Samsung Heavy Industries has won approval in principle (AIP) from the Korean Register of Shipping (KR), for its newly-developed ‘on-board carbon capture system’ that can be used on LNG-powered ships.
The carbon capture system for ships uses an amine-based liquid absorbent to separate and recover carbon dioxide from the exhaust gas of LNG that is burned in a ship engine or generator.
To achieve its carbon-neutral goal, Samsung Heavy has developed the technology since 2020 in collaboration with local eco-friendly ship components maker Panasia Co.
Samsung Heavy is also conducting a technology performance test at a demonstration facility built by Panasia in Jinhae, South Gyeongsang Province.
The company signed a carbon capture processing technology service contract with German BASF S.E. last year, while it plans to commercialize the carbon capture technology optimized for LNG-powered ships by 2024.
A recent feasibility study conducted by the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) and Stena Bulk found that mobile carbon capture in shipping is technically feasible and has a long-term role to play in meeting the industry’s decarbonization targets.
Using a SuezMax ship, it considered the most challenging use case, a range of factors including energy balances, fundamental physics and integration challenges were assessed.
However, despite mobile carbon capture is technically feasible, the study warns that high operational and capital expenses would be involved in any deployment. More specifically, Capex is driven by the relatively high costs of the storage tanks, compressors and columns, while the cost of excess fuel burned is the highest contributor to operating expenses.
On the other hand, by 2030 more mature networks and infrastructure to process and sequester large volumes of carbon dioxide are expected to be in place.
Taking the above into consideration, the study recommends further work should be done to compare costs of carbon capture against other long-term marine carbon dioxide reduction technologies.
