In Japan, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding is partnering with transportation company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and non-profitable organisation Nippon Kaiji Kyokai to pilot the world’s first marine-based carbon-capture system.
The three parties have gained the support of the Maritime Bureau of Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to conduct the study.
The pilot will be conducted in Tohoku Electric’s K Line’s coal carrier to identify potential risks and conduct operability and safety evaluations to determine ongoing specifications.
The “Carbon Capture on the Ocean” demonstration involves converting the design of an existing carbon capture system for onshore power plants to a marine environment and installing it on board an actual ship in service.
The project will run over the next two years.
In August 2020, with verification from ClassNK, a hazard identification study was launched for the design of the demonstration plant and the onboard installation.
Mitsubishi Shipbuilding will manufacture small scale carbon capture demonstration plant and assess the safety of the system.
The demonstration plant will be manufactured in mid-2021.
This demonstration experiment conducted at sea is the first of its kind in the world.
The lessons that will be learned during the project will be used for future development of technologies and systems to capture carbon emissions from the exhaust gases of marine equipment and ships.
Further, the captured carbon emissions can be recycled for use as a new source of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery processes, or as a raw material in synthetic fuel, providing a significant contribution to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The project falls under efforts by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding to expand its footprint within the low-carbon business since the enactment of the Paris Agreement.
