Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group, is advancing a project with shipping company "K" Line and classification society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai to conduct test operations and measurements for a small scale ship-based CO2 capture demonstration plant as shipping progresses toward decarbonization.

In April 2018, the International Maritime Organization announced its greenhouse gas strategy and targets to improve CO2 efficiency in shipping. The IMO has set targets that include a 50% cut in the shipping sector's GHG emissions by 2050 compared with 2008.

The project -- Carbon Capture on the Ocean -- is intended to achieve CO2 capture at sea, a world first, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding said in a statement on Aug. 31.

The project is being conducted with support from the Maritime Bureau of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, or MLIT, as part of its assistance project for research and development of technological advancements in marine resource development, it said.

The demonstration involves converting the design of an existing CO2 capture system for onshore power plants to a marine environment, and installing it on board an actual ship in service, it said.

The demonstration plant will be manufactured in mid-2021, and following operational tests at the factory, will be installed on board a coal carrier for Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. operated by "K" Line, it added.

Through an operational and performance confirmation in an actual marine environment, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding will then determine the system specification requirements as a marine-based device and will also consider how to make the plant more compact, it said.

Further, the captured CO2 can be recycled for use as a new source of CO2 for enhanced oil recovery processes, or as raw material in synthetic fuel, providing a significant contribution to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, it added.