Independent dry bulk shipowner Berge Bulk has completed the installation of a carbon capture system on board its Ultramax vessel, Berge Yotei.
The system, developed by Value Maritime, integrates carbon capture into an exhaust gas cleaning process known as the Filtree System. Unlike conventional scrubbers, it removes both sulphur oxides and CO2 from a vessel’s exhaust.
It is designed to capture up to 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide per day, delivering a potential 30% reduction in emissions during operations.
CO2 is absorbed into a reusable amine solution, which can be offloaded in port for regeneration or reuse.
Potential applications include use in greenhouses, beverage production, and other industrial processes, with the potential to contribute to a circular carbon economy.
James Marshall, CEO of Berge Bulk, said carbon capture was a key pillar of its decarbonisation strategy.
“While we remain committed to optimising fleet efficiency, installing decarbonisation technology, and switching to new fuels, we must also capture carbon at the same time,” he said.
“We’ve been actively capturing carbon through nature-based solutions on shore for many years. Now it’s time to also start capturing carbon onboard.”
Among known technologies for carbon capture, the category of post-combustion methods, which separate carbon from the exhaust after burning fuel, are the most relevant for conventional marine energy systems. These methods include chemical absorption, membrane separation, cryogenic separation, and mineralisation.
For fuel-cell systems with liquefied natural gas as fuel, pre-combustion or oxy-fuel combustion are possible but currently underdeveloped methods in shipping because of the low adoption of such fuel cells.
But onboard carbon capture requires energy, usually heat and electricity, to operate capture and treatment systems, leading to a ‘fuel penalty’.
“The trade-off between the achievable emissions reduction and the fuel penalty is a key challenge in onboard carbon capture, affecting both the environmental and economic viability of the technology,” notes classification firm DNV.
