Direct Air Capture (DAC) provider Heirloom announced an unprecedented investment in Louisiana that will bring two DAC facilities, with a combined ability to remove nearly 320,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, to the northwestern part of the state.
The new facilities will be located at the Port of Caddo-Bossier in Shreveport and will create around 1,000 new construction and permanent clean energy jobs, powering the Gulf Coast's leadership in DAC technologies and advancing American leadership in meeting net-zero goals.
The first facility will begin construction later this year and – once operational starting in 2026 – will remove around 17,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
The second facility is under design as part of Project Cypress, the Regional DAC Hub in Louisiana managed by the U.S Department of Energy (DOE)'s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), which is eligible for up to $600 million in funding. This expands the footprint and job-creation potential of Project Cypress beyond Southwest Louisiana, where Climeworks is building its Project Cypress facility in Calcasieu Parish.
Heirloom’s decision to locate both facilities in Northwest Louisiana brings cost savings and significant operational efficiencies, in addition to expanding the company's ability to create jobs and build meaningful workforce training programs in the region. Heirloom's portion of Project Cypress will remove approximately 300,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The first phase of the project, which is expected to be operational in 2027, will be capable of removing 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. Subsequent construction phases, subject to additional funding, progress through Hub program reviews, and negotiations, would triple the capture capacity.
Combined, the DAC facilities in Caddo Parish are expected to create at least 1,000 construction jobs and over 80 permanent jobs, with more expected at full build-out. To help support this economic growth, the State of Louisiana is offering a $3 million performance-based grant for site infrastructure improvements. Heirloom may qualify for additional State incentives with a potential value of up to $7.8 million over 10 years if payroll and employment targets are met.
Heirloom to build two direct air capture facilities in Louisiana
A rendering of one of Heirloom's DAC facilities to be built in Northwest Louisiana, near Shreveport. This first facility will have a yearly CO2 removal capacity of around 17,000 tonnes and is expected to come online in 2026.
Heirloom, along with Project Cypress partners, will undertake a new community benefits planning process in Northwest Louisiana as part of an overall investment in the Caddo-Bossier region. This includes the formation of a local Community Engagement Council to solicit community input and feedback at every stage of project development.
“Louisiana is well positioned to become America’s leader in safely storing carbon dioxide. Heirloom’s expansion into the Port of Caddo-Bossier means even more growth and more jobs for our State and is another example of how we are leading the race to drive the nation’s energy future,” said Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. “The expansion of Project Cypress Direct Air Capture Hub across the State represents the best of Louisiana—cutting edge technology at the forefront of the energy economy, powered by innovation and a broad base of highly skilled workers.”
“We couldn’t be more excited to be building these new facilities in Northwest Louisiana,” said Shashank Samala, CEO of Heirloom. “These investments not only bring meaningful economic activity and job creation to the region, but also help to cement Louisiana as a leader in this new energy economy and further America’s leadership on the global stage. Coming shortly after we opened America’s first commercial DAC facility, this expansion in Louisiana continues Heirloom’s strong momentum as we work toward billion-ton scale.”
Heirloom is partnering with CapturePoint, a carbon management company, to store the CO2 captured from these facilities in Class VI underground wells – a safe, durable, and permanent storage solution. The pipeline and storage wells used for Heirloom’s captured CO2 will be dedicated to permanent CO2 storage, consistent with Heirloom’s principles for the responsible deployment of carbon removal. Both Heirloom facilities will be fully powered by additional renewable energy sources.
With these two facilities in Northwest Louisiana, Heirloom is continuing its rapid progress in building one of the world’s most affordable carbon removal solutions with the ability to scale to eliminate billions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. Late last year, Heirloom began operating North America’s first commercial DAC facility in Tracy, California, shortly after signing one of the largest CO2 removal deals to date with Microsoft. The company has also signed deals to provide carbon removal to Stripe, Meta, Shopify, JPMorgan, McKinsey, Workday, H&M, Autodesk, and others. Additionally, Heirloom was recently selected as a finalist for the XPRIZE and a semi-finalist for the DOE’s Carbon Dioxide Purchase Pilot.
Heirloom’s technology enhances the power of limestone – the world’s second most abundant, and one of the cheapest, minerals – to capture CO2 directly from the air. The Heirloom process starts with natural limestone, nearly 50% of which is CO2. By extracting this CO2 from the limestone and adding water, the Heirloom process creates a material that is thirsty for CO2 so it can return to a natural limestone state. This material acts like a sponge, pulling CO2 from the atmosphere. Heirloom’s technology accelerates this process, reducing the time it takes to absorb CO2 in nature from years to just three days. Once the CO2 is absorbed, it is extracted from the limestone material using a renewable energy-powered kiln and stored permanently underground.
