CHIC Meeting hears how new technology would improve Ship Channel environment
A proposal by ExxonMobil in 2021 calling on industry along the Houston Ship Channel and the federal government to raise $100 billion for carbon capture and storage (CCS) would turn the 50-mile channel into a CCS hub. Residents heard a brief presentation by Air Alliance Houston on the benefits and risks to the Channelview community last week and some of the progress on the proposal.
Many of the industrial facilities along the ship channel produce carbon dioxide and this new technology would capture it before it leaves their plant, then use it to develop a myriad of products or store underground in the Gulf of Mexico as suggested by some.
“We heard a brief presentation on this subject at our most recent CAPLE (Community Advisory Panel to Lyondell and Equistar) meeting, and I had some questions about subsidence,” said CHIC founder Carolyn Stone.
While she said her questions went unanswered at the meeting, she reiterated the concern for subsidence since most of the area is under orders to use mostly surface water in combination with existing wells.
Alex Spike, Air Alliance Houston Climate Justice coordinator, has a background in air science and he studied air pollution meteorology at the University of Houston.
Spike didn’t focus on the subsidence issue but presented a basic look at how CCS and hydrogen could be the world’s next source of energy.
According to the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, “Carbon capture, use, and storage technologies can capture more than 90 percent of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants and industrial facilities.”
That’s promising news, according to Spike, who said he believed the old LyondellBassell plant in Pasadena may be the next location for a hydrogen plant and possibly the hub for the ship channel.
Spike said captured carbon dioxide can be stored in underground geologic formation or be put to productive use in the manufacture of fuels, building materials, enhanced oil recovery and more.
The CCES reports there are 30 commercial-scale carbon capture projects that are operating around the world with 11 more under construction, and 153 in different stages of development.
Carbon capture can achieve 14 percent of the global greenhouse gas emissions reductions needed by 2050, according to the CCES website, and is viewed as the only practical way to achieve deep decarbonization in the industrial sector.
According to energy.gov, hydrogen is an attractive fuel option for transportation and electricity generation applications.
“Hydrogen is a clean fuel that, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water. Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources, such as natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like solar and wind,” the website said.
It can be used in cars, in houses, for portable power, and in many more applications.
Hydrogen also appears first on the periodic table of elements with an atomic number of 1.
“H2 is ‘plug and play’ and can step in for fossil fuels including methane gas,” he told the dozen or so in attendance. “It’s not energy dense compared to fossil fuels, and burning H2 produces NOx,” he said.
He explained all types of H2 are power intensive and green H2 is water intensive.
There are other negatives associated with hydrogen, according to Spike.
“It could, and probably will, prolong fossil economy, is less efficient than simply electrifying many uses, and is highly flammable if under pressure, even explosive,” he told the environmentalists present.
Hydrogen is lighter than air and Spike said it would require detection and monitoring equipment which is currently nascent and costly.
“When you get down to it, carbon capture and storage is energy intensive and doesn’t capture all emissions,” Spike said. “CO2 is a heavy gas and won’t float away.” He described it as a cloud that hovers close to the ground.
“It requires pipelines and is corrosive. CO2 injection requires more wells that often blowout,” he said, “and keeps bad facilities like W. A. Parish in Richmond, Texas open longer.”
HyVelocity Hub announced on Oct. 13, 2023, that they had been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations to begin award negotiations for the development of the Hub. They are expecting to receive up to $1.2 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding. They are supported with industry partners such as AES Corporation, Air Liquide, Chevron, Mitsubishi Power Americas, ExxonMobil, Ørsted, and Sempra Infrastructure. HyVelocity is administered by GTI Energy and includes a wide array of organizations, including organizing participants, the University of Texas at Austin, The Center for Houston’s Future, and Houston Advanced Research Center. HyVelocity also has 90-plus supporting partners from industry, community engagement and labor organizations, non-profits, academic, and state and local governments.