HOUSTON – August 18, 2025 – Coastal Bend LNG, developer of a multi-train natural gas liquefaction and export facility along the Texas Gulf Coast, announced it has commenced a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study with Solvanic for electrochemically mediated amine regeneration (EMAR) carbon capture at its Coastal Bend LNG facility.
Solvanic has signed an option agreement for use of the EMAR technology, originally developed by Professor T. Alan Hatton’s research group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Chemical Engineering. The technology uses an electrochemical process to release carbon dioxide (CO₂) captured by amines using electricity rather than the high-temperature steam traditionally required by thermal amine systems. This approach reduces energy requirements and capital costs and offers greater flexibility across operating conditions and process scales. EMAR has been in development at MIT for over a decade, with recent breakthroughs by Dr. Michael Massen-Hane and Dr. Michael Nitzsche, who co-founded Solvanic to scale the technology for industry.
“To deliver on our ambitious low carbon intensity LNG goals, we need to capture carbon dioxide emissions from both our natural gas pretreatment and cogeneration facilities,” said Nick Flores, Chief Executive Officer, Coastal Bend LNG. “For post-combustion capture on our onsite cogeneration facilities, we need a step change in carbon capture efficiency. We’re highly encouraged by Solvanic’s preliminary techno-economics and are keen to accelerate their technology readiness with this FEED study.”
“We have demonstrated our EMAR solution to Technology Readiness Level 4 with low energetics, high stability, and modular scalability across emission sources,” said Dr. Michael Nitzsche, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Solvanic. “This FEED study accelerates our techno-economic analyses for gas processing and post-combustion carbon capture with the full engineering support of Coastal Bend LNG and their contractors.”
“We are leveraging over a decade of electrochemical carbon capture research and development at MIT via this option agreement. We appreciate Coastal Bend LNG’s confidence in the technology to meet their industrial decarbonization objectives,” said Dr. Michael Massen-Hane, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Solvanic.
About Coastal Bend LNG: Coastal Bend LNG is a privately held energy infrastructure development company dedicated to delivering low-carbon energy to the world. With a focus on sustainability, innovation, and operational excellence, the company is focused on advancing American energy infrastructure. For more information, visit www.coastalbendlng.com.
About Solvanic: Solvanic develops flexible industrial decarbonization solutions. Their modular electrochemical systems aim to lower the levelized cost of carbon capture to enable economical decarbonization for hard-to-abate industrial processes. To learn more, visit www.solvanic.com.
Contact: Catie Tuley, Corporate Communications, Coastal Bend LNG – pr@coastalbendlng.com; Dr. Michael Massen-Hane, CEO, Solvanic – info@solvanic.com.