CO2 Production Demo and Synthetic Methane Pricing Analysis
Updates on CO2 calciner demo and equivalent costs for methane under carbon pricing.
Retweets highlight two developments in carbon tech. TerraformIndies' team produced over 99% pure CO2 from a demo calciner at the Muroc desert site using solar. Separately, analysis converts $200 per ton CO2 pricing to show synthetic methane approaching competitiveness at around 36 $/MWh thermal. Both items reflect ongoing progress in CO2 handling and economic modeling for low-carbon energy alternatives. Status remains at demonstration and calculation stages based on shared sources.
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200 $/t CO2 means 733 $/t C because CO2 ist 27% C. CH4 is 75% X, so the upper bound of the C costs for the final result are 550 $/t CH4. That's 36 $/MWhth. Still missing is the hydrogen (likely the larger cost issue), the reactor and the energy losses during the CO2+H2 reaction. So still far from the current Henry Hub prices at ~10 $/MWh. CO2 damage costs, if priced in, are ~40 $/MWh. As Casey said though, they are already below 200. That's a great start! And likely far cheaper than the Reverion process despite the likely higher efficiency due to Reverion CAPEX being roughly an order of magnitude higher.
Last week the @TerraformIndies CO2 team successfully produced a high purity (>99%) stream of CO2 from our demo calciner, at our Muroc desert test site, in 110 F heat, using our own captive solar PV array, on the first try. This represents several firsts, and is an incredible testament to the team's brilliance and grit, led by @steph_a_coronel. We closed on the land in January. By the end of March, all the solar panels (nearly 3000!) were in. A lot of cable work and inspections followed. Earlier this month, the word came through from the solar team: we're ready to go live. I directed each of the three power customer teams (DAC CO2, electrolyzer H2, and reactor) to fab and deploy a meaningful end-to-end "smoke test". I knew the desert would test our faith and that our team needed to experience the dust, the heat, and the wind in order to streamline logistics for the full deployment later this year. DAC was first off the mark. I was fortunate to find a corner of the tent where I was out of the way as we turned on the calciner for the first time, on site. Without drama the array pumped about 30 kW into the test fixture and the temperature rose smoothly to over 1000 C. Soon after that, the team proceeded to <redacted> and CO2 came out. At the end of the test, we had calcined >85% of the carbonate we started with, exceeding our requirements and validating our design, architecture, and processes. The Terraform CO2 production system captures CO2 from the air (400 ppm) and concentrates it to >99% purity in a single step, feeding directly into a hydrocarbon synthesis reactor which produces methane or methanol. The overarching challenge of Terraform's approach is to produce CO2 cheaply enough that it becomes profit center rather than a cost center. Our strategy of direct consumption of solar power from the array cuts capex and opex to the barest minimum, and our internal production cost, even at this relatively early stage, is already well below $200/T-CO2. Other than plants and some cyanobacteria, I believe this is the first ever commercially useful capture and production of CO2 at scale. Stay tuned!
Last week the @TerraformIndies CO2 team successfully produced a high purity (>99%) stream of CO2 from our demo calciner, at our Muroc desert test site, in 110 F heat, using our own captive solar PV array, on the first try. This represents several firsts, and is an incredible testament to the team's brilliance and grit, led by @steph_a_coronel. We closed on the land in January. By the end of March, all the solar panels (nearly 3000!) were in. A lot of cable work and inspections followed. Earlier this month, the word came through from the solar team: we're ready to go live. I directed each of the three power customer teams (DAC CO2, electrolyzer H2, and reactor) to fab and deploy a meaningful end-to-end "smoke test". I knew the desert would test our faith and that our team needed to experience the dust, the heat, and the wind in order to streamline logistics for the full deployment later this year. DAC was first off the mark. I was fortunate to find a corner of the tent where I was out of the way as we turned on the calciner for the first time, on site. Without drama the array pumped about 30 kW into the test fixture and the temperature rose smoothly to over 1000 C. Soon after that, the team proceeded to <redacted> and CO2 came out. At the end of the test, we had calcined >85% of the carbonate we started with, exceeding our requirements and validating our design, architecture, and processes. The Terraform CO2 production system captures CO2 from the air (400 ppm) and concentrates it to >99% purity in a single step, feeding directly into a hydrocarbon synthesis reactor which produces methane or methanol. The overarching challenge of Terraform's approach is to produce CO2 cheaply enough that it becomes profit center rather than a cost center. Our strategy of direct consumption of solar power from the array cuts capex and opex to the barest minimum, and our internal production cost, even at this relatively early stage, is already well below $200/T-CO2. Other than plants and some cyanobacteria, I believe this is the first ever commercially useful capture and production of CO2 at scale. Stay tuned!