Solvang Ethylene Carrier to Be Retrofitted with CCS System

MarineLink October 20, 2021

Rendering of Clipper Eos with Wärtsilä's Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) system installed. (Image: Wärtsilä)

Norwegian shipping company Solvang will pilot a retrofitted carbon capture and storage (CCS) system on one of its ethylene carriers in an effort to test the technology as a potential solution to support decarbonization in the shipping industry.

Wärtsilä Exhaust Treatment said it is designing the retrofitted unit while it also completes a land-based 1MW test system at its Moss headquarters in Norway. The land-based unit will be completed in Autumn 2021, and the companies expect to retrofit the pilot CCS system on Solvang's 21,000-cubic-meter-capacity Clipper Eos by 2023.

In line with the IMO’s decarbonization targets, Wärtsilä is initially aiming for a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions at the point of exhaust with its pilot unit, the company said.

“Joining forces with Solvang to build and retrofit a commercially viable CCS technology demonstrates to the industry that we are only two or three years away from bringing to market another vital tool in shipping’s decarbonization toolkit,” said Sigurd Jenssen, Director at Wärtsilä Exhaust Treatment. “Our land-based test unit is nearing completion, and we will then move to making it a reality on the Clipper Eos.”

Edvin Endresen, CEO at Solvang ASA, said the company is looking to scale up sustainable technologies across its fleet. “Carbon capture and storage is an exciting development that we are proud to support, and we strongly believe that this technology could be an important key to decarbonize the world’s deep-sea fleet,” he said.

Clipper Eos has been time chartered by Marubeni Corp., Tokyo since her delivery from the shipyard in 2019. Marubeni, having more than 40 years' experience trading and handling ethylene, advise that they are committed to cooperating with Solvang and Wärtsilä to enable the parties to perform relevant testing and installation of equipment on the vessel in a mutual effort to drastically reduce its CO2 footprint.

In addition to signing a Letter of Intent with Solvang and scaling its Moss CCS test unit, Wärtsilä recently announced it is partnering with the LINCCS consortium to scale and create carbon capture technologies and infrastructure. The consortium recently received 111 million Norwegian Kroner in funding to CCS research and development.