Petrobras, SBM, Mitsubishi study carbon capture for FPSOs

Brazilian state energy company Petrobras is considering installing CO2 capture modules on its floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels to mitigate the carbon footprint of producing and exporting crude oil from its deepwater fields.

A major provider and owner of FPSOs, SBM Offshore is studying the technical feasibility of deploying these modules on its FPSOs working off the Brazilian coastline.

Its subsidiary, Single Buoy Moorings, has contracted Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to design these modules for FPSOs based on a combination of MHI’s proprietary advanced KM CDR process, jointly developed with Kansai Electric Power Co, for CO2 capture and SBM’s Fast4Ward principles for constructing standardised FPSO hulls.

This study aims to produce a standard design of CO2 capture solutions for FPSOs, focusing on capturing the CO2 emitted by onboard gas turbines.

KM CDR is the Kansai Mitsubishi carbon dioxide recovery process that has already been installed on 18 onshore plants. It uses the KS-21 solvent that was developed as a technological improvement over the amine-based KS-1, said MHI.