K Line, KEPCO to study shipping of liquified CO2

Japanese shipping heavyweight Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K LINE) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) on the joint study of shipping liquefied CO2 in the context of developing a carbon dioxide capture and storage value chain.

The two companies will study optimal marine transportation schemes and shipping costs of liquefied CO2 emitted from KEPCO’s thermal power plants and aim to develop the CCS value chain in the future.

This joint study will investigate the method of liquefied CO2 marine transportation, which are suitable for long-distance and large-scale transportation and develop a more flexible CCS value chain.

CCS is expected to play an important role in contributing to the achievement of carbon neutrality by 2050.

K Line is already taking part in the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) CO2 ship transport demonstration project and the Northern Lights project in Norway, the world’s first full-scale CCS project.

As part of the NEDO project, K Line has teamed up with compatriot MOL to research the development of the technology to transport liquefied CO₂ by vessel, and carry out a demonstration test of annually transporting 10,000-ton scale of CO₂ by vessel. The project is expected to last from 2021 to 2026, with MOL focusing on the development of a large-size liquefied CO₂ carrier to be put into practical use.

Last month, K Line revealed that it had entered into bareboat and time charter contracts with Northern Lights JV DA for two 7,500 m3 liquefied CO2 ships under construction in China.

China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. (DSIC) launched the construction of the two LNG-powered, wind-assisted CO2 carriers for Northern Lights, a joint venture of energy majors Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies, in November 2022.

The ships are slated for delivery in 2024 and they are intended for loading captured and liquefied CO2 from European emitters, including the Norcem Brevik and Hafslund Oslo Celsio carbon capture facilities, and transporting it to the Northern Lights receiving terminal in Øygarden in western Norway.

The first stage of the project is at 70 percent completion, according to its developers.