EverLoNG @ the 43rd International Bunker Conference

The EverLoNG project was invited to discuss the potential for Ship-Based Carbon Capture (SBCC) at the 43rd International Bunker Conference, 23-25 April 2024, as part of wider discussions about decarbonisation of the maritime sector. In line with the subject matter, the conference venue was the very fitting 5-Star cruiseferry, the MS Color Fantasy, which took the approximately 120 participants - mostly bunker traders and ship owners – on a 2-day round trip between Oslo in Norway and Kiel in Germany.

EverLoNG was represented by Ragnhild Skagestad, Senior Researcher and WP2 lead from SINTEF and Guus van der Bles, Director of R&D, Conoship, which leads WP3. Providing an overview of the project’s progress to date, their presentations demonstrated that it is perfectly possible to integrate CO₂ capture systems onboard ships, as delegates were brought up to speed with the status of the capture demonstration campaigns.

The main topic for the conference was to explore how the maritime sector should chart its course towards reduced emissions and net zero. Discussions were also underlined by the fact that the sector is now (as of January 2024) included in the EU ETS and will therefore have to pay to emit CO₂ (vessels >5,000 gross tonnage) when ports in Europe are visited. Among the options discussed were so-called future fuels such as biofuels, ammonia and methanol. While all are touted to play a role, biofuels generated questions around sustainability of feedstock and how much of it could be blended into the fuel mix, and, while ammonia and methanol in particular are both considered serious prospects for the longer term, the feeling was that a more immediate solution was required. In that context, SBCC and the prospect of producing synthetic fuels from CO₂ captured onboard were warmly welcomed by attendees.

"There was a lot of interest in the topic of onboard carbon capture from the audience, and I’ve already received several follow-ups to learn more about how this can be done and what the challenges are.", said Guus van der Bles after the conference.

Ragnhild Skagestad said “It was such a pleasure to be invited to this conference, to learn more about how this industry aims to reach its targets. There are many different ‘green’ pathways for ship owners to consider, and this event gave us a real opportunity to introduce SBCC as a credible solution for engines and already-operational ships to drastically reduce their emissions. We know that some parts of the puzzle still need to be clarified, e.g. CO₂ handling infrastructure at port and how that connects to onward transport/ storage/utilisation infrastructure, and we are also working on these, but we really do not see any showstoppers here."