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.

Analysis sets the design and cost-estimating basis for evaluating pulp and board mills with and without CCS. Two base cases are considered: a market pulp mill and an integrated pulp and board mill. Six CCS cases are evaluated, capturing CO₂ from the recovery boiler, multi-fuel boiler, lime kiln, or their combinations. The mills are assumed to be energy independent, with black liquor and bark burned to produce steam and electricity, and excess electricity exported to the grid. The CO₂ capture system uses post-combustion MEA technology with a 90% capture rate, and if on-site electricity is insufficient, an auxiliary boiler firing forest residues will supply the additional energy. Capture of CO2 in both Kraft Boiler & Lime Kiln

Phillips 66, with Worley Group Inc., is developing the initial design for a commercial-scale CCS system at the Rodeo Refinery hydrogen plant, targeting over 90% capture efficiency and storage of about 190,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually. The project will evaluate three capture configurations—flue gas plus PSA tail gas, syngas plus flue gas, and flue gas only—selecting the most cost-effective option through a techno-economic analysis. The chosen design will be advanced to a level suitable for the next engineering phase, concluding with a final TEA for the selected CCS configuration.