Occidental Petroleum, 1PointFive STRATOS DAC plant nears startup in Texas Permian basin
Occidental Petroleum Corp. and its subsidiary 1PointFive expect Phase 1 of the STRATOS direct air capture (DAC) plant in Texas' Permian basin to come online in this year’s second quarter.
In a post to LinkedIn, 1PointFive said Phase 1 “is in the final stage of startup” and that Phase 2, which incorporates learnings from research and development and Phase 1 construction activities, “will also begin commissioning in Q2, with operational ramp-up continuing through the rest of the year.”
Once fully operational, STRATOS is designed to capture up to 500,000 tonnes/year (tpy) of CO2.
As part of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Class VI permitting process and approval, it was reported that STRATOS is expected to include three wells to store about 722,000 tpy of CO2 in saline formations at a depth of about 4,400 ft.
The company said a few activities before start-up remain, including ramping up remaining pellet reactors, completing calciner final commissioning in parallel, and beginning CO2 injection.
Start-up milestones achieved include:
- Completed wet commissioning with water circulation.
- Received Class VI permits to sequester CO2.
- Ran CO2 compression system at design pressure.
- Added potassium hydroxide (KOH) to capture CO2 from the atmosphere.
- Building pellet inventory.
- Burners tested on calciner.
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Mikaila Adams
Managing Editor, Content Strategist
Mikaila Adams has 20 years of experience as an editor, most of which has been centered on the oil and gas industry. She enjoyed 12 years focused on the business/finance side of the industry as an editor for Oil & Gas Journal's sister publication, Oil & Gas Financial Journal (OGFJ). After OGFJ ceased publication in 2017, she joined Oil & Gas Journal and was later named Managing Editor - News. Her role has expanded into content strategy. She holds a degree from Texas Tech University.