It’s been a tough couple of months for developers of large-scale, multi-state carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects, which have been stung by widespread public opposition and often hamstrung by state and local regulations. But while those factors helped lead one developer to pull the plug on its project and another to push back its schedule by a couple of years, that’s not to say there isn’t a path forward for some projects. In today’s RBN blog, we examine why Wolf Carbon Solutions’ targeted approach and a pipeline conversion by Tallgrass Energy could be the most likely CCS projects to reach operational status.
RBN’s U.S. Gulf Coast Hydrogen Infrastructure Map lays out the pipelines and merchant hydrogen plants that make up the gulf coast market, providing an unprecedented snapshot of the region’s hydrogen infrastructure network.
Ethanol plants have long been an obvious choice for carbon capture, given that the carbon dioxide (CO2) resulting from ethanol fermentation is highly concentrated, which makes capturing it more efficient (and less expensive) compared to many other industrial processes. In turn, a lot of ethanol producers see carbon capture as a way to lower their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and help ensure their own long-term viability in a decarbonizing world while also reaping some of the benefits from the federal government’s 45Q tax credit for CO2 sequestration, which was significantly enhanced in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
That was the strategy behind Heartland Greenway (dashed green line in Figure 1 below), a Navigator CO2 Ventures project that we first wrote about back a couple of years ago. It would have helped dozens of ethanol plants across five states (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota) finance and construct their CO₂ capture equipment; transported the captured CO₂ over a newly built, 1,300-mile-plus pipeline network; and permanently sequestered up to 15 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa; 792 MMcf/d) of CO2 at a series of Class VI wells in south-central Illinois (gray oval at bottom right of Figure 1). But Navigator pulled the plug on Heartland Greenway in October in the face of public opposition, difficulties in acquiring the rights-of-way needed to build the pipeline, and the “unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government process involved.”
Figure 1. Canceled and Planned Greenfield CO2 Pipeline Projects. Source: RBN
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About the song
“End Game” was written by Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback, Ed Sheeran, and Future. It appears as the second song on Taylor Swift’s sixth studio album, Reputation. It is a pop/rap song with an R&B feel about finding love amid bad reputations. It features vocal appearances with Future and Ed Sheeran. Released as a single in November 2017, it went to #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. It has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Personnel on the record were: Taylor Swift (vocals), Ed Sheeran (vocals), Future (vocals), Ilya, Sam Holland, Michael Ilbert, Seth Ferkins, Cory Bice, Jeremy Lertola, Sean Flora, Peter Karlsson, Mike Synphony, Daniel Watson, Laura Sisk, Noah Passovoy, Serban Ghenea, John Haynes, Max Martin, and Shellback (programming, sampling, engineering).
Reputation was recorded in 2017 at Conway Recording in Los Angeles, MXM in Stockholm, Rough Customer in Brooklyn, Seismic Activities in Portland, and Tree Sound in Atlanta. It was produced by Taylor Swift, Max Martin, Shellback, Jack Antonoff, Ali Payami, Oscar Gorres, and Oscar Holter. Released in November 2017, it went to #1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and has been certified 3x platinum by the RIAA. Six singles were released from the LP.
Taylor Swift is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. She began her professional career as a songwriter at the age of 14, signing with Big Machine Records in 2005. She has released 10 studio albums, four live albums, 24 compilation albums, five EPs, and 61 singles. Swift has sold more than 200 million records worldwide and is the highest-grossing female artist of all time. She has won 40 American Music Awards, eight ACM Awards, 39 Billboard Music Awards, two Brit Awards, 12 CMA Awards, 12 Grammy Awards, 23 MTV Video Music Awards, and is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She continues to record and perform and will begin an international tour in February 2024. She likes to spend her off time watching Kansas City Chiefs football games.
