Project CAPTURED: Capture carbon to permanent utilisation or sequestration demonstration

To demonstrate simultaneous ship-to-ship liquefied CO₂ (LCO₂) offloading operation and the utilisation of onboard captured CO₂ for low-carbon calcium carbonate production

• Understand operational and safety challenges of StS LCO₂ offloading

• Identify and address regulatory barriers that hinder the transfer and transport of captured CO₂

• Showcase how onboard captured LCO₂ can integrate into an industrial CO₂ utilisation pathway

• Conduct life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify GHG emissions abatement

The pilot confirmed both the technical and operational feasibility of integrating maritime carbon capture into an industrial CO₂ utilisation pathway, effectively linking shipping decarbonisation efforts with heavy industry’s demand for low-carbon feedstocks. Several key highlights include:

• Tracked quality and quantity of CO₂: Comprehensive sampling and analysis were carried out to monitor the quality and transferred volumes of LCO₂ across the value chain. Across all custody transfer points, CO₂ purity exceeded 99.95 vol%, meeting the downstream user’s specifications.

• Safe and controlled operations ensured: Operations were conducted after rigorous hazard identification, mooring analysis and LCO₂ leak assessment, with multi-zone access controls. Handling and transfer of LCO₂ followed procedures adapted from existing liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas transfer protocols. No safety incidents occurred during the trial.

• Regulatory hurdles overcame: Early authority engagement allowed for the one-off, project-specific reclassification of captured CO₂ from “hazardous waste” to “hazardous cargo”, enabling lawful land transport and industrial utilisation under Chinese regulations.

• Commercial viability demonstrated: The captured CO₂ was successfully mineralised into precipitated calcium carbonate, a high-value functional filler used in products, such as paper, plastic, paint, and building materials, as well as post-carbonated slag as sintering material for steel production or supplementary cementitious material.

Looking ahead, the learnings from the pilot highlight that scaling the carbon value chain will require:

• Adapting policies and regulations: Classifying high-purity captured CO₂ as “hazardous cargo” will be essential to enable lawful land transport and industrial utilisation at scale.

• Improving commercial viability: Co-locating offloading and utilisation sites, expanding industrial partnerships, and promoting CO₂-derived product markets can increase the commercial drive for carbon capture.

• Streamlining operations: Key steps include aligning tank capacities and transfer volumes as well as enhancing transfer equipment insulation to reduce CO₂ vaporisation, installing custody transfer-grade flow meters and inline gas analysers to monitor CO₂ quality, and standardising safety protocols, such as emergency shutdown interfaces and mooring configurations.