Industrial Demonstrations Program Selections for Award Negotiations: Chemicals and Refining

Location: Baytown, TX 

Federal Cost Share: Up to $331.9 million   

Recipient: ExxonMobil 

Project Summary 

The Baytown Olefins Plant Carbon Reduction Project, led by ExxonMobil, would enable the use of hydrogen in place of natural gas across high heat-fired equipment using new burner technologies for ethylene production in Baytown, TX. Ethylene is a chemical feedstock used in the production of textiles, synthetic rubbers, and plastic resins, with applications in packaging, electronics, and vehicles. These equipment modifications would enable the use of up to 95% clean hydrogen fuel. At full implementation, the modifications would be expected to enable avoidance of an estimated 2.7 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year—equal to more than 50% of the olefin plant’s total emissions—and an estimated 200 tons per year of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Demonstrating clean hydrogen fuel switching in one of the largest ethylene plants in the U.S. would help de-risk viable decarbonization solutions for large, existing industrial facilities, prove the use of clean hydrogen in industrial processes, and provide a pathway for decarbonizing the chemical industry, which is responsible for more than one-third of the U.S. industrial sector’s carbon emissions. 

Location: Longview, WA 

Federal Cost Share: Up to $46.6 million 

Selectee: Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. LLC 

Project Summary  

In the Decarbonization of Black Liquor Concentration through Energy Efficient Membrane Separation project, Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. LLC (NDP) and Via Separations (Via) are partnering to decarbonize a thermal process at NDP’s Longview, WA site. The project would use Via’s novel membrane-based technology, previously supported by the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E). The installed membrane technology would enable a transformative energy efficiency improvement for industrial separations and would reduce 70% of carbon dioxide emissions per gallon of clean water removed during pulp production in this application. This project would not only reduce the facility’s process energy intensity but also demonstrate the viability of the membrane technology to potentially scale across all other domestic pulp and paper mills and other industrial sectors, such as chemical manufacturing.  

Location: U.S. Gulf Coast 

Federal Cost Share: Up to $95 million   

Recipient: The Dow Chemical Company   

Project Summary 

The Novel CO2 Utilization for Electric Vehicle Battery Chemical Production project, led by The Dow Chemical Company (Dow), plans to design and construct a facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast with the intent to capture and utilize approximately 50% to 90% byproduct CO2 from a large-scale manufacturing process to produce essential components of electrolyte solutions needed for domestic lithium-ion batteries. This project would represent a leading U.S. demonstration to capture and utilize CO2 from upstream material manufacturing. This project would also provide supply chain resilience by establishing a domestic manufacturing base for the rapidly expanding U.S. electric vehicle and power storage markets, which are critical pieces of the energy transition. 

Location: Texas Gulf Coast   

Federal Cost Share: Up to $99 million 

Recipient: Orsted Star P2X LLC   

Project Summary 

The Star e-Methanol project, led by Orsted Star P2X LLC (Ørsted), plans to use captured carbon dioxide from a local industrial facility to produce e-methanol and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from hard-to-electrify sectors like shipping. Ørsted’s facility is estimated to produce up to 300,000 metric tons of e-methanol per year and would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% or more than compared to traditional production methods. This project expects to demonstrate both the supply and demand for clean hydrogen-derived alternative fuels for the marine shipping and transportation sector. These sectors currently rely on energy-intensive fossil-derived fuels to transport the world’s goods. Ørsted is also participating in the Gulf Coast Hydrogen Hub (HyVelocity), a separate OCED award under the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program, to produce the hydrogen for the Star e-Methanol project.  

Location: U.S. Gulf Coast   

Federal Cost Share: Up to $200 million   

Recipient: Technip Energies USA, Inc. (T.EN USA) 

Project Summary 

Technip Energies USA (T.EN USA), in partnership with LanzaTech Global, Inc. (LanzaTech), plans to demonstrate an integrated process to utilize captured carbon dioxide from ethylene production. This project aims to use a biotech-based recycling process and low-carbon intensity hydrogen to create sustainable ethanol and ethylene. LanzaTech’s Gas Fermentation technology, previously supported by DOE, can also be deployed in any industry with waste carbon, allowing other industries to capture and upcycle carbon-rich waste streams instead of emitting them to the atmosphere or needing to sequester them.