Samsung and MISC to Develop Floating CO2 Storage Units to Support CCS
Efforts continue seeking to develop novel technologies to aid in the capture and storage of CO2. With the first offshore storage operations moving forward with testing one of the issues that need to be addressed is the short-term storage and transfer of CO2 primarily captured from major industrial plants before it can be sent offshore for storage below the sea floor.
South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) announced that it is looking to leverage its expertise in developing offshore structures to create a new form of CO2 storage. Working in partnership with Malaysia's MISC Berhad they are exploring the creation of floating carbon dioxide solutions that could be used to facilitate and support the optimization of offshore CCS projects.
Their new concept is for a Floating CO2 Storage Unit (FSCU) that can store carbon dioxide captured in land terminals before it goes into the depleted offshore gas & oil wells. The partnership will focus on the joint development of the engineering, procurement, and construction of the floating CO2 solutions. Plans call for the development of the FCSU as well as an FCSU-I, which would incorporate infection units at the top, and to establish a commercialization strategy for an FCSU-L, which would incorporate liquefaction units. They look to leverage existing expertise using a similar approach to the existing technologies for the storage and liquefaction of natural gas.
Samsung highlights data that shows there are more than 100 CCS projects currently being developed and assessed around the world. This includes the Shepherd CCS project in Malaysia which SHI is currently involved. Denmark is at the forefront of these efforts reporting progress with its offshore storage process. They just received safety approvals from DNV for the Greensands project while in December the Danish Energy Agency granted the first-ever permit for a CO2 storage project. The project is scheduled to conduct its first test injections early this year using a converted offshore vessel to carry the CO2 out to the site.
"SHI will develop various marine solutions that meet the needs of the CCS market with MISC," said BH (Antonio) Yoon, Head of Offshore Proposal at SHI.
Separately, MISC announced that it will jointly collaborate with Japan’s Mitsui & Company on business opportunities across the CCS value chain, including the identification of potential CCS hubs, and assessing the commercial and technical viability of CCS solutions. With Austrian-based Andritz, they are also exploring the application and optimization of carbon capture technologies and the execution of engineering, procurement, construction, installation, and commissioning (EPCIC) of CCS systems for marine and land-based applications.