Double DAC
Oxy (reportedly) acquired direct air capture (DAC) company Holocene
๐ข๐ ๐ (๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ๐น๐) ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฝ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ (๐๐๐) ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ.
The deal would be Oxy's second DAC acquisition following itโs 2023 deal to acquire Carbon Engineering for $1.1B.
The deal continues the company's campaign of investments and acquisitions around CCUS and net-zero value chains (see map of the CCUS value chain below) and ๐๐๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐น๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ด๐, as described on their webpage:
๐๐น๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ-๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ด. ๐ผ ๐๐๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ง๐ฉ ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ ๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ค๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ฃ๐ซ๐ค๐ก๐ซ๐๐จ ๐ง๐๐ข๐ค๐ซ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐ค๐ข ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ค๐จ๐ฅ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.
๐๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ด๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐น๐น๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ป๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐๐ฟ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐๐ (NB: companies like Climeworks, Heirloom and Avnos are pursuing their own DAC technologies):
๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐๐: Carbon Engineering uses a liquid-based potassium hydroxide system, reacting COโ to form potassium carbonate, processed with calcium carbonate for release, while Holocene employs a water-based Bis-iminoguanidine (BIG) solution, forming an insoluble crystalline salt for COโ capture and release.
๐๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ง๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐พ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐๐: Carbon Engineering requires high temperatures (900ยฐC) for COโ regeneration, making it energy-intensive, whereas Holoceneโs low-temperature process (110ยฐC) is energy-efficient and compatible with renewables or waste heat.
๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ: Carbon Engineering is more mature, operating megaton-scale DAC projects like Stratos, though at higher costs (hundreds per tonne), while Holocene, in an earlier pilot phase with a 10-tonne/year facility, aims for lower costs but has yet to achieve large-scale deployment.
๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ธ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต๐ป๐ผ๐น๐ผ๐ด๐ถ๐ฒ๐? ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐๐จ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด๐ ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ๐บ?