US liquefaction plant developer NextDecade is joining forces with a unit of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for carbon capture from the proposed Rio Grande LNG export plant in Texas.
In that regard, NextDecade and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America signed an engineering services agreement, the Houston-based firm said on Wednesday.
The deal includes the design, license, and performance guarantee of the KM CDR Process, MHI’s post-combustion carbon capture technology to be applied at the LNG project in the Port of Brownsville.
The new move follows last month’s announcement by the US firm on launching a new unit to develop a carbon capture and storage project at the proposed LNG export plant.
NEXT Carbon Solutions’ CCS project at Rio Grande LNG would enable the capture and permanent geologic storage of more than five million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, according to NextDecade.
MHI has deployed 13 carbon capture systems around the world, including the world’s largest post-combustion carbon capture facility that is comparable in size to the first phase of the CCS project at Rio Grande LNG, NextDecade said.
Besides MHI, NextDecade also teamed up with a unit of Occidental Petroleum for the offtake and storage of carbon dioxide captured from the LNG project.
Oxy Low Carbon Ventures would offtake and transport carbon dioxide from the LNG project and permanently sequester it in an underground geologic formation in the Rio Grande Valley.
NextDecade said earlier this year it plans to take a final decision on a “minimum of two trains” at Rio Grande LNG this year.
After that, the firm would also take a FID on the CCS project.
The full-scope of the Rio Grande project includes five trains for a total capacity of 27 million tonnes per year.