NYK sign MoU to explore low-impact marine transportation system
NYK Line
Astomos Energy Corporation (Astomos Energy), Sustainable Energy Development Co. Ltd. (Sustainable Energy), and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to study together how to set up a low-impact marine transportation system based on the effective use of organic substances made on ships.
With the signing of this MoU, the three companies will work together on projects that will help solve social problems and reduce carbon emissions.
On-board waste is stored on the ship's deck and discharged at ports of call, where it is collected. CO2 is produced throughout the waste transport and incineration processes. For example, on every 45-day trip between Japan and the Middle East, a large LPG carrier (VLGC) makes about 5,000 litres of waste, mostly plastic dust.
To address this issue, NYK agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Astomos Energy, an LPG distributor, and Sustainable Energy, a company working to realise a recycling-oriented society by converting unused resources into energy, to begin a joint study to develop an organic fuel conversion business by installing Sustainable Energy's ISOP system (ISOP) on board ships. ISOP creates biofuel out of combustible waste and other materials.
ISOP is a new organic waste treatment technology developed by Sustainable Energy that transforms waste into energy. By turning the bio-components of organic waste into fuel, ISOP can cut CO2 emissions from the whole process of treating organic waste. ISOP is distinguished by the fact that it does not involve waste segregation. Its treatment system can also be made smaller.
By putting ISOPs on ocean-going ships and using the treated bio-components as energy, CO2 emissions from marine transportation as a whole should go down.
Also, more storage space can be made available on board by processing organic materials made during the journey. So, it is expected that ISOP will make seafarers' workplaces safer and healthier.
The three companies will move forward with a joint study. By the middle of the 2020s, they hope to have finished the onboard demonstration test and put ISOP on a ship.
Source: NYK
