Scorpio Tankers, Carbon Ridge team up to develop onboard carbon capture for ships

Monaco-based tanker operator Scorpio Tankers has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Californian company Carbon Ridge to collaborate on the development of onboard carbon capture for maritime vessels.

Carbon Ridge is a US-based startup working to commercialize existing gas separation technology without the need for large structural modifications.

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.

“We are pleased to partner with Carbon Ridge and assist in their efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of maritime transportation. In light of the myriad questions regarding alternative fuels, we feel that onboard carbon capture presents a viable path to decarbonization for large segments of our industry,” Emanuele A. Lauro, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Scorpio Tankers, commented.

“With a recent push towards well-to-wake accounting for emissions, truly low-carbon alternative fuels will be in limited supply for the foreseeable future. We believe carbon capture will provide the most cost-effective solution to meet IMO decarbonization targets for the benefit of all stakeholders,” Chase Dwyer, Chief Executive Officer of Carbon Ridge, said.

The CO2 capture and storage technology is becoming increasingly popular within the global maritime industry which faces stringent environmental regulations imposed by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Last year, South Korean shipbuilding major Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) said it 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 onboard one of the vessels operated by Langh Ship, Lang Tech’s sister company, utilizing the existing Langh Tech hybrid scrubber.

Finally, 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.

On 28 March 2022, Value Maritime teamed up with compatriot CO2 collecting firm Carbon Collectors to perform a conceptual design study for a new fleet of tugs to be built by Carbon Collectors.

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