Carbon Capture Costs: FEED & pre-FEED Cost Reports

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.

Linde Inc., with Linde Engineering Americas, Linde Engineering Dresden, and Svante Inc., is completing an initial engineering design for a commercial-scale CO₂ capture plant at its steam methane reforming hydrogen facility in Port Arthur, Texas. Using Svante’s VeloxoTherm™ solid adsorbent technology, the system will capture about 1 million tonnes of CO₂ annually at ≥90% efficiency while producing 99.97% pure “blue” hydrogen. The design will include ISBL units for flue gas conditioning and CO₂ purification, OSBL components, and a techno-economic analysis of capture costs and hydrogen production economics.

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.