A launching of the nation’s largest and the world’s second-largest operational direct air capture plant will be held Tuesday at a site in northern Oklahoma near the Osage County town of Shidler.
Heimdal Inc, a pioneer in direct air capture (DAC) carbon dioxide removal technology, plans to formally begin the Project Bantam operation with a capacity of 5,000 tons of CO2 a year. It is the company’s debut DAC facility.
To strategically support growth of operations and sequestration of carbon dioxide, Heimdal has entered a partnership with CapturePoint LLC, a rapidly growing leader in carbon management solutions in the US.
CapturePoint already operates a facility using CO2 captured from CVR Partners’ Coffeyville, Kansas nitrogen fertilizer plant which is then transported 68 miles by pipeline southwest to Osage County in Oklahoma. The company operations CO2 production in the 23,500 acres of the North Burbank Unit close to Shidler. It also has more than 80 active CO2 injection wells in the Unit and has contracted rights to another 10,000 acres of CO2 storage space in Osage and Kay Counties.
Tracy Evans, CEO of CapturePoint, commented, “The CapturePoint team is excited about this alliance with Heimdal and the significance for our Oklahoma Carbon Hub. By combining the leading-edge carbon capture and sequestration technologies of Heimdal and CapturePoint, we are creating a world class facility that will put the State of Oklahoma at the forefront of innovative carbon solutions.”
Heimdal said state policymakers, inluding U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin, House Science Committee Chairman Rep. Frank Lucas, Governor Kevin Stitt, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, and White House Senior Advisor John Podesta, are participating in the launch via video.
State lawmakers will also be a part of the ceremonies including Senate Energy Committee Vice Chair Grant Green, Senate Republican Conference Chairman Dave Rader, House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair John Waldron, Assistant Majority Whip Jim Grego, and Assistant Majority Whip Eric Roberts.
Heimdal’s project is only 5 acres but the company said it will expand to 1,000 and bring hundreds of jobs to Shidler and the jobs will have an average income under $30,000.
Heimdal’s co-fouonder and CEO is Marcus Lima who took advantage of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and its guaranteed credit of $180 per ton of CO2 captured and permanently stored through 2032. The company raised $9.7 million from investors in 2021 and the firm now has a current valuation of $63 million.
“We are thrilled to be collaborating with experts in carbon storage to bring a hub of sustainable innovation and economic opportunity to Oklahoma,” said Lima.
“Heimdal’s mission is to bring tangible progress to the direct air capture industry. With this partnership, we take a significant step toward meeting our goals as a company, building a DAC facility of record size, in record time. Project Bantam is small, but it is only the beginning of our ambition and partnership with CapturePoint.”
Lima and cofounder Erik Millar began developing the technology while they were students at Oxford, and they built a pilot plant attached to an existing desalination plant on the coast of Hawaii that alkalinizes saltwater, sells the hydrochloric acid it removes and produces hydrogen and oxygen. It then returns the de-acidified water to the ocean, which captures CO2 naturally.
