This partnership will help leverage decades of experience to establish an equitable and environmentally responsible technical assistance program.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) has selected Texas Tech University as one of nine university and industry-led projects to split $44.5 million in federal funding to advance commercial-scale carbon capture, transport and storage across the U.S. 

With an award just over $6.2 million, Texas Tech intends to implement and accelerate the equitable and environmentally responsible deployment of storage-based carbon management projects in the Permian Basin. The team will provide technical and engagement support for stakeholders to develop a framework for the establishment of a carbon management hub, which will utilize carbon capture storage (CCS) and result in net-zero emissions.  

“It’s a feeling of accomplishment that six years ago, we started looking into nontraditional oil and gas research topics – CCS being one of them – and pushed to develop a team and technology level where we were ready to take on this type of research,” said Marshall Watson, department chair of the Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering. “What is even more exciting is this award aligns with our mission to serve the industry and people of West Texas.”

Texas Tech has partnered with five universities, two national laboratories, one geological survey, one private company, and a variety of regional stakeholders and local communities. These stakeholders have extensive technical, managerial, regulatory and business expertise specific to carbon transport and storage in the Permian Basin.

Watson is the primary investigator (PI) of this project along with his co-PIs, Qingwang (Kevin) Yuan, an assistant professor of petroleum engineering, and Hossein Emadibaladehi, an associate professor of petroleum engineering. They also have teamed with William Keffer, a professor of energy law at Texas Tech School of Law, and Nikki Kantelis, an associate professor of energy commerce and business economics at the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business. 

“They will be completing the legal and regulatory work alongside us,” Watson explained. “We are excited for this multidisciplinary collaboration.”

CCS is already an integral part of the Department of Petroleum Engineering, which has filed two related patents in addition to this award. The department also has added a CCS certificate program that became available to students graduating in May 2024 and expanded into other energy areas such as hydrogen, geothermal, emission detection/mitigation and produced water management.

“We, in petroleum engineering, are not against alternative fuels at all,” Watson said. “We’re for producing an abundant amount of energy so we can survive in an environmentally friendly manner.”

DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), under the purview of FECM, will manage the Texas Tech project along with the others selected. A full list of the nine teams and a detailed list of their contributions can be found here.