New tech will trap CO2 from cargo ships and store it in the ocean

CNN — International shipping moves 80% of global trade and accounts for about 3% of the world’s carbon emissions, but right now, it’s not on course to meet its climate targets. Adkins says that with a full-scale reactor, he aims to capture and store about half of a ship’s CO2 emissions. As of June 2023, they were installed in about 5% of the global merchant fleet, according to the British Port Association, although studies have found that the wastewater from scrubbers can be “acutely toxic for aquatic organisms.” Calcarea’s reactors also capture sulfur as part of their CO2 removal process. Courtesy Anemoi Marine Technologies Wind power could be set for a comeback Prev Next Carbon capture technology more directly similar to Calcarea’s also exists. Because the founders of Calcarea are experts in the ocean’s carbon cycle, he added, that makes them well positioned for avoiding potential pitfalls of CO2 removal: “Many other companies pursuing ocean alkalinity enhancement do not understand the carbon cycle at all relevant scales, and so are prone to pursue approaches that are ineffective — or even counterproductive.” Adkins believes that Calcarea could help the industry decarbonize during the transition to greener fuel, and that in the more distant future the reactors could even take up the entirety of the space on special vessels, designed to lock away CO2 that has been captured on land from the atmosphere, as an alternative to storing it underground.