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Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) today announced the US Department of Energy has awarded $300,000 in funding to a project that would advance the development of a process called Integrated CO2 Capture and Conversion to Methanol (ICCCM). Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) projects are an important component in helping California achieve its climate goal of having a “net zero” economy by 2045.
CCU projects harnesses carbon before it can be emitted into the atmosphere. The carbon is then typically used to make chemicals that become resins and plastic materials.
The DOE funding for this project will be used to design, fabricate and demonstrate a modular ICCCM prototype for the combined capture and conversion of CO2 into methanol. As part of the research, the commercial viability of the prototype will also be assessed. The unit will be designed for installation at an industrial CO2 source, such as an electric generation or anaerobic digestion facility.
SoCalGas has spent more than $10 million on the research and development of low or zero carbon technologies in the last three years.
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