dac funding

DOE deploys more than $10M into Houston-related carbon capture projects

Four direct air capture projects with ties to Houston just received federal funding. Photo via Getty Images

Four carbon capture projects with ties to the Houston area have collectively received more than $10 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.

What follows is a funding rundown for the four direct air capture (DAC) projects. DAC pulls carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere at any location, while carbon capture generally is done where the emissions happen.

This funding announcement comes on the heels of a subsidiary of Houston-based Occidental receiving about $600 million from the Department of Energy (DOE) for establishment of a DAC hub in South Texas.

Western Regional Direct Air Hub

Houston-based Chevron New Energies, the low-carbon subsidiary of energy giant Chevron USA, is collecting nearly $5 million in funding — $3 million of it from the DOE — for a potential DAC hub in the Bakersfield, California, area.

Chevron says it plans to install equipment at its cogeneration plant in Central California’s San Joaquin Valley so it can inject and permanently store carbon dioxide emissions underground. This is Chevron’s first carbon capture and storage project.

A cogeneration plant produces several forms of energy from a single fuel source.

Last year, Chevron was the lead investor in a $381 million series E funding round for Svante, a Canada-based producer of carbon capture technology.

“Several carbon capture technologies exist today, and they all have important roles to play in addressing the diverse requirements of hard-to-avoid emissions,” Claude Letourneau, president and CEO of Svante, said in a June 2023 announcement about the Central California DAC hub.

Pelican-Gulf Coast Carbon Removal project

Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge has attracted nearly $4.9 million in funding — including nearly $3 million from the DOE — for the proposed Pelican-Gulf Coast Carbon Removal project in the Pelican State. Partners in the Pelican project include the University of Houston and Shell, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston.

The DAC project would remove CO2 in the atmosphere and permanently store it underground.

Red Rocks DAC Hub

Houston-based Fervo Energy is earmarking earmark its nearly $3.6 million in funding — including almost $2.9 million from the DOE — for development of the Red Rocks DAC Hub in southwest Utah.

Fervo believes more than 10 gigawatts of geothermal resources are available in southwest Utah that would translate into the potential storage of up to 100 million tons of CO2 each year.

“Scaling DAC technology will require abundant clean, firm power and heat to build truly carbon-negative projects,” Fervo says in a LinkedIn post. “As the leader in next-generation geothermal, Fervo is well positioned to support and accelerate the commercial deployment of DAC, while placing Utah at the heart of the energy transition.”

Houston Area DAC Hub

GE Research, the Niskayuna, New York-based R&D arm of General Electric, has scooped up more than $3.3 million in funding — including over $2.5 million from the DOE — to explore creating a DAC hub in the Houston area that would involve clean energy, such as renewable or nuclear power.

The project, being developed in conjunction with Omaha, Nebraska-based energy company Tenaska, would be designed to remove 1 million metric tons of CO2 from the air and permanently store it or use it in a value-add project (or both). Tenaska opened an office in Houston in 2019.

“We know that to truly bring an economical, commercial-scale solution in DAC to the market, it will require a collaborative effort with government, industry, and academic partners,” David Moore, leader of GE’s carbon capture team, said in March 2023. “If we do this right, we could have a commercially deployable DAC solution around the end of this decade.”

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A View From HETI

Houston researchers have uncovered why solid-state batteries break down and what could be done to slow the process. Photo via Getty Images.

A team of researchers from the University of Houston, Rice University and Brown University has uncovered new findings that could extend battery life and potentially change the electric vehicle landscape.

The team, led by Yan Yao, the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UH, recently published its findings in the journal Nature Communications.

The work deployed a powerful, high-resolution imaging technique known as operando scanning electron microscopy to better understand why solid-state batteries break down and what could be done to slow the process.

“This research solves a long-standing mystery about why solid-state batteries sometimes fail,” Yao, corresponding author of the study, said in a news release. “This discovery allows solid-state batteries to operate under lower pressure, which can reduce the need for bulky external casing and improve overall safety.”

A solid-state battery replaces liquid electrolytes found in conventional lithium-ion cells with a solid separator, according to Car and Driver. They also boast faster recharging capabilities, better safety and higher energy density.

However, when it comes to EVs, solid-state batteries are not ideal since they require high external stack pressure to stay intact while operating.

Yao’s team learned that tiny empty spaces, or voids, form within the solid-state batteries and merge into a large gap, which causes them to fail. The team found that adding small amounts of alloying elements, like magnesium, can help close the voids and help the battery continue to function. The team captured it in real-time with high-resolution videos that showed what happens inside a battery while it’s working under a scanning electron microscope.

“By carefully adjusting the battery’s chemistry, we can significantly lower the pressure needed to keep it stable,” Lihong Zhao, the first author of this work, a former postdoctoral researcher in Yao’s lab and now an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH, said in the release. “This breakthrough brings solid-state batteries much closer to being ready for real-world EV applications.”

The team says it plans to build on the alloy concept and explore other metals that could improve battery performance in the future.

“It’s about making future energy storage more reliable for everyone,” Zhao added.

The research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Battery 500 Consortium under the Vehicle Technologies Program. Other contributors were Min Feng from Brown; Chaoshan Wu, Liqun Guo, Zhaoyang Chen, Samprash Risal and Zheng Fan from UH; and Qing Ai and Jun Lou from Rice.

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