Crowley and Carbon Ridge Inc, a leading developer of modular onboard carbon capture and storage solutions (OCCS), with support from the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD) Maritime Environmental and Technical Assistance (META) program, have initiated an advanced, pilot project to reduce emissions impacts using Crowley’s Storm international container ship.
Using Carbon Ridge’s patent-pending, second generation carbon capture technology, the companies and MARAD have executed a cooperative agreement for the pilot program to operate, measure and optimize the technology’s effectiveness in actual maritime environments at port and ultimately at sea. The collaboration includes the engineering, manufacturing and integration of a small capacity version of Carbon Ridge’s full-scale carbon capture system.
“The advancement of the pilot project represents a milestone in the emerging technology for carbon capture. With its potential for significant emissions reductions through retrofitting or during new building, ship owners and operators have the opportunity to future-proof their vessels for incoming regula tions, as well as reach internal goals for decarbonization and reduced emissions impacts,” said Chase Dwyer, CEO of Carbon Ridge.
Crowley’s engineering services group, which provides vessel design and engineering, project management and waterfront engineering by leveraging its research and development team for internal and external customers, is leading the integration of the pilot system on the Storm, which serves the U.S. and Caribbean basin. The carbon capture system will be housed in two 40-foot container units on the vessel’s main deck and have an additional 20-foot ISO-certified tank for storing the captured liquid CO2. The pilot project is expected to capture 1 metric ton per day (1 tonne) from the vessel’s main engine.
“We are excited to help spearhead the maritime industry’s journey to cleaner operations at sea and in our communities,” said Brett Bennett, senior vice president and general manager of Crowley Logistics. “This is a strong step forward to understanding and achieving our commitment to reaching net-zero emissions as part of our sustainability strategy.”
“MARAD is pleased to work with industry partners through META to demonstrate innovative technology applications that may lead to greater greenhouse gas emission reductions in the maritime sector,” said Daniel Yuska, director of the MARAD Office of Environment and Innovation.
Installation of the pilot unit on the vessel is expected in 2024 after completing onshore testing. In 2022, Crowley contributed to Carbon Ridge’s seed funding round to continue developing the technology.
Carbon Ridge (“CR”) is a leading developer of second-generation carbon capture & storage technology for the maritime industry. The company’s patent-pending CCS technology enables greater than 50-percent reductions in the overall CCS system volume and a significant reduction in energy consumption compared to conventional carbon capture approaches. CR also provides owners with a straightforward operational and logistics solution to manage the end-to-end CO2 capture process. Carbon Ridge is headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. and Houston, Tex. Additional information can be found at www.carbonridge.com.
The MARAD META program promotes the research, demonstration, and development of emerging technologies, practices, and processes that improve maritime industrial environmental sustainability.
META focuses on a range of environmental issues impacting the industry including reduction in vessel and port air emissions and decarbonization, control aquatic invasive species transported by vessels, and reduction of vessel-generated underwater noise.
Reprinted from Marine Construction Magazine, Issue II, 2024.
