Occidental's venture capital arm and a private equity firm have formed a joint venture to license Canada-based Carbon Engineering's direct air capture (DAC) technology. The new company, 1PointFive, will begin building its first facility in Texas' Permian Basin in 2022.

Here's some context:

Carbon Engineering has been operating a pilot plant in Canada since 2015 that pulls CO2 directly out of the air. The UN believes that we need carbon removal to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (the inspiration for the company's name). Occidental, Chevron, BHP, and even Bill Gates are invested heavily in this technology. The CO2 that the plant pulls out of the air can be stored underground, used to enhance oil recovery, or be transformed into chemicals and fuels.

Guess what they will use that CO2 for out in the Permian...

The CO2 captured out in west Texas will be stored underground and used to increase pressure in the oil field to speed up production. The new company will begin construction in 2022 and aims to capture 1 million tons of CO2 per year. That is roughly equivalent to negating the emissions from about 250,000 cars.

Read more here on Reuters.

German chemical giant, BASF, has announced that it will be doubling its production of its UVA ray blocking chemical for sunscreen. A new production line will be built at its Kaohsiung site in Taiwan and will come on stream by mid-2022.

What exactly is BASF making?

BASF's product, called Uvinul® A Plus, is a chemical compound called diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate. The chemical absorbs UVA radiation and is sold to sunscreen manufactures in the form of granules (little balls) that are soluble in the cream formulation you know best.

Why expand production?

According to BASF, "We expect the demand for high-performance and safe UV filters to continue to grow worldwide, due to consumer awareness about the importance of UV protection for skin health.".

Read the press release here.

US-based emissions-control technology company, ClearSign, has signed an agreement with a leader in the manufacturing of combustion technology. Together the companies will develop, sell, and supply a product line of ultra-low NOx burners.

What does that mean?

To prevent very harmful chemicals from entering the atmosphere, chemical plants burn them through a flare system to produce relatively less harmful chemicals. Flare system usage is minimized as much as possible but must be used to keep plants safe. Air has nitrogen in it, so when yo you burn those harmful chemicals with air you end up with some nitric oxides aka NOx. NOx can lead to smog and acid rain, which we don't want, so we reduce the formation of nitric oxides as much as possible.

Where this announcement comes in:

ClearSign's new technology greatly reduces emissions of NOx. Just a couple months ago its technology was chosen by ExxonMobil's Baytown, Texas refinery. The partnership ClearSign announced today means it will be able to produce and distribute its technology to plants worldwide.

Read the press release here.