Carbon Capture Startup Supported By Industry Leaders

As decarbonising becomes an ever increasing hot topic within the global shipping community, a carbon capture startup company has been founded, called Carbon Ridge. Carbon Ridge are working on a modular onboard carbon capture and storage solution (OCCS) for the maritime industry. 

The company was launched in 2021. The carbon capture company is developing an onboard solution dedicated to the shipping industry. The company boasts that once the technology is fully resolved, it should be able to reduce CO2 amongst other greenhouse gas emissions by upto 95% for commercial shipping.

How the System Works

1. The system diverts the exhaust gasses from the engine room into a process skid.
2. The process skid is where the CO2 and exhaust gas are separated using existing gas separation technologies.
3. The clean exhaust then flows back into the funnel and CO2-rich solvents are separated.
4. The gasses are compressed and liquified then placed into storage tanks for the remainder of the voyage. 

The beauty of this process, says Carbon Ridge, is that it requires limited structural modifications to in-service ships. Another benefit to using the innovative technology for carbon reduction is that it will reduce the size of the process equipment by up to 75% in volume. No other processes including CCS technologies can come close. It has been reported that the whole system can be stored within a few containers, with a few additions for carbon storage. 

Even though Carbon Ridge is competing with some established, well-known businesses developing carbon capture technologies for ships, it has attracted the attention of industry leaders. Scorpio Tankers, Crowley and now Berge Bulk are all fully behind this new startup company to solve the carbon emissions problem. 

“We believe onboard carbon capture and storage will be the lowest cost and most efficient pathway to achieve near-term decarbonization in the maritime industry,” says Chase Dwyer, Founder & CEO of Carbon Ridge. “We are very excited about partnering with The Grantham Foundation, Crowley, and Berge Bulk, as leaders in their respective sectors, each with strong commitments to long-term climate stabilization.”

Carbon Ridge has managed to secure $6 million of funding through The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment which includes additional investment from Crowley, Berge Bulk, Rusheen Capital Management and Plug and Play Ventures. Carbon Ridge said that this financing will enable them to continue the development of its OCCS technology for an onboard pilot in 2023.

Tom Crowley, chairman and CEO of Crowley highlighted Carbon Ridge’s “novel approach”.

“We believe in the potential of onboard carbon capture and storage as one of the effective solutions to enable Berge Bulk’s commitment towards zero emissions,” said James Marshall, CEO of Berge Bulk. “Our partnership with Carbon Ridge is a strong step forward in achieving those goals and consistent with our broader sustainability mission.

The global shipping industry contributes a lot to CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. In today’s day and age, we rely on international shipping. The fact that there are now new ideas surrounding how to reduce the CO2 released is fantastic news.

 Source: maritime-executive.com