Carbon capture in shipping getting closer: Wartsila

Finnish marine technology firm Wartsila believes viable carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology is only a few years away for shipping.

Wartsila has teamed up with Norwegian shipping firm Solvang on a full-scale pilot retrofit installation of a CCS system on a Solvang ethylene carrier, the Clipper Eos, which is chartered by Japan's Marubeni.

The two companies hope to install the CCS system on the vessel by 2023, following a land-based test which will finish this year. Wartsila said the CCS system can provide a 70pc reduction in CO2 emissions at the exhaust.

This installation shows CCS technology is only two or three years away from being available on the shipping market, director of Wartsila's exhaust treatment unit Sigurd Jenssen said.

Wartsila is part of the Linking Carbon Capture and Storage (LINCCS) consortium, which aims to develop cheaper carbon storage. The Norwegian government recently awarded 111mn kroner ($13.2mn) to the group.

As well as being used on a vessel to capture emissions, CCS technology can be used in the production of new, zero-carbon shipping fuels. Future bunker fuels such as blue hydrogen would be produced from fossil fuels, but the emissions from such production could be captured and stored.

The future of scrubbers, which allow ships to burn 3.5pc sulphur fuel oil, could hinge on their ability to capture CO2 emissions. Wartsila has previously said adding CCS technology to a scrubber could be feasible.

Shipping firms K Line and Klaveness have both committed to exploring CCS technology onboard ships.

By George Collard