So yeah, after looking at pretty much every use for CO2 and the Carbon Engineering technical solution, it was clear that their claims of making cheap plug-compatible synthetic fuels were nonsense and that their only natural market was enhanced oil recovery.
Note the “BC Electricity.” British Columbia, the jurisdiction Carbon Engineering has its idyllic Squamish base in, has really low-carbon electricity at 12.9 grams CO2e per kWh. That was used both for manufacturing the hydrogen for Carbon Engineering’s synthetic fuel and the electricity for the Tesla Semi in my workup. You can’t make synthetic fuels from green hydrogen without them having carbon debts that are multiples of just using the electricity directly.
“The U.S. oil producer aims to build about 100 plants using direct air capture technology that strips carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to bury underground or for use in making products such as concrete and aviation fuel.” for carbon capture and sequestration of course, and sharing in the largesse of US$4.5 billion to set up a CCS hub in the region. When I was at a conference a few years ago where one of Carbon Engineering’s engineers was on a panel, they let slip under mild questioning that the company was going to be receiving US$250 per ton of CO2 from a couple of governmental tax credits for their enhanced oil recovery. Seems like that economic and climate insanity is continuing.