NEORI Applauds Industrial Carbon Capture Project Milestone

Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz issued a conditional commitment to a $2 billion loan guarantee for the Lake Charles Methanol Project, LLC, which participates in the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative.

Lake Charles Methanol’s project on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana will produce methanol, hydrogen, and other chemicals from the gasification of petcoke, a waste product derived from the refining of heavy crude oil. It will beneficially capture the CO₂ produced for use in enhanced oil recovery, while storing the CO₂ geologically in the process. The project will result in increased domestic energy production, a reduction in total emissions, and the creation of good-paying jobs.

This announcement represents the first loan guarantee commitment by DOE for an advanced fossil energy project through the Department’s Loan Programs Office, which manages a multi-billion dollar portfolio of loans, loan guarantees and commitments.

Today’s announcement underscores continued important advances in carbon capture technology and the potential for further deployment at industrial facilities. While much attention has focused on capturing emissions from power plants, various carbon capture technologies have been successfully deployed for nearly a half century at commercial scale in the U.S. across a number of industrial sectors, including natural gas processing, industrial gasification, fertilizer production, fermentation of ethanol and, most recently, refinery hydrogen production.