Wärtsilä Carbon Capture and Storage

Wärtsilä carbon capture solution – how does it work?

Carbon capture is a method of capturing CO₂ from fossil fuel after it is combusted in an engine, before it is released into the atmosphere. Wärtsilä has developed an industry-first full-scale onboard carbon capture system which has the potential to reduce a vessel’s CO₂ emissions by up to 70%.

The Wärtsilä carbon capture solution works in five main stages: pre-conditioning, absorption, desorption (or stripping), liquefaction and storage.

In pre-conditioning – depending on the fuel, the exhaust gas is cleaned of NO_x, SO_x and particulate matter and cooled down.

In the second stage, the exhaust gas is mixed with a liquid solvent. This captures the CO₂ in the solvent. The cleaned exhaust gas exits the system.

In the stripping stage, the CO₂-saturated solvent is heated which releases the CO₂. The lean solvent will be reused in the system.

In the liquefaction stage, the CO₂ is compressed, dried and cooled down to liquid form for storage.

The final stage is storage. The liquid CO₂ is pumped through pipes to onboard tank(s), where it is stored until it can be offloaded.