Celanese Starts Carbon-Capture, Utilization Project at Texas Facility

Celanese, as part of its joint venture with Mitsui & Co., has announced the beginning phase of a carbon capture and utilization (CCU) project at its Clear Lake, TX site. The CCU venture is expected to capture 180,000 metric tons of CO₂ industrial emissions and produce 130,000 metric tons of low-carbon methanol per year.

The company is actively leveraging the CCU project to offer low-carbon options across its acetyl chain and engineered materials products, meeting customer demand for sustainable and circular solutions. The products will be launched under the ECO-CC brand and supported through mass balance tracking and life-cycle assessment processes.

“With this project, our Celanese value chain can convert CO₂ waste into products for a wide array of end-markets, including consumer goods like adhesives, packaging, toys, paints, coatings, and more,” said Mark Murray, Senior Vice President, Acetyls at Celanese. “Our globally-integrated value chain positions us to provide a wide range of solutions with carbon capture content across both our integrated Acetyl Chain as well as other methanol derived products like acetal copolymers (POM).”

Celanese will take CO₂ from industrial emitters and apply reduced-carbon intensity hydrogen to chemically convert the emissions into methanol used in downstream production. Low-carbon input is then utilized to reduce fossil fuel-based raw materials and is capable of producing a range of end products across major industries. Approximately 80% of the captured CO₂ waste will be derived from third-party sources.

In comparison to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) processes that typically involve the injection of CO₂ emissions into underground storage pockets, the CCU project uses emissions to manufacture products that reduce the reliance on fossil fuels.