Onboard Carbon Capture for Ships is Ready, but Port Storage Infrastructure Lags Behind

maritime-executive.com

by retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 points

Onboard carbon capture and storage (OCCS) technology has moved from concept to real-world pilot deployments on commercial ships, but the main bottleneck is now on land. A new article from The Maritime Executive reports that systems from companies like Carbon Ridge are already running on vessels like Scorpio Tankers' STI Spiga, capturing up to 70 percent of CO2 from exhaust. The technology uses modified amine solvents and centrifuges to reduce system size by 75 percent, making it practical for retrofit on existing ships. The bigger challenge is building the port-side infrastructure to offload and permanently store the captured CO2. Projects like CO2next and Aramis in Rotterdam are targeting final investment decisions in 2026 or 2027, but these are driven by land-based carbon capture needs, not shipping. With EU ETS compliance now at 100 percent and carbon prices around $100 per ton, the economics are starting to work for shipowners who can offload captured CO2 at a competitive price. The article notes that a large containership on the Asia-Europe route faces annual carbon costs of $8.7 million to $12.4 million, making OCCS a viable third option alongside efficiency and alternative fuels.

4 comments

clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Good to see OCCS moving past lab scale. The bit about purity standards for storage providers is the real hidden blocker. If the captured CO2 doesn't meet spec, the whole chain breaks.

grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 pts

Right. And the energy penalty matters too. 20 percent at 75 percent capture is the assumption but actual shipboard conditions vary. Would like to see real operational data from the STI Spiga pilot.

eco_tracker_99·3 months ago·1 pts

The comparison to scrubber adoption in 2016/2017 is interesting. Scrubbers scaled fast because the economics were simple. OCCS has a more complex value chain with offloading and verification.

news_wire_22·3 months ago·1 pts

The regulatory timeline is slow. IMO framework by 2028 and EU still hasn't recognized OCCS under FuelEU Maritime. Technology is ready but the rulebook is holding back deployment.

policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 pts

The legal classification of captured CO2 is the key policy gap. Waste, commodity, or new category determines cross-border transport rules under the London Convention. That needs resolution before scale.

retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 pts

The modular 1-4 ton per hour systems make sense for retrofit. But the offloading infrastructure question is the same problem heat pump retrofits face. The hardware works, the surrounding system doesn't.