The shipping company Scorpio Tankers, which has a fleet of more than 120 product tankers, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with US based Carbon Ridge to install carbon capture technologies aboard their ships. The agreement demarcates the collaboration for detailed front-end engineering, design, and validation process for installing a small-scale test unit onboard one of the company’s vessels. The IMO regulations primarily drive the impetus towards this method of carbon capture in the industry to reduce CO2 emission coupled with the limited availability of low carbon fuels, which makes using existing fuels with carbon capture tech more attractive. Modularised carbon capture units also offer the option of retrofitting older vessels without any significant structural change. There have been many breakthroughs in the field with promising results. One test was conducted by a joint venture of Japan’s K line and Mitsubishi on the vessel Corona Utility. The companies reported that the system performed within expectations, and the captured CO2 had a purity of 99.9%. Langh Tech from Finland reported success with a tech hybrid scrubber that involves circulating an alkaline solution that inherently absorbs CO2. The Korean classification society approved Samsung Heavy Industries’ carbon capture system specifically for LNG fueled ships. These and many more such instances indicate that modular carbon capture systems are shaping up to be a viable alternative to low emission fuels. Simply put: How to tackle climate change? The maritime transport industry is under increasing pressure to curb its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which account for approximately 3% of global emissions annually. The sector is highly dependent on heavy fuel oil a high carbon fossil fuel that closely resembles tar. In light of this, decarbonising the current global sailing fleet of approximately 100,000 ships represents a mammoth task that will require more energy efficient ships as well as revolutionising the industry’s entire fuel supply chain.
