Windship Technology Limited, in partnership with Leilac, the 93 per cent owned subsidiary of Australian technology company Calix Limited (ASX:CXL), has been awarded £5 million (AU$8.73 million) by Innovate UK to demonstrate a novel route to zero carbon shipping.
The almost $14-million project aims to demonstrate a low-cost route to decarbonise shipping with a combination of renewably powered propulsion and a lime-based carbon capture solution for remaining emissions.
As part of the funding, Leilac will receive $1.75 million for a work program totalling $2.9 million to demonstate the delivery of lime to an exhaust gas scrubber for carbon dioxide capture.
Future installations of the technology will use highly reactive zero emissions lime produced by a Leilac reactor to enable net zero emissions shipping.
The project’s proponents plan to create a solution that paves the way for zero emissions lime to be used for reducing or eliminating emissions from conventional diesel powered vessels.
International shipping is responsible for about two per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Together, Windship and Leilac’s technologies can enable approximately 50 per cent of the ships power to be provided by renewable energy and emissions from the remaining conventional fuel requirements captured by zero emissions lime.
Integration of the carbon capture system with the ships engines can enable waste heat recovery from the capture reaction, further reducing fuel demand.
This unique combination of technologies has the potential to deliver a highly economical approach to elimination of emissions from shipping.
Windships’ auxiliary power systems use wind propulsion provided by wind rigs, each of which consist of three vertically arranged solid sails.
The innovative design provides high-power density and a low centre of effort, and therefore minimal impact on vessel stability.
Three triple wing installations can provide sufficient thrust to sail an 80,000 deadweight tonne ship without requiring engine power for 60-70 per cent of the journey along typical trade wind routes, dramatically reducing carbon dioxide emissions compared with standard operating conditions.
Lime is a highly effective sorbent for the capture of carbon dioxide and can be used in a carbon capture system for the abatement of emissions from conventional diesel engines.
For this solution to provide a net reduction or elimination of emissions, the lime used for capture must be produced with low or zero carbon emissions, using shore-based decarbonisation of the lime.
Leilac’s patented technology can produce low emissions lime by efficiently capturing the unavoidable process carbon dioxide emissions released from limestone, without additional chemicals or processes.
Leilac’s technology is compatible with clean energy sources, such as hydrogen and electricity, and also alternative fuels, enabling flexible and economical pathways for the production of zero emissions lime and cement.
Leilac’s technology is proven at pilot scale, including through its pilot plant, Leilac-1, that has been in operation since 2019 with a capture capacity of 25,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.