The Week in Alt Fuels: OCCS beyond pilots
Broader commercial deployment of onboard carbon capture and storage (OCCS) technology will depend on regulatory and infrastructure progress.
IMAGE: Solvang's Clipper Eris vessel fitted with Wärtsilä's OCCS system. Solvang
Several shipowners and operators are testing onboard carbon capture and storage (OCCS) technologies across multiple vessel types.
Norwegian gas carrier operator Solvang has installed a chemical absorption-based OCCS system on one of its ethylene carriers, achieving a tested CO2 capture rate of 70%.
Value Maritime has installed its amine-based OCCS system on vessels operated by Berge Bulk, Eastern Pacific Shipping, X-Press Feeders, Ardmore Shipping and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL). The installations span bulk carriers, container ships, tankers and other vessel types. The company also plans to equip two pure car and truck carriers owned by Neptune Lines.
Value Maritime’s system has achieved CO2 capture rates of up to 40%, according to a recent Lloyd's Register (LR) report commissioned by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
Seabound achieved a 78% CO2 capture rate and more than 90% SOx removal during a two-month sea trial on the Sounion Trader. It has since made its first full-scale commercial installation on a cement carrier, with captured CO2 stored onboard as limestone and intended for reuse at Heidelberg Materials' Brevik cement plant.
Some projects are addressing what happens after carbon is captured. NYK Line and Hokkaido Electric Power have launched a three-year demonstration project that will examine onboard capture and how captured CO2 can be offloaded from vessels and reused.
Emissions capture at berth is advancing too, though not all of it targets carbon.
US-based STAX Engineering recently secured $150 million in financing to expand its barge-based systems, which strip NOx and particulate matter from tankers' exhaust while alongside at Californian ports rather than capturing CO2. STAX has also trialled onboard carbon capture with Seabound in the Port of Long Beach.
STAX has said its floating system will allow operators to reduce emissions from tankers in port without modifying vessels, installing berth-specific infrastructure or disrupting cargo operations.
"It will be some years before the availability of green fuels matches demand, and in the meantime OCCS has the potential to make a significant contribution to shipping's decarbonisation," ICS technical director Chris Waddington said.
The growing number of pilot projects suggests confidence in OCCS is increasing.
But port infrastructure for receiving, storing and handling captured CO2 will be critical to broader adoption. As will transport networks and regulations that recognise and reward captured emissions.
The LR report identifies Rotterdam, Esbjerg, Immingham, Antwerp-Bruges, Dunkirk, Wilhelmshaven and Singapore, along with Norway's Northern Lights terminal, as key locations with existing or planned infrastructure for receiving and permanently storing captured CO2.
It notes that reception capacity remains "heavily dependent on a very small number of ports", with most facilities concentrated in northern Europe and largely absent from several of the world's busiest shipping corridors, including the US, Asia and the Middle East.
Regulatory certainty is another hurdle, as there is currently no dedicated international regulatory framework for OCCS. China has urged the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to develop OCCS guidelines soon, arguing that policy is failing to keep pace with growing industry investment in the technology.
The IMO's existing Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI), Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) frameworks do not include dedicated methodologies to account for OCCS.
While the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) already recognises permanently stored CO2, FuelEU Maritime is still awaiting methodological updates before the technology can be credited, the LR report notes.
"The net effect is that the primary compliance levers still hinge on fuels rather than post-combustion abatement, and the absence of explicit OCCS accounting erodes the near-term business case even where capture is technically feasible," the LR report argues.
In other alternative bunker news this week, global bunker supplier Peninsula and Japan's Itochu have formed a joint venture to advance ammonia bunkering across Europe. The newly formed company, I&P Marine Ammonia, will develop ammonia bunker infrastructure and offer physical ammonia deliveries across major Northwest European and Mediterranean ports.
Dutch chemical storage firm Evos and Spanish startup HyFive will explore storage and supply of e-methanol in Rotterdam. The companies will assess logistical and operational requirements for storing e-methanol produced at HyFive's planned facility and supplying it across the ARA region.
The Government of Québec will fund shore power infrastructure for cruise and cargo ships in Canada’s Port of Québec with CAD 5 million ($3.5 million). Shore power facilities will be installed at Wharf 30 for cruise ships and at Wharf 101 for cargo vessels, with operations scheduled to begin in 2028.
Japanese chemicals firm Mitsubishi Gas Chemical (MGC) has signed a long-term agreement with Indian renewables producer ACME to procure 100,000 mt/year of e-methanol from 2030. ACME is planning to build a 200,000 mt/year e-methanol plant in Odisha, India. The e-methanol will go to bunkering and other applications across Japan and wider Asian markets.
By Konica Bhatt
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