25-05-2023

Carbon Clean awards KBR design contract for FlagshipONE project

Leading carbon capture solutions provider, Carbon Clean, has announced the award of a new contract to global engineering experts, KBR, for the detailed design of a carbon capture plant for Ørsted's FlagshipONE project in Sweden. Carbon Clean was awarded the contract for the full design and supply of the carbon capture plant earlier this year. This new contract is for the detailed design, following KBR’s successful completion of the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) for the carbon capture plant in 2021.

The modular carbon capture plant will be designed for ease of construction and future replication. It will be capable of capturing 70,000 tonnes of CO₂ per year from a biomass-fired combined heat and power plant in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden; the captured biogenic CO₂ will then be combined with renewable hydrogen in Ørsted's FlagshipONE plant, to produce 50,000 tonnes per year of the eFuel, eMethanol, for use in the shipping industry.

Jay Ibrahim, KBR President Global Technology Solutions, commented: “We are extremely pleased to be working with Carbon Clean once again on this fantastic eMethanol project in Sweden. It is indicative of KBR’s strategic commitment to work with clients to provide sustainable energy for the world. KBR helps clients by drawing on our extensive global engineering expertise and applying the latest technology and processes to deliver extraordinary outcomes.”

Aniruddha Sharma, Chair and CEO of Carbon Clean, said: “I’m delighted to build on our existing strong partnership with KBR to deliver this hugely significant project. CO₂-based synthetic fuels represent a significant new utilisation pathway for captured CO₂ and FlagshipONE is the first of many projects that we expect to deliver to meet rapidly escalating demand for these low carbon fuels.”

The global shipping industry is responsible for 3% of worldwide greenhouse gases, with fuel-related emissions constituting the primary source of these emissions, as approximately 99% of marine fuels are derived from fossil fuels.

New regulations and policies are focused on driving down marine transport emissions and are driving change in the marine industry. Shipping companies are stepping up efforts to reduce their carbon footprint and the International Maritime Organization has set a target to reduce the carbon intensity of shipping by 70% and absolute emissions by 50% by 2050.

A ‘Well-to-Wake’ approach is increasingly being used by regulators in order to calculate the lifecycle emissions of marine fuels, measuring the greenhouse gas emissions from the entire process of fuel production, delivery and use onboard ships. Sourcing alternative low carbon fuels is therefore becoming increasingly urgent. While coastal shipping will be able to be electrified using battery power, the bulk of global long-distance shipping will need to use electrified liquid eFuels, such as eMethanol.

FlagshipONE will be Ørsted’s first commercial-scale Power-to-X facility and will become Europe’s largest production site for green eFuel when it becomes operational in 2025.

The original developer of FlagshipONE, Swedish company Liquid Wind, is continuing to develop a network of eFuel plants with ambitious long-term goals of developing multiple plants.