VIDEO: Are Seabound’s quicklime pebbles the key to onboard carbon capture?

Seabound has developed a patent-pending compact carbon capture device that can be retrofitted into a ship’s engine exhaust at the stack.

Lomarlabs, a subsidiary of the Libra Group’s Lomar Shipping, is collaborating with climate tech start-up Seabound on a project to develop new, cost-effective methods to capture CO2 onboard vessels.

Seabound has developed a patent-pending compact carbon capture device that can be retrofitted into a ship’s engine exhaust at the stack. The CO2 chemically reacts with pebbles of quicklime, which then convert into limestone, keeping the CO2 locked in. The limestone pebbles are temporarily stored onboard before the ship returns to port, without any need for energy-intensive CO2 separation, compression, or liquefaction. The pebbles are safe, inert and non-toxic; abundantly available worldwide and reasonably priced. Once back in port, the limestone pebbles are offloaded and either sold in pure form or turned back into quicklime and CO2, for the quicklime to be reused onboard another vessel and the CO2 sold for utilization or sequestration.

Preparations to install the Seabound equipment onboard the first ship will take place in May and June this year to run the first-ever pilot project throughout this summer. The project is part of the U.K.’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition Round 3 (CMDC3).

Lomarlabs managing director, and former Lomar technical director, Stylianos Papageorgiou, says, “Lomarlabs is advising on engineering and design for this transformative solution, adapting it to the realities of everyday commercial shipping operations. We help formulate pilot tests on Lomar vessels, and fine-tune the business model using our industry insight to help make a viable business. We share our experience and network to develop solutions that have the potential of delivering systematic change for our maritime industry.”

“We’re excited to be collaborating with Lomarlabs for this first-of-a-kind ship-based pilot of Seabound’s compact carbon capture technology,” says Seabound co-founder & CEO Alisha Fredriksson. “It has already been instrumental working with Stylianos and his team because they’re keen to jump into the technical details with us and to brainstorm creative approaches to iteratively and cost-effectively de-risk this novel technology. Together we aim to demonstrate that the shipping industry doesn’t have to wait to decarbonize in 5-10+ years, but that there are already viable solutions coming to the market now.”

CEO of Lomar Shipping Nicholas Georgiou added: “We are keen on exploring technologies that will unlock maritime innovation and lead to the decarboniation of our industry. With lomarlabs and Seabound’s conjoined efforts, we are excited to accelerate our involvement in the mission towards safer, cleaner oceans and contribute to bringing zero-emission shipping from theory to practice.”

Founded in late 2021, Seabound has to date built two working land-based prototypes, secured seven letters of intent from leading shipowners, and raised $5.7 millionin funding from world-class investors including Lowercarbon Capital, Y Combinator, Eastern Pacific Shipping, and the U.K. Department for Transport.