POSCO, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Lloyd’s Register and the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry have agreed to jointly develop Liquid Carbon Dioxide (LCO2) Carriers.
Through this MOU, POSCO will develop new steel material and relevant technology for storage tank, which are core technologies for the large size of LCO2 carrier, and HMD & KSOE will develop the ship design and the necessary welding and processing technology for the ship construction. In addition, LR will review and revise the relevant classification rules of the certification for the new steel materials and approve for the basic design of the ship. The Liberian flag State is in charge of all flag State approval procedures such as establishment of ship registration regulations and acceptance of ports entry.
According to a report by the International Energy Agency in 2020, up to 40 million tons of CO2 is captured annually, and most of it is permanently stored in the geological formations or re-injected into oil wells to improve oil recovery. The Global CCS Research Institute analysed 90 scenarios of how much carbon dioxide should be captured and stored to reach net-zero emission. It was found that the capacity should reach 3.6 giga tons per year. Therefore, today, the global CCUS facility’s capture capacity is only about 40 mega tons, so it is expected that the carbon zero goal will be realised only when the carbon dioxide capture and storage capacity is increased by about 100 times.
However, there are still no international standards, guidelines and certifications for the large size of liquefied carbon dioxide carriers for transporting carbon dioxide to storage facilities, from materials to ship construction.
Through this agreement, the participating companies will develop the large size of CO2 carriers over 20,000 CBM (Cubic Metre) step by step by 2025, and at the same time, develop international standards such as steel materials development, establishment & revision of necessary rules and regulations for ship construction and operation and further, to provide direction for the future. In addition, it is expected to create new demand in the future by building a barrier to entry through the pre-emptive joint development of the large size of CO2 carriers and filing patent applications for steel materials and technologies used.
Mr. Sang-Cheol Kim, head of POSCO’s energy and shipbuilding materials marketing office said: “As a leading eco-friendly material company, POSCO strives to practice its corporate citizenship management philosophy to achieve a carbon-neutral society. In particular, through this joint development work, we expect to preoccupy the carbon-neutral market by developing new materials for the development of the large-scale CO2 carriers through close collaboration with customers and participating companies, and supporting technology for using steel materials.”
