A COAL carrier regularly engaged in Australian trades has been earmarked by operator K Line for trials of new on-board carbon capture technology.
In collaboration with project partners Mitsubishi Shipbuilding and ClassNK, K Line will install a small-scale marine-use demonstration plant on the 88,847 dwt Corona Utility (IMO 9748021), which operates under contract to the Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc.
The marine-use CO2 capture installation will be based on an onshore plant and designed to capture a portion of the vessel’s gas emissions. K Line says the project will not only verify the efficacy of capturing and storing CO2 from a vessel’s gas emissions, but also the operability and safety of CO2 capture facilities at sea.
“These demonstration tests are aimed at promoting the development of more compact equipment required by marine environments along with the development of system requirements necessary for stable continuous operation at sea,” the company said yesterday.
The project got underway last month and should see on-shore development and testing of the plant by mid-2021, followed by deployment on Corona Utility by the end of next year.
“As the world’s first marine demonstration test, the project will provide invaluable insights into facilities design and technologies for capturing CO2 emissions and achieving zero emissions onboard vessels,” K Line said. “Additionally, the captured CO2 is expected to be recycled as a new CO2 source for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) processes or as raw material in synthetic fuel through methanation. In this way, the project will significantly contribute to the long-term reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.”
