South Korea’s shipbuilding giant Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has created technology that will allow to capture carbon dioxide emissions directly from ship engines, onboard the vessels.
The final development stages, including technical verification have successfully been completed and are the result of the joint efforts together with technology company Hi Air Korea. Furthermore, the South Korean shipbuilder has announced that its new technology will become commercially available soon.
However, Daewoo Shipbuilding is not the only one exploring and preparing to offer such solutions. Onboard carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been an exceptionally hot topic all throughout 2021 and has been making quite a few headlines over the last few months.
For example, the Netherlands’ Value Maritime just recently became the first to install onboard CCS technology on an operational vessel – the 1,036 teu boxship, Nordica. The installation of the unit is scheduled to be fully complete next month.
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Meanwhile, Japanese transportation company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) has embarked on a similar venture together with Mitsubishi Shipbuilding and Class NK. In fact, the joint project is even more ambitious in that its aim is to develop an entire carbon capture plant onboard a vessel, which would make it the first of its kind in history.
The small plant has already been installed on the coal carrier Corona Utility, which is currently on its pilot voyage. If this testing of the K Line CO2 capture plant proves successful, the company will start working on its commercialization.
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More and more firms are now working on incorporating CCS technology in scrubber systems and seeking ways to keep both capital and running costs low. If successful, the technology may allow for the continued use of traditional fossil fuels in the bunker industry.
