MOL looks to harvest carbon

MITSUI OSK Lines is investing in an onboard carbon capture system that harvests exhaust emissions to remove pollutants and produce re-usable chemicals and energy.

The company will equip its 75,000 DWT LR1 product tanker Nexus Victoria with the Filtree System, an onboard CO₂ capture system with a SOx scrubber manufactured by Value Maritime BV, a Dutch emission-reducing technology company.

MOL says will be the first installation of a commercial CO₂ capture system onboard a vessel by a Japanese shipowner and is expected to be in place around the end of 2024.

The Filtree System has a scrubber function that removes 99% of sulphur oxides (SOx) and particulate matter (PM) contained in exhaust gases and a carbon capture and storage (CCS) function that separates and recovers up to 10% of CO₂ from the exhaust emissions.

CO₂ in the exhaust gases generated onboard the vessel is adsorbed and captured by reacting with a special chemical substance. The chemical will be discharged ashore, and the heat-separated CO₂ can be supplied to greenhouses, synthetic fuel companies and other end users before being put to good use, MOL says.

“The MOL Group has positioned its environmental strategy as a key element of its ‘BLUE ACTION 2035’ management plan, and set the target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in the MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2.

“The Filtree System is a technology that separates and captures CO₂ emitted from the vessel and is expected to be an effective means of carbon neutralization in the shipping industry. This system is noteworthy as an initiative to promote decarbonization of existing vessels, which are difficult to convert to next-generation fuels,” MOL says.

“MOL and VM will continue working toward the realization of a carbon-neutral society by reducing GHG emissions from vessels and building a CO₂ capture value chain.”