Singapore’s Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) has successfully completed the world’s first pilot demonstrating the full value chain for carbon dioxide (CO₂) captured onboard ships.
The pilot was executed in two main phases. Phase one involved the ship-to-ship (STS) transfer of 25.44 metric tons of liquefied CO₂ (LCO₂) from the container vessel Ever Top to the receiving vessel Dejin 26, managed by Shanghai Qiyao Environmental Technology Co., Ltd. (SMDERI-QET). The CO₂ was then offloaded from Dejin 26 to a tank truck at a jetty in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province.
The Ever Top was retrofitted with an onboard carbon capture and storage (OCCS) system in 2024. Developed by the Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Research Institute, part of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation, the OCCS system captures over 80% of the vessel’s carbon emissions at 99.9% purity. The technology allows the gas to be liquefied and transferred at sea, bypassing the need for specialised port infrastructure and making CO₂ offloading more flexible and accessible.
Phase two, coordinated by GCMD, oversaw the transport of the CO₂ over 2,000 km to Inner Mongolia. There, at a joint venture facility between GreenOre and Baotou Steel, the CO₂ was successfully utilised in the production of low-carbon calcium carbonate—a vital ingredient in sustainable construction materials.
The pilot, conducted under real-world regulatory and logistical constraints, marks the first time captured shipboard CO₂ has been fully traced from capture to end-use. A central challenge was the classification of captured CO₂. Initially deemed hazardous waste — a status that would mandate disposal — the gas was reclassified as “hazardous cargo” after coordination with regulators, thereby enabling its reuse.
According to GCMD, the initiative illustrates how onboard carbon capture and storage (OCCS) can be integrated into industrial decarbonisation pathways—particularly in construction materials, where CO₂ mineralisation can offset carbon-intensive cement production.
The project builds upon findings from an earlier GCMD study, which identified concrete production as a high-impact use case for captured CO₂.
