CO2 Capture and Storage to be Installed on Dutch Feeder Vessel

A Dutch technology company Value Marine that has also been developing a new generation of scrubbers reports that it will install the first CO2 capture and storage unit on an operational vessel. Other companies, including a consortium in Japan, have been testing designs for CO2 capture, while Value Marine says that it has developed a complete lifecycle system that will permit the CO2 to be captured, discharged onshore, and the containment system returned to the ship for further use.

Value Maritime’s system is based on a patented technology to remove CO2 from the vessel's exhaust gas. A module captures CO2 from the vessel’s exhaust and uses the CO2 to charge a CO2 battery while the vessel is in operation. The charged CO2 battery will then be offloaded in ports and transported to CO2 customers, such as the agricultural sector, who re-use the CO2. After the CO2 is discharged, the battery returns to the vessel, to be recharged with CO2 creating the circular system.

The first installation of the system is planned for October 2021. It will be installed aboard a 13,000 dwt feeder containership the Nordica, owned by Visser Shipping and operated by X-Press Feeders. The 498-foot-long vessel was built in China in 2011 and operates in the North Sea. Class society Bureau Veritas will provide the relevant approval of the system. 

Value Maritime plans to start loading and offloading the CO2 batteries at the Rotterdam Short Sea Terminal. The batteries will be transported to agricultural greenhouses near Rotterdam to discharge the batteries at greenhouses that use the CO2 to grow their crops. Value Maritime expects to expand to additional locations shortly, including both Bremerhaven and Hamburg, and will subsequently follow client’s request to set up CO2 infrastructure at additional ports.

The CO2 capture module will be integrated into Value Maritime’s Filtree System, a scrubber system for small and medium-sized ships. The system filters for sulfur as well as ultra-fine particulates and CO2 from the air. It consists of two elements. First, a small prefabricated, pre-installed, plug and play gas cleaning system filters the sulfur, 99 percent of the particulate matter (fine dust), and CO? from the exhaust gases of ships. Secondly, the Filtree system is equipped with a filter that cleans the washing water. Oil residues and particulate matter are removed from the washing water and fed to the sludge tank. The system ensures that the PH value of the used washing water is neutralized and, in combination with lower CO2 emission, contributes to reducing the acidification of the seawater.

In August 2021, a project in Japan led by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line) working with Mitsubishi Shipbuilding and Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) installed what they called the world’s first CO2 capture unit aboard a ship. The Japanese project is conducting sea trials to validate the small-sized CO2 capture plant and test its operations with the ship’s crew.