Why carbon capture ?

Shipping decarbonization goals

The path we are on today
We are heading for an increase in maritime GHG emissions of ~20% by 2050 despite current industry-wide efforts. Growing trade volumes _{^{(~1.3% CAGR trade growth)}}, technological developments and existing CO2 reduction initiatives across the sector will not give shipping enough traction to deliver what is needed to meet the current IMO targets. Shipping needs to step up.

IMO 2030 & 2050 (see infographic)
The International Maritime Organization has taken measures with clear targets to tackle climate change and reduce carbon emissions from shipping. However it's expected that national and local legislation call for even more stricter and sooner targets.

It also seems to be only a matter of time that carbon taxes will come into force in one way or the other for the shipping industry worldwide.

What can, and needs to be done?
It is important for ship owners to prepare themselves thoroughly and sustainably for the future, in which ever stricter requirements will be imposed on the emission of greenhouse gases. In basic there are 3 options for carbon reduction;

Use less of the current (carbon intensive) fuels
Switch to synthetic / non-carbon fuels (E-fuels)
Carbon capture

Infographic: IMO 2030 & 2050

_{1. Use less of the current (carbon-intensive) fuels}

Using less fuel and/or improving efficiency is a good thing and pays off in terms of reduced emissions. Therefore, it should be done whenever possible, but there are limits to what can be achieved in the longer term.

Lowering fuel consumption
^_◼ Logistics _{(optimized route planning, vessel utilization)}
^_◼ Hydrodynamics _{(hull optimization, air lubrication, cleaning)}
^_◼ Machinery _{(waste-heat recovery, engine de-rating, battery hybridization)
^◼} Use/blend of less carbon-intensive fuels _{(LNG, LPG, Hydrogen & Methanol from CH4, Biodiesel)}

Availability: ✔️
IMO2030 compliance: ❔
IMO2050 compliance: ❌

_{2. Switch to non-carbon fuels (E-fuels)}

The most sustainable solution is to switch to carbon-free fuels, such as green Ammonia. Secondly green Methanol, when it's produced from green CO2 in combination with green Hydrogen.

However, these E-fuels are still in their infancy and renewable energy sources + green liquified CO2 will not be sufficiently available to produce the required amount of e-fuels necessary in the medium to long term.
Practically only 25% of the "global energy demand for shipping" will be available from E-fuels as from 2040 according Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (see infographic).

Availability: ❌
IMO2030 compliance: ✔️
IMO2050 compliance: ✔️

_{3. Carbon Capture (SBCC)}

The currently most certain strategy for reducing CO2 emissions is to capture the CO2 which is released from the exhaust gases during combustion with a Ship Based Carbon Capture system (SBCC). The captured CO2 can be used to as neccesary feedstock for the production of E-fuels for the Maritime industry, but also for Aviation fuels.
Eventually the SBCC (with it's large quantities of captured CO2) contributes as an accellerator for the transition to synthetic fuels / E-fuels.

Our Ship Based Carbon Capture system requires hardly any modifications to the current engine system and can make your vessel compliant until (or even beyond) IMO 2050. The system can be integrated into new build vessels and can also be retrofitted to existing vessels.
System can be designed for LNG, Diesel, MDO, HFO aswell as Methanol fueled vessels.

Availability: ✔️
IMO2030 compliance: ✔️
IMO2050 compliance: ✔️

carbon capture explained