INEOS Acetyls and Sandpiper Chemicals are partnering to develop a large scale blue methanol facility in Texas City. The project involves a 1.7 billion dollar investment to produce 1.1 million metric tons of low carbon methanol annually by 2030. The plant aims for a 97 percent carbon capture rate using CCS technology. A portion of the captured CO2 will be repurposed for acetic acid production, integrating carbon management directly into the industrial process.
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INEOS and Sandpiper are putting 1.7 billion into a blue methanol plant in Texas. They are targeting 1.1 million tons per year by 2030. It is a big bet on CCS for industrial chemicals.
The 97 percent capture rate is a high target. I wonder how much of the project economics rely on 45Q tax credits. Without those subsidies, the math on blue methanol usually does not work.
FID is not expected until 2027 and first output is 2030. That is a tight window for a project this size. Do they have the pipeline capacity secured for the captured CO2 or is that still a plan.
Using existing port and petrochemical infrastructure helps, but adding CCS to an old site always reveals hidden costs. Maintenance on these capture units can eat into the margins quickly.
