CarbonCapture and a team of strategic partners have been selected to receive $12.5 million in funding by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a megaton-scale direct air capture (DAC) hub in Southwest Wyoming.
The first phase of the project includes a FEED study for a DAC facility, which captures 200,000 tonnes of CO2 per year, to be permanently sequestered in geologic formations by anchor partner Frontier Carbon Solutions or used as a feedstock in the production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) by anchor partner Twelve.
Moreover, the Wyoming DAC hub team will develop a community benefits plan for investments in workforce development, support for Wyoming Tribes, conservation efforts, and community-backed infrastructure initiatives. The project’s aim is to ensure alignment between the emerging DAC industry and the culture and values of Wyoming’s local communities.
The University of Wyoming, Fluor, Carbon Direct, INTERA, EPRI, Carbon-Based Consulting, Icarus, and Novus Energy Advisors are additional partners for the project. Under a $3.5 billion program by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Wyoming hub is one of the five projects selected to receive DOE support under Topic Area 2.
The DOE has also selected three additional projects in which CarbonCapture will be an anchor or co-anchor DAC technology provider. The projects are the Southwest Regional Direct Air Capture Hub (AZ), the Aera Direct Air Capture Hub (CA), and the Illinois Basin Regional DAC Hub (IL).
“The community benefits plan for the DAC hub is an important opportunity for us to partner with the communities of Southwest Wyoming while building out the DAC industry,” says School of Energy Resources (SER) Research Scientist and UW lead Selena Gerace. “DAC can be an important part of economic diversification for the state.”
