A startup says that Osage County, Oklahoma, is the home to the largest carbon capture project in the United States. Project Bantam is a collaborative effort between Heimdal and carbon capture firm CapturePoin and recently opened on Aug. 13 in Shidler, Oklahoma. CapturePoint is using the facility’s captured carbon dioxide (CO2) to remove more oil from a nearby well.
According to Heimdal, the carbon capture facility can pull up to 5,000 metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere, thus earning it the title of largest direct air capture (DAC) facility in the U.S.
According to a January press release, the facility has Class II sequestration support with help from CapturePoint.
Marcus Lima, Heimdal CEO, told Bloomberg that the company is “open” to placing the CO2 underground for permanent storage. However, it can take years to get the proper permits.
Heimdal’s press release pointed to the development of Class VI wells designed for underground storage — geological sequestration — at least one mile below the surface. Class II is for fluids associated with oil and natural gas production.
“Heimdal’s mission is to bring tangible progress to the direct air capture industry,” Lima said in the press release. “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.”
Photo Courtesy United States Environmental Protection Agency
Bloomberg reported that Heimdal’s CEO says its capture process costs under $200 per ton. It involves heating limestone, exposing the mineral to the air, and then heating it again to extract the captured CO2. The company has the financial backing of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, and Y Combinator Management.
The Inflation Reduction Act’s cleantech tax credits make deploying these ventures easier, with fewer financial hurdles. As Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt told Politico about the Inflation Reduction Act’s impact on boosting next-generation energy innovations and jobs in the U.S., “I do think that is helping.”
CapturePoint is continuing its oil recovery in the historic Burbank oil field. The field produced 20 to 31 million barrels of oil annually between its highest production years — 1920 to 1924. Now, it’s also being used in carbon capture.
Photo Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society
“The CapturePoint team is excited about this alliance with Heimdal and the significance for our Oklahoma Carbon Hub,” Tracy Evans, CEO of CapturePoint, said in a statement. “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.”
The Oklahoma Carbon Hub can sequester up to 750,000 metric tons of CO2. The goal is to expand to 2 to 4 million tons in the next five years. According to Heimdal, the facility will also help the Osage County economy by adding hundreds of jobs.
