Aqualung carbon capture initiative attracts Golar LNG, Global Ship Lease

Global Ship Lease (GSL), a London-based containership owner Global Ship Lease (GSL) and Golar LNG, a UK-based owner and operator of marine-based LNG midstream infrastructure, have invested in a carbon capture initiative led by Aqualung Carbon Capture AS.

As informed, Norway’s Aqualung completed a new, $10 million equity investment from key strategic partners that, apart from GSL and Golar, also include Delek Innovation, part of Delek US, MKS Pamp and Standard Lithium.

Representatives from Golar LNG and Standard Lithium are also set to join the Aqualung Board of Directors.

Specifically, Aqualung will utilize the funds to grow the team across Europe and the US, deliver its first commercial pilot with Standard Lithium and initiate commercialization projects with key industrial suppliers in order to achieve its objective of providing large-scale commercial units before 2025.

The technology has achieved proof of concept at two cement installations and is embarking on the next step to industrialize its coating process and deliver a containerized commercial unit.

Aqualung will initiate this scale-up in collaboration with Standard Lithium at a CO2 capture Pilot Plant, which will demonstrate the efficacy of its technology on low CO2 concentration levels. This Pilot will unlock a significant number of hard-to-abate emitters and also set us up to optimize our solution for higher CO2 concentration markets including cement, steel, waste management, refining & petrochemicals, and transportation sectors.

The cost, weight, low complexity, and small footprint advantage have garnered strong interest from the LNG and maritime sectors as confirmed by the strategic investors.

“Golar and Aqualung share a strong foundation of technical expertise and support from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and together are ready to play a decisive role in decarbonizing the LNG supply chain,” according to Aqualung.

Global Ship Lease has also invested in Aqualung and will pool its technical expertise to support the application of Aqualung’s carbon capture solution to the maritime sector, with a particular focus on the development of containerized carbon capture units to be retrofit-able to containerships and other seagoing vessels.

“Maritime regulators, our liner customers, and the general public increasingly recognize, as do we, that decarbonization of the shipping sector is an imperative that demands immediate action. The challenges are significant. One of the biggest is for the shipping industry to adapt to what is likely to be a non-standardized, multi-fuel environment in the future – with each fuel type requiring its own infrastructure, propulsion technology, safety protocols, training, and all else that such a fundamental shift entails,” George Youroukos, Executive Chairman of Global Ship Lease, commented.

“In contrast, if the container shipping industry teaches us anything, it is that standardization can unlock a virtuous cycle, reducing costs and facilitating and accelerating the buildout of support infrastructure and services. This is one of the things that makes carbon capture so compelling: almost regardless of the initial fuel input, the ultimate output is a highly standardized and well understood carbon dioxide molecule.”

“We are pleased to have found, in Aqualung, a carbon capture technology with great potential and a team … that is highly focused on both practicality and scalability. Crucially, we believe that such a technology can play a central role in extending the lives of existing ships, by significantly mitigating their emissions and increasing their competitiveness in an increasingly carbon-regulated environment, which is a key step, in our view, in transitioning to a decarbonized future,” Youroukos added.

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