PCA Launches Carbon Capture and Storage Study Following ‘Promising’ Trial

The pilot project and technology development supports Packaging Corporation of America’s goal to capture and permanently store 1.75 million metric tons of biogenic CO2 per year by 2040.

Packaging Corporation of America’s mill in DeRidder, Louisiana, is one of the four that the company identified that are located on or near saline aquifers that can be used to permanently store the carbon dioxide they produce. Retrieved from U.S. Chemical Safety Board. Listen to the article 7 min

Packaging Corporation of America is advancing plans for carbon capture after a successful pilot project at an unspecified mill in the southern United States, according to the company’s recently released 2024 sustainability report.

PCA began the carbon capture and storage pilot last October, and it continued into mid-2025, according to the report. These technologies catch carbon dioxide emissions and either reuse them or permanently store them to avoid entry into the atmosphere.

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Mark Kowlzan, CEO of Packaging Corporation of America, said: "The results of this trial have been very promising, and we plan to proceed with a more detailed engineering and design study that will take around seven to nine months to complete. This study will provide us with a better idea of the capital cost and construction schedule for a large-scale facility."

Toward its broader emissions reduction goals, PCA disclosed that in 2024 it reduced scope 1 and 2 emissions by 9.2% from a 2021 baseline; its target is a 35% reduction by 2030. Also in 2024 it reduced scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions by 4% from a 2021 baseline; its target is a 60% reduction by 2040.

The 2030 target uses a market-based inventory approach for scope 2 emissions. “This choice is driven by our intention to utilize energy attribute certificates (EACs) as a temporary measure to reduce emissions until we can implement carbon capture plants or other emerging technologies,” the report says.

Starting point

In 2022, PCA introduced its sustainability target for net-zero emissions by 2050. The 2022 sustainability report also detailed the intention to invest in carbon capture technologies, along with the company’s goal to capture and permanently store 1.75 million metric tons of biogenic CO2 per year by 2040.

At that time, the company projected that 2028 would be the earliest it could operate a plant for capturing and storing biogenic carbon dioxide, and it’s still sticking with that date. It also noted a longer-term goal of scaling this technology to multiple sites.

The company’s 2023 sustainability report built on the idea, with Kowlzan saying CCS “represents the next frontier for our circular bioeconomy.”

Tapping into trees

PCA has previously described its plan to permanently remove its own CO2 emissions from the atmosphere by harnessing benefits from both trees and CCS systems that involve saline aquifers. The paper and packaging company projects that the CO2 it removes from the atmosphere and stores will bump up to 4.1 million metric tons by 2050.

“When PCA purchases a tree, whether as roundwood or wood chips, our manufacturing process begins from a ‘carbon-negative’ standpoint because the tree has removed carbon atoms from the atmosphere and stored these within its structure,” the report says.

PCA uses a combination of virgin and recycled fiber to create its products. Generally, the greater proportion of virgin fiber in its products, the “greater the availability of renewable fuel to power our manufacturing processes,” the report says, because the biomass in trees that can’t be used to make paper can be used as biogenic fuel.

“Currently, when biomass is combusted for renewable energy at our mills, the resulting CO2 emissions are released back into the atmosphere, rendering the energy production carbon neutral,” the report says. “However, if we were to capture and permanently store these biogenic CO2 emissions in geological reservoirs, such as saline aquifers, the outcome would be carbon-negative energy.”

Feeling salty

A saline aquifer is a geological formation made of porous rocks and brine — water that is too salty to be used for agriculture or drinking — deep below the earth’s surface. Pressurized CO2 can be injected into saline aquifers, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, the CO2 could dissolve over time, react with the minerals in the aquifer or become trapped in rocks’ pores.

PCA identified four of its mills that are located on or near saline aquifers that can be used to permanently store the carbon dioxide they produce: Counce, Tennessee; DeRidder, Louisiana; Jackson, Alabama; and Valdosta, Georgia. These mills emitted a combined 4.5 million metric tons of biogenic CO2 during the 2021 baseline year.

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PCA did not specify in the report which mill ran the carbon capture pilot that began last year, beyond saying it occurred at “one of our southern U.S. mills.” It worked with carbon removal company CO280 Solutions to fund and carry out the trial.

The company explored multiple technologies before landing on an amine-based solvent approach that involves capturing CO2 from post-combustion flue gas emissions from a biogenic boiler at the mill. PCA received the test unit in pieces that were delivered in 12 shipping containers, and after an eight-week build it stood 15-stories tall.

How it works

PCA ran the pilot using its partner’s proprietary process.

Flue gas from the mill’s biogenic boiler enters the unit, is cooled, then moves to an absorption tower, explained Bill Litzenberg, senior director of utilities operations at PCA, in the sustainability report. An amine solvent absorbs the CO2 in the flue gas. The captured CO2 then gets liquefied for transport and storage, and the solvent gets reused multiple times.

A third party transports the liquefied CO2 in a pipeline, Litzenberg said. It’s subsequently injected into saline aquifers.

The United States already has more than 5,300 miles of CO2 pipelines that have safely operated for half a century, according to the report. It cites U.S. EPA regulations and guidance to ensure safe storage and protect underground drinking water sources.

Now, PCA is working on its seven- to nine-month engineering and design study for a possible large-scale CCS facility; it’s slated for completion in early 2026.

While PCA’s longer-term plans involve expanding CCS to multiple sites, it acknowledges in the sustainability report that there are risks to pursuing this: technologies do not always advance or become commercialized on expected timelines, and it might not be able to incorporate the technologies in an efficient or cost-effective manner.

Even so, the company is “looking for opportunities to integrate the system more efficiently within our existing mill operations — particularly around heat recovery and energy optimization. Of course, financial viability will be key, as these systems require significant investment,” Litzenberg said.

PCA indicated in its most recent report to the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures that it stands to receive tax credits for CCS projects of up to $85 per metric ton, which makes the project financially viable. Reducing tax incentives beyond that amount could slow the rate of technology deployment or make such projects unviable. The tax credits are part of section 45Q in the Inflation Reduction Act, which were preserved in the federal government’s spending bill that became law in July.