Carbon Capture In Texas

Here is a cool report in The New York Times about a company which is pioneering carbon capture technology:

At Capitol Aggregates, a cement plant near San Antonio, the Skyonic Corporation of Austin, plans to open a $125 million factory next week that will make industrial chemicals.

Instead of mining natural deposits of carbon found underground, the plant will capture the carbon emitted from making cement — a rich source — and use it to produce chemicals like sodium bicarbonate and hydrochloric acid by reacting it with rock salt.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/business/energy-environment/texas-plant-to-capture-and-then-reuse-carbon.html

I attended the first meeting Skyonic had with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, and a member of my team wrote their first air pollution permit. They seemed to be very enthusiastic about their new technology, and it appears that enthusiasm is about to pay off.

Probably the only thing which stands in their way is summarized in the following statement:

"... the effectiveness of the technique will be limited by the size of the market for the products ..."

Most recycling technologies yield products and byproducts for which there is either a limited market or no market. Biodiesel production yields glycerin as a byproduct, and the market is now glutted with glycerin. The production of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel has produced mountains of unsold sulfur at refineries around the country. Eventually the chemicals produced by the Skyonic process may also be unmarketable, but they have the advantage that any carbon capture credits they produce will be a gold mine.

Bravo, Skyonic !!!