The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD), the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) and Stena Bulk initiated the first stage of a two-year, three-phase project to demonstrate shipboard carbon capture at scale.
Together with Alfa Laval, the American Bureau of Shipping, Deltamarin and TNO, the consortium from the energy and shipping industries will investigate on-board capture and storage, as well as offloading of captured carbon dioxide (CO2) to address the challenges and opportunities of deploying carbon capture technology on ships.
More specifically, Project REMARCCABLE (Realising Maritime Carbon Capture to demonstrate the Ability to Lower Emissions) is the world’s first project aimed to demonstrate end-to-end shipboard carbon capture at scale. The project is targeting at least 30% absolute CO2 capture, or approximately 1000 kg/hr of capture, while the seven-member consortium will build and test a marine carbon capture system onboard a Stena Bulk medium range (MR) tanker to assess the operational challenges of running such a system on a ship at sea.
Project REMARCCABLE will use non-proprietary equipment and processes, so results can be shared to maximise learning and encourage further technology development. It also aims to establish a pathway to reduce the cost of CO2 capture to 150 €/tCO2 or lower to allow the technology to be commercially deployed in future.
An MR tanker was chosen for the project as vessels of similar size are estimated to emit 17% of shipping’s total CO2 emissions. The initial demonstration will involve over 500 hours of capture of the exhaust from burning high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) or very-low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and will include offloading(s) of captured and liquefied CO2 (LCO2) at ports along the route of a 10-day deep-sea voyage.
Following a successful test phase, Stena Bulk will retain the carbon capture system onboard and extend its use beyond this pilot.
With an off-taker for the captured CO2 identified, Project REMARCCABLE will cover onboard capture and storage, as well as utilisation and/or sequestration to account for CO2 emissions reduction from ship to shore. This will make it the only pilot demonstrating shipboard carbon capture across the full value chain.
Professor Lynn Loo, CEO of the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation, explained:
The open sourcing of Project REMARCCABLE, piloting under real-world conditions and delivering end-to-end solutions, is in line with GCMD’s goals of lowering the barriers for adoption so international shipping can meet or exceed the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) GHG emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2050
The Project REMARCCABLE comprises three phases and is inspired by a feasibility study that was carried out and completed by TNO on behalf of OGCI and Stena Bulk in November 2021.
#1 The first phase involves conceptual design and front-end engineering design study (FEED) of the carbon capture system; this study is ongoing and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023.
#2 A second phase will encompass the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of a prototype shipboard carbon capture system, including onshore commissioning, will be initiated.
#3 Phase three will focus on integrating the carbon capture system with the identified MR tanker and conducting sea trials. Concurrently, GCMD will be issuing an Invitation for Proposal (IFP) to study the challenges and address the needs to operationalise offloading of LCO2.
The findings from the offloading study will inform the pilot in phase three of Project REMARCCABLE.
Building on our previous feasibility work, this real-life project will show the potential of carbon capture technology to meet ambitious decarbonization goals set by the maritime industry. We’re excited to bring our knowledge from stationary applications to this hard to abate sector
Michael Traver, Head of the Transport Workstream at OGCI, added.
“The success of Project REMARCCABLE has the potential to accelerate commercial deployment of shipboard carbon capture technology within the next five years, providing MR tankers and other vessels of similar size a mid-term solution to cut GHG emissions,” GCMD believes.
