Technology company Calix announced that Innovate UK has given £5 million (AUD $8.7 million) to a project managed by Windship Technology in collaboration with Leilac, Calix’s 93 per cent owned subsidiary dedicated to the decarbonisation of cement and lime.
The announcement comes as the businesses work to demonstrate an innovative, practical route to zero-carbon shipping.
In particular, the project integrates propulsion from renewable sources with a carbon capture system based on lime to remove any leftover emissions from traditional diesel engines.
As part of the funding, Leilac will receive a grant of £1 million (~AU$1.75 million) to demonstrate the supply of lime to an exhaust gas scrubber for CO2 capture.
In welcoming the announcement, Calix Managing Director and CEO, Phil Hodgson expressed his excitement to collaborate with Windship and have the support of the UK government to create a novel decarbonisation strategy that combines cutting-edge technologies from the UK and Australia.
“Calcium looping for carbon capture with low emissions lime is an exciting application with significant potential, and we look forward to developing this technology further with the support of our partners,” Dr Hodgson explained.
Together, the technologies of Windship and Leilac can enable about 50 per cent of a ship’s electricity to come from renewable sources, with emissions from the remaining conventional fuel requirements being absorbed by zero-emissions lime.
According to Calix, waste heat from the carbon capture reaction may be recovered if the ship’s engines and carbon capture system are integrated.
This will lower fuel consumption even more, and a highly efficient method of removing emissions from shipping could be provided by this unusual mix of technology.
Daniel Rennie, Leilac CEO said the initiative represents a substantial advancement in the discovery of a potential pathway for the effective and affordable decarbonisation of the maritime sector.
“Marine shipping is a particularly hard-to-abate sector, and the very strong synergies that can be made from leveraging the large-scale industrial decarbonisation efforts in the lime and cement industries – combined with the innovative renewable approach by Windship – is an exciting development,” Mr Rennie noted.
