Agricultural and industrial chemicals firm LSB Industries has signed an agreement with energy infrastructure firm Lapis Energy to develop a carbon capture and storage project at the firm’s El Dorado, Arkansas facility.
This is the first CCS project in Arkansas and the third CCS project from ammonia production in the country, according to the companies
Lapis—founded two years ago and backed by Cresta Fund Management, a Dallas-based middle-market infrastructure investment firm—will make a 100% capital investment for the project, which is expected to complete by 2025. Initially, the project will capture and sequester more than 450,000 metric tons of CO2 annually in underground saline aquifers.
The quantity is expected to increase depending on the potential de-bottlenecking projects at the facility. LSB’s El Dorado plant produces ammonium nitrate for the agricultural industry and a variety of acids and nitrates needed by the mining and industrial sectors.
The sequestered CO2 from the ammonia production at this facility is expected to qualify for federal tax credits.
The system is expected to reduce LSB’s scope 1 GHG emissions by 25% from the current level. The sequestered CO2 will enable Oklahoma City-based LSB to produce more than 375,000 metric tons of blue ammonia each year.
“We are very excited to partner with Lapis and take our first step to becoming a supplier of low carbon or ‘Blue Ammonia’ -- allowing us to participate in what we believe will become a large future market,” stated Mark Behrman, CEO of LSB Industries. “This project is very compelling for us from both environmental and commercial perspectives. Carbon sequestration is a proven means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from ammonia production and our El Dorado facility is uniquely located above deep geological formations with the capacity to sequester decades of CO2 production from the plant.”
Successful carbon capture also would allow the industrial sector to continue baseload, fossil-fueled operations while also removing significant emissions from the atmosphere.
