Wärtsilä and Solvang to retrofit vessel with carbon capture solution

Written by Nick Blenkey
Cjipper Eos with VVS system

Pilot CCS system will be installed on the Clipper Eos by 2023.

Wärtsilä Exhaust Treatment and Norwegian ship operator Solvang have agreed to carry out a full-scale pilot of a carbon capture and storage (CCS) system retrofit installation on Solvang’s 21,000-cubic-meter ethylene carrier, Clipper Eos.

Wärtsilä Exhaust Treatment will design the retrofit solution as it also completes a land-based 1 MW 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 the Clipper Eos by 2023.

The agreement reinforces Wärtsilä’s continued research and development into carbon capture to support the shipping industry’s decarbonization pathway and is initially aiming for a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions at the point of exhaust with its pilot unit.

“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,” says Sigurd Jenssen, director at Wärtsilä Exhaust Treatment. “We are excited to see how this collaboration with Solvang evolves in the coming months. Our land-based test unit is nearing completion, and we will then move to making it a reality on the Clipper Eos, ensuring that both Wärtsilä and Solvang remain at the forefront of maritime sustainability technology advancement.”

“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,” said Edvin Endresen, CEO at Solvang ASA. “As a forward-thinking company that is equally passionate about ensuring the industry’s transition to decarbonization, Wärtsilä is the perfect partner as we look to scale up sustainable technologies across our fleet and reduce shipping’s environmental impact on the world.”

The Clipper Eos has been time chartered by Marubeni Corp., Tokyo, since delivery from the shipyard in 2019. Marubeni says it is committed to cooperating with Solvang and Wärtsilä to enable them to perform testing and installation of equipment on the vessel in a mutual effort to drastically reduce its CO2 footprint.

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