SINGAPORE – The world’s largest facility to boost the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) is set to begin operations in Singapore in the first quarter of 2026, with initial phases of installation to start by end-September.
The Equatic-1 demonstration plant in Tuas is a collaboration between national water agency PUB and American start-up Equatic, which developed the ocean-based carbon removal technology.
In essence, the technology works by changing the chemistry of seawater it takes in, by removing dissolved CO2 for long-term storage.
When that same volume of seawater is discharged back into the ocean after being processed to preserve the ocean’s chemistry, more CO2 from the atmosphere is able to dissolve in it.
If replicated on a large scale, this would, in theory, enable the ocean to soak up more of the planet-warming gas driving climate change.
However, scientists have warned that such manipulation could have impacts on marine life and the ocean environment.
The ocean covers 70 per cent of the earth, and is already considered a natural store of CO2, absorbing around 30 per cent of CO2 emissions from human activity.
The marine carbon dioxide removal technology, which aims to give the ocean’s natural ability to fight climate change a boost, is attracting investor interest.
On Aug 12, the Catalytic Capital for Climate and Health (C3H), an investment vehicle by Temasek Trust, announced that it was co-leading a US$11.6 million (S$14.9 million) Series A fund raising for Equatic with Kibo Invest.
The latter is a Singapore-based private investment office with a focus on climate technology. Temasek Trust is the philanthropic arm of Singapore’s investment company Temasek.
The investment will support the ongoing engineering scale-up of Equatic’s first commercial facility – previously announced to be in North America – as well as commercialisation, manufacturing and technological development of the technology, C3H said in a statement.
As for the Singapore plant, which takes in seawater from adjacent desalination plants, PUB said that it will initially have the capacity to remove 1 tonne of CO2 per day.
When fully operational, the US$20 million facility will be able to remove 10 tonnes of CO2 from seawater daily.
This is equivalent to taking roughly 870 average passenger cars off the road.
Within the plant, an electrical current is passed through the seawater. This leads to a series of chemical reactions that split the water (H2O) into hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2).
The dissolved CO2 is combined with minerals in seawater like calcium and magnesium to produce limestone and magnesium bicarbonates, which Equatic said can trap the CO2 for at least 10,000 years.
The process mimics the natural formation of seashells, and the solid calcium and magnesium-based materials can either be stored on the ocean floor, or potentially be used for construction materials.
In the meantime, the process also produces hydrogen, which is a clean source of energy. PUB had said that the planned facility could produce 300kg of hydrogen daily, which can power the plant or be used in other industrial applications.
The demonstration plant is co-funded by PUB, the National Research Foundation, Singapore, and the University of California, Los Angeles’ Institute for Carbon Management.
PUB has a target to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045 – five years earlier than the national target.
Identifying novel technologies is one way by which PUB is trying to reduce its carbon emissions.
The water agency is also trying to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, such as by putting solar panels on reservoirs, and investing in research and development to reduce energy required in energy-intensive water treatment processes.
The scaling up of the novel technology comes after two smaller pilots proved successful in removing CO2 – one in PUB’s R&D desalination plant in Tuas, and the other in the Port of Los Angeles.
Set up in April 2023, each pilot plant was able to remove 100kg of the greenhouse gas from the ocean each day.
The Straits Times had reported that the Equatic-1 demonstration plant was expected to begin operations in the last quarter of 2024 and be fully operational in 2025.
When asked about the delays, PUB said that additional time was required to finalise the design of the plant’s various systems.
Experts have said that marine carbon dioxide removal is a nascent technology and it remains to be seen how such technology could affect the marine environment and ecology when it is upscaled.
Marine biogeochemist Patrick Martin from NTU’s Asian School of the Environment said that if the technology is deployed at a large-enough scale, it represents a “major manipulation” of the ocean’s chemistry.
“All approaches for marine carbon dioxide removal will cause some degree of change in the dissolved carbon and pH chemistry of seawater, which could impact some marine species,” said Associate Professor Martin. pH is a measure of how acidic something is.
Equatic said that it employs continuous real-time monitoring and periodic laboratory testing of its process operations to ensure compliance with environmental standards.
Dr Karenne Tun, group director of the National Parks Board’s (NParks) national biodiversity centre, said that human interventions can introduce impacts to the marine environment and ecosystems.
She added that the potential impacts from marine carbon dioxide removal will likely be associated with altered ocean chemistry.
However, she said that NParks had noted that the demonstration project will have minimal impact on the environment.
This is because the planned system is designed to process seawater which is then returned to the ocean without altering the ocean chemistry, she said.
“Given that Equatic’s processes do not alter ocean chemistry, the environmental impacts are expected to be minimal if procedures and processes are followed and discharge water quality is validated and monitored,” added Dr Tun.
When the project is ready to be scaled up, NParks will work with PUB, Equatic and other stakeholders to regularly review and ensure that required environmental quality objectives are met, she added.
PUB also said that effluent streams will be measured and treated before discharge into the marine environment to comply with the allowable limits for trade effluent discharge under existing regulations.
An independent consultant has also been engaged by Equatic to conduct a desktop study and simulations to model the impact of untreated discharge, said PUB.
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction
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