EverLoNG ship-based carbon capture project wins EU funding

A cross-boundary project involving science and industry experts has landed €3.4 million ($3.7 million) from an EU climate action fund to accelerate the uptake of ship-based carbon capture (SBCC) by international shipping companies.

The EverLoNG project led by TNO will demonstrate the feasibility of CO2 capture on board two LNG-fuelled ships, owned and operated by project partners TotalEnergies and Heerema Marine Contractors, with results aimed at moving the technology closer to market readiness.

As well as the SBCC trials, the 16 project partners from five countries – Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and the USA – will conduct studies to support the development of full-chain carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) networks, connecting SBCC with CO2 transport links, geological CO2 storage and markets for CO2 use.

These studies will identify and help solve any technical barriers to the implementation of SBCC as well as lower the costs associated with the technology.

The project consortium includes ship classification societies – Lloyd’s Register, Bureau Veritas and DNV – that will evaluate how SBCC fits within existing regulatory frameworks for shipping.

Combined activities by EverLoNG partners will support the ambitious target of advancing SBCC as a cost-competitive decarbonization option on the market by 2025, with a marginal abatement cost – the cost of reducing environmental impact – of between €75 and €100 per tonne of CO2 equivalent and a CO2 capture rate of up to 90%.

“Funding from the ACT3 program will enable us to conduct studies aimed at making commercial ship-based carbon capture a reality. Our demonstration campaigns will optimize SBCC technology and we will also consider how best to integrate it into existing ship and port infrastructure,” Marco Linders, EverLoNG project coordinator, commented.

“We’ll also carry out detailed life cycle assessments and techno-economic analysis, which will be essential information for maritime sector companies.”

“We … have committed to reducing our footprint by up to 80% by the end of 2026. Taking part in the EverLoNG Project and testing the use of a carbon capture and storage system onboard our vessel Sleipnir is an important step towards reaching our goals,” Cees Dijkhuizen, Heerema’s Sustainability Project Manager, said.

“As part of our climate ambition to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, together with society, the decarbonization of our maritime activity is an important challenge. Ship-based carbon capture is a promising short-term solution as it could be installed on the current fleet of ships,” Philip Llewellyn, Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage Program Manager, TotalEnergies, noted.

“In addition, the potential application of such a technology onboard future CO2 carriers, as in the Northern Lights project, in which TotalEnergies is a partner, could bring high-potential synergies.”

Following a rigorous two-stage evaluation process, EverLoNG was selected along with 12 other R&D projects by the ACT3 funders in 2021 in order to address key research and innovation targets in the CCUS field.

Onboard carbon capture

The maritime sector aims to reduce CO2 emissions from international shipping by at least 50% by 2050.

SBCC is one option being considered as a low-cost, short-term approach to decarbonizing the sector, compared to zero-emission fuels, such as ammonia and hydrogen.

Last year, South Korean shipbuilding major Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) developed a technology that can collect and store carbon dioxide generated during ship operations. Its compatriot shipbuilding company Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) also gained AIP for its newly developed onboard carbon capture and storage (CCS) applicable to LNG-fueled vessels in January this year.

In Japan, shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) said in October 2021 it successfully separated and captured CO2 from the exhaust gas emitted from a coal carrier Corona Utility.

In Europe, Finland-based green tech company Langh Tech started in December 2021 researching the possibility of carbon capture onboard vessels. The first tests have been successfully performed on board one of the vessels operated by Langh Ship, Lang Tech’s sister company, utilizing the existing Langh Tech hybrid scrubber.

Moreover, Dutch maritime technology company Value Maritime also developed an onboard CO₂ capture and storage solution for the maritime industry that was installed onboard an operational vessel. A capture module captures CO₂ from the vessel’s exhaust and uses the CO₂ to charge a CO₂ battery — a CO₂ storage facility on which CO₂ can be charged and discharged.

Finally, Monaco-based tanker operator Scorpio Tankers entered into a memorandum of understanding with Californian company Carbon Ridge to collaborate on the development of onboard carbon capture for maritime vessels. The agreement addresses the collaboration for detailed front-end engineering, design, and validation process with a small-scale test unit onboard one of Scorpio Tankers’ 124 product tankers.

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