ExxonMobil may pause plans for $7 billion Baytown hydrogen plant

Change of Plans

Plans for the world's largest low-carbon hydrogen plant may be on pause. Photo via exxonmobil.com

Spring-based ExxonMobil, the country’s largest oil and gas company, might delay or cancel what would be the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen plant due to a significant change in federal law. The project carries a $7 billion price tag.

The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act created a new 10-year incentive, the 45V tax credit, for production of clean hydrogen. But under President Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," the window for starting construction of low-carbon hydrogen projects that qualify for the tax credit has narrowed. The Inflation Reduction Act mandated that construction start by 2033. But the Big Beautiful Bill switched the construction start time to early 2028.

“While our project can meet this timeline, we’re concerned about the development of a broader market, which is critical to transition from government incentives,” ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said during the company’s recent second-quarter earnings call.

Woods said ExxonMobil is working to determine whether a combination of the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture projects and the revised 45V tax credit will help pave the way for a “broader” low-carbon hydrogen market.

“If we can’t see an eventual path to a market-driven business, we won’t move forward with the [Baytown] project,” Woods said.

“We knew that helping to establish a brand-new product and a brand-new market initially driven by government policy would not be easy or advance in a straight line,” he added.

Woods said ExxonMobil is trying to nail down sales contracts connected to the project, including exports of ammonia to Asia and Europe and sales of hydrogen in the U.S.

ExxonMobil announced in 2022 that it would build the low-carbon hydrogen plant at its refining and petrochemical complex in Baytown. The company has said the plant is slated to go online in 2027 and 2028.

As it stands now, ExxonMobil wants the Baytown plant to produce up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day made from natural gas, and capture and store more than 98 percent of the associated carbon dioxide. The company has said the project could store as much as 10 million metric tons of CO2 per year.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

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MD Anderson launches $10M joint venture to advance personalized cancer treatment tech

fighting cancer

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Japan’s TOPPAN Holdings Inc. have formed a joint venture to co-develop TOPPAN Holdings’ 3D cell culture, or organoid, technology known as invivoid.

The technology will be used as a tool for personalized cancer treatments and drug screening efforts, according to a release from MD Anderson. TOPPAN has committed $10 million over five years to advance the joint research activities.

“The strategic alliance with MD Anderson paves a promising path toward personalized cancer medicine," Hiroshi Asada, head of the Business Innovation Center at TOPPAN Holdings, said in a news release.

Invivoid is capable of establishing organoid models directly from patient biopsies or other tissues in a way that is faster and more efficient. Researchers may be able to test a variety of potential treatments in the laboratory to understand which approach may work best for the patient, if validated clinically.

“Organoids allow us to model the three-dimensional complexity of human cancers in the lab, thus allowing us to engineer a powerful translational engine—one that could not only predict how patients will respond to therapy before treatment begins but also could help to reimagine how we discover and validate next-generation therapies," Dr. Donna Hansel, division head of pathology and laboratory medicine at MD Anderson, added in the news release. “Through this collaboration, we hope to make meaningful progress in modeling cancer biology for therapeutic innovation.”

The joint venture will build upon preclinical research previously conducted by MD Anderson and TOPPAN. The organizations will work collaboratively to obtain College of American Pathologists (CAP) and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certifications for the technology, which demonstrate a commitment to high-quality patient care. Once the certifications are obtained, they plan to conduct observational clinical studies and then prospective clinical studies.

“We believe our proprietary invivoid 3D cell culture technology, by enabling the rapid establishment of organoid models directly from patient biopsies, has strong potential to help identify more effective treatment options and reduce the likelihood of unnecessary therapies,” Asada added in the release. “Through collaboration on CAP/CLIA certification and clinical validation, we aim to bring this innovation closer to real-world patient care and contribute meaningfully to the advancement of cancer medicine."

NASA taps Houston-area company to explore low-cost spacecraft delivery

Webster-based Arrow Science and Technology is one of six companies picked by NASA to study low-cost ways to launch and deliver spacecraft for difficult-to-reach orbits.

In all, nine studies will be performed under a roughly $1.4 million award from NASA. Another Texas company, Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace, is also among the six companies working on the studies.

“With the increasing maturity of commercial space delivery capabilities, we’re asking companies to demonstrate how they can meet NASA’s need for multispacecraft and multiorbit delivery to difficult-to-reach orbits beyond current launch service offerings,” Joe Dant, a leader of the Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said in a news release. “This will increase unique science capability and lower the agency’s overall mission costs.”

Arrow is teaming up with Rockville, Maryland-based Quantum Space for its study. Quantum’s Ranger orbital transfer vehicle provides payload delivery services for spacecraft heading to low-Earth and lunar orbits.

Arrow, a Native American-owned small business, offers technical support and hardware manufacturing services for the space and defense industries.

James Baker, founder and president of Arrow, said in a news release that the combination of his company’s deployment systems with Quantum’s Ranger vehicle “allows our customers the ability to focus on the development of their payload[s] while we take care of getting them where they need to be.”

“This is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate the unique capabilities of our highly maneuverable Ranger spacecraft, which will expand NASA’s options for reaching dynamic and challenging … orbits,” Kerry Wisnosky, CEO of Quantum Space, added in the release.

The nine studies are scheduled to be completed by mid-September.

NASA said it will use the studies’ findings “to inform mission design, planning, and commercial launch acquisition strategies for risk-tolerant payloads, with a possibility of expanding delivery services to larger-sized payloads and to less risk-tolerant missions in the future.”

Texas A&M pilots $59M program for autonomous helicopters to fight wildfires

Autonomous firefighting

Texas A&M University's George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex will receive $59.8 million to develop a way for autonomous helicopters to fight to wildfires in the state.

The funds appropriated from the Texas legislature will go toward acquiring up to four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and developing their autonomous configuration, as well as to facilities, tools and equipment for research, testing and integration of firefighting capabilities over the next two years, according to a release from Texas A&M.

The BCDC was also selected to work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on its Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System (ALIAS), which works to reduce risks for pilots and aircraft in high-risk missions.

"Working together with Texas, we have an opportunity to use autonomous helicopters to completely change the conversation around wildfires from containing them to extinguishing them,” Stuart Young, DARPA program manager for ALIAS, said in a release from DARPA.

The BCDC program will incorporate DARPA's automation toolkit, known as MATRIX, which has already demonstrated fully autonomous flight capabilities on approximately 20 aircraft platforms. MATRIX, which was developed by California-based Sikorsky Aircraft, was previously tested in proof-of-concept demonstrations of autonomous fire suppression in California and Connecticut earlier this year, according to DARPA.

“I am proud we are working with DARPA in a manner that will benefit Texas, the Department of Defense, and commercial industry,” retired Maj. Gen. Tim Green, director of the BCDC, said in the release. “Wildland firefighting will be the first mission application fully developed to take advantage of over a decade of work by DARPA on its Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System (ALIAS).”

The BDC will test fully automated and semi-automated ALIAS-equipped aircraft on highly complex firefighting tasks. The complex will also work with Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi’s Autonomy Research Institute, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, the Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station on the project.

John Diem, director of the innovation proving grounds at BCDC, will serve as principal investigator for the project.

“Advancing system capabilities through the last stages of technology maturation, operational testing, and concept development is always hugely exciting and rewarding,” Diem added in the release. “The best part of my career has been seeing systems I tested move into the hands of warfighters. Now, I’m proud to help ensure ALIAS is safe and effective in protecting life and property – and we will do that through realistic and challenging testing.”

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