A carbon black manufacturing plant in Nebraska could be set to host a data center.Monolith is hoping to build a data center in Hallam on the company’s Olive Creek campus in Lancaster County. The company is reportedly eyeing Crusoe as the prospective project partner.Founded in 2012, Monolith is focused on producing carbon black and hydrogen. Launched in 2020, the Olive Creek site at 27077 SW 42nd Street produces carbon black, a high-purity form of carbon used in the likes of tires, rubbers, plastics, paints, and other materials.Monolith told press it aims to amend Hallam’s zoning ordinance to add “data center” as an authorized use in requirements and develop a modular data center facility on around 10 acres on the northeast portion of the site.A larger development, directly to the east of the Olive Creek campus, would come later via a separate application.Full details of either development haven’t been shared.News that the firm was looking to develop a data center at Olive Creek first surfaced in February. The company held a community open house to discuss its plans this month. An official application is expected to be submitted later this month, with hopes for full permission by September.“We chose a data center partner because we believe it is a better fit for the site and our future growth while having less impact on the local community,” Monolith chief development officer Anna Wishart told 1011Now. "Compared to the larger carbon black and ammonia facility we originally contemplated, the project is expected to have lower traffic, reduced water use, and a lower overall height profile. The modular data center units planned at our site will utilize water-efficient designs relying on either air-cooled units or closed-loop systems."Monolith Inc. (formerly Boxer Industries) is known for being the first company to use methane pyrolysis to split natural gas into carbon and hydrogen on a commercial scale. The company was hoping to develop a plant where the hydrogen gas from the process would be converted to anhydrous ammonia. Investors in the company include TPG, Decarbonization Partners, SK, Mitsubishi, and Warburg Pincus.Located around 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Lincoln, the Olive Creek campus is situated close to the Sheldon Power Station. The 225MW coal-fired power plant launched in the 1960s and is owned by the Nebraska Public Power District. It was previously home to the Hallam Nuclear Power Facility, but the 75MW plant shut down in 1966.