Transporting goods on huge fossil-fueled cargo ships is a dirty business. But one such vessel is about to embark on a pilot that could clean up shipping's act considerably. An onboard system has now been installed on the Clipper Eris that will capture CO2 from its exhaust outlets and store it in tanks.
Thousands of merchant ships criss-cross global waters every year to help keep trade alive and well. The vast majority of these are built around combustion engines running on fossil fuels – belching CO2 into the atmosphere as they go. On global terms, shipping accounts for around 3% of the world's man-made CO2 emissions.
The International Maritime Organization has been trying to clean up the shipping's act for a few years now by enforcing greenhouse gas regulations, but recently buckled down to set ambitious net-zero emissions targets for the global industry by 2050.
Lower-emission – or even zero-emission – fuels are being looked into, along with battery-electric options, and we're already seeing the fruits of these kinds of projects. But implementing developments in this arena may involve companies having to invest in brand new builds. Other research is looking into reducing emissions of the current fleet.
Back in 2011, Solvang "initiated a holistic programme to make our vessels more energy efficient and to remove harmful emissions from the exhaust." Such things as gas recirculation modules, open-loop scrubbers and mechanical and systematic improvement have since been rolled out. Its Clipper Harald subsequently functioned as a kind of testing lab for the SFI Smart Maritime innovation project.
The company has also been developing a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system, and began running a 1.2-MW system with scrubber manufacturer Wärtsilä in 2021. Now the technology has been installed on the ethylene carrier Clipper Eris for a pilot project in partnership with Wärtsilä, MAN Energy Solutions, and the research institute SINTEF.
The Onboard CCS system is expected to recover some "70 percent of the CO2 in the exhaust gas from the [7-MW] main engine." The technology will work alongside existing scrubber and exhaust gas cleaning systems, and the resulting CO2 will be "refrigerated until liquefaction" before being stored in tanks on-deck.
"Onboard carbon capture combined with existing cleaning technology is a significant shortcut to decarbonization of the world’s deep-sea fleet," said Solvang ASA CEO, Edvin Endresen. "This stands out as one of the more promising solutions for future vessels."
The freshly fitted out Clipper Eris is expected to leave Singapore for its two-year testing mission in early February. If the pilot proves successful, Solvang says that it has seven new ships under construction that are being made ready for installation of the Onboard CCS technology.
"CCS is something we can do within a few years," said Solvang fleet director, Tor-Øyvind Ask. "When the world has sufficiently green energy, the captured CO2 can be transformed into electro fuel." Other applications for the captured CO2 include use in the food processing industry and in carbonated beverages.
Source: Solvang
