Sargent & Lundy will lead the design work, while CEMEX will provide site-specific data for integration.