Hong Kong-based shipowner Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings and Qiyao Environmental Technology (Qiyao Environ Tec) have been granted an Approval in Principle (AiP) by Bureau Veritas (BV) for a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project onboard a pair of Wah Kwong’s vessels.

The AiP was awarded after a collaborative study led by BV, Wah Kwong and Qiyao Environ Tec which involved the trio validating the technical feasibility of using CCS technology on existing vessels as a measure to ensure compliance with the International Maritime Organization’s Carbon Intensity regulation.

During the study the group focused on two bulk carriers within Wah Kwong’s fleet, working to assess the viability of using CCS technology to upgrade each respective vessel’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) ratings.

Using the design parameters of each vessel, Qiyao Environ Tec developed a bespoke CCS unit for each. The company’s CCS unit subsequently passed all necessary lab testing and achieved more than 85% carbon capture from the exhaust gas flow. Qiyao Environ Tec’s solution is based on an organic amine solution that extracts CO2 from exhaust gas, before cooling it into a liquid form and storing it in a low temperature storage tank.

The results of the study showed that the newly designed CCS technology enabled each vessel to remain compliant by upgrading and maintaining their C level CII rating until 2030.

Throughout the project, BV supported the initial vessel selection stage, the design layout of the CCS system, the certification and cost analysis.

“With regulations such as the IMO’s CII and the EU ETS coming into force for shipping, it is essential to ensure compliance and to reduce the carbon footprint of existing vessels for years to come,” commented Hing Chao, executive chairman of Wah Kwong. “Carbon capture and storage technology is one of the net-zero solutions currently available.”

“Carbon capture and storage technology has been available for several decades, notably in industrial projects on shore, but only recently have we started to deploy its considerable potential for the maritime industry,” said Jianfu Dong, president at Shanghai Qiyao Environmental Technology. “We are proud to receive this Approval in Principle from Bureau Veritas, which confirms the viability of our carbon capture technology as a retrofit solution to reduce CO2 emissions from existing ships.”