The project is being implemented in conjunction with Ochanomizu University, as well as shipping companies Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (“K” Line) and Nippon Gas Line Co, which will monitor the safety of CO2 transportation and conduct R&D activities to improve the transportation processes.
Transitioning to marine transportation of liquefied carbon dioxide could streamline the commercialisation of projects in the area of carbon capture, utilisation and sequestration (CCUS). The range of industries emitting carbon dioxide is rather wide: according to McKinsey, 60% of global CO2 emissions comes from the power (30%) and industrial (30%) sectors, with the remaining 40% produced by the transport (19%) and housing (6%) sectors, as well as agriculture and forestry (15%).
Similarly, the range of CO2 absorption technologies goes beyond the use of absorbers with amine-based solvents. An alternative solution is the use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) – crystalline lattice structures, which can change the size of their pores under the impact of liquids, temperature and electromagnetic radiation. This allows metal-organic frameworks to retain foreign compounds and release them if external conditions change.
This property of MOFs was utilised by Drax, which converted a coal-fired power plant in North Yorkshire into a biomass unit and lined the insides of two industrial columns with metal-organic frameworks. The flue gas generated during biomass combustion is pumped into one of the two columns, which starts to retain CO2 in the pores of the metal-organic frameworks. After that, the first column starts to heat up in order to remove CO2 from the MOFs and send it to the storage while the second column begins receiving the flue gas from the power plant, following which the functions of the columns change again.
While these technologies facilitate carbon dioxide production, they do not make it easier to deliver to end consumers, which are often based far away from the suppliers. Carbon dioxide is used to cool down reactors, as well as to manufacture meat products and carbonated beverages. This is why advances in the marine transportation of CO2 will be beneficial to the food and nuclear industries.
