Velocys’ to capture CO2 from planned Bayou Fuels project

In Mississippi, Velocys, Inc announced it has signed an agreement with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, LLC (OLCV), to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from Velocys’ planned Bayou Fuels biomass-to-fuels project in Natchez, Mississippi, and securely store it underground in a geologic formation.

OLCV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental, will take, transport and store CO2 captured from the Bayou Fuels facility, when it is completed, enabling the production of transportation fuels that have a net negative carbon intensity, making it the first facility of its kind in the world.

The Bayou Fuels project will take waste woody biomass and convert it into transportation fuels, such as diesel for heavy trucks and sustainable aviation fuel, using Velocys’ proprietary Fischer Tropsch process. The integrated technical solution designed by Velocys is ideally suited to carbon capture, usage, and storage (CCUS); the CO2 is captured before it enters the atmosphere. OLCV is uniquely positioned to transport and store the CO2 by leveraging Occidental’s industry leadership in CO2 storage and utilisation. This combination of CCUS-ready technology and Occidental’s expertise in storing CO2 enables the Velocys facility to produce net negative carbon intensity fuels.

Integrating CCUS into the Bayou Fuels biorefinery increases certain targeted revenue streams, such as those derived from the California Low Carbon Fuels Standard, and U.S. 45Q tax credits that incentivise the installation of carbon capture equipment on industrial facilities. This has a meaningful positive impact on returns. It also helps to de-risk the project and others that follow it. The proposed CCUS solution can be replicated at other sites under development, including Velocys’ UK project which recently submitted a planning application to build Europe’s first commercial scale waste-to-jet fuel facility.