CORMETECH, Ozona Develop CCS System with NOx Reduction

CORMETECH and Ozona CCS partnered, via a signed memorandum of understanding, to design, build, and operate a full-scale CCS system capable of NOx reduction, with full operation expected by the end of 2025. Ozona selected CORMETECH’s emissions control technology and modular adsorber PATHWAY CO₂ Capture technology for the new system. Flue gas generated by natural gas-powered engines will be captured, transported, and sequestered with this technology.

“It’s exciting to be part of the CORMETECH team leading the way to make CCS a commercial reality, in much the same way we have been providing SCR and CO catalyst solutions for decades,” said Nick Pollack, Vice President of Business Development at CORMETECH. “CORMETECH’s CORAL and PATHWAY capture technology combined with Ozona’s expertise in sequestering CO₂ will make this the first privately funded, commercial-scale CCS project in the United States."

CORMETECH’s PATHWAY maintains several advantages over liquid amine systems, including cost efficiency, footprint, environmental impact, and operational flexibility. The solution lowers the cost of CO₂ capture and maintains a minimal physical footprint, allowing for optimal space utilization. In addition to integrated NOx control, the technology avoids secondary air emissions and minimizes liquid and solid waste and water demand. It also offers flexibility during unit start-up and shutdown.

In March 2023, Ozona reached an agreement with Texas Pacific Land Corp. to lease approximately 5,173 contiguous acres of land to drill one of the first commercial CO₂ sequestration wells in the Permian Basin. Initial anchor customers will include natural-gas processing plants and oil and gas operators in the region. The company can expand the acreage as additional storage capacity increases.

During the Western Turbine Users Inc. conference in 2023, Dan Johnson, Senior Director of Sales at CORMETECH, presented on selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems for gas turbines. According to Johnson, “When plants expand, the demands on SCRs change, and sometimes that change is dramatic. Generally, SCRs look like giant filters and remove pollutants through oxidation and/or with the assistance of a reagent like ammonia. Across the industry, titanium dioxide and other metals are used in the catalyst process to reduce the emissions. They can be stacked horizontally to make a wall for gas to flow through, positioned to flow vertically, or placed in canisters, depending on the need. All house the same materials in different ways.”

As more solar power comes online, a plant must ramp up and down throughout the day to compensate for solar generation fluctuations, Johnson said. Wind power added further fluctuation to the demand on the turbines. A greater number of starts typically increases carbon oxide and NO₂ emissions. These issues require adding more catalyst, but adding catalyst puts more pressure on the turbine, which means they need to use more gas.

Around 2015, CORMETECH introduced a catalyst with more activity and arranged it in a way for more surface area through which gas could flow without increasing pressure on the engine. This technology has since been introduced industry-wide. A more recent market introduction was a multi-emission catalyst, which can handle NOx and CO needs in a single layer—traditionally this is done with two separate catalyst layers, Johnson said. This provides options to retrofit existing units that do not have the ability to remove CO with catalyst.