MODEC, the Japanese supplier and operator of offshore floating platforms, has partnered with the UK-based carbon capture technology firm Carbon Clean to ‘fast-track’ the commercial deployment of offshore CCS systems on floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels.
The newly signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) focuses on Carbon Clean’s CycloneCC technology, a compact and modular post-combustion onboard carbon capture system (OCCS) that is specifically engineered for FPSOs. Under the agreement, the companies plan to install a pilot unit on a MODEC FPSO in 2026 and are targeting future scale-up phases that will be capable of capturing between 100,000 and 300,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
The objective of the partnership, according to the companies, is to achieve full integration of the OCCS system into FPSO designs. By capturing up to 1,000 tonnes of CO2 per day, they aim to ‘[provide] the maritime industry with a clear, scalable, and competitive pathways to full decarbonisation’.
Post-combustion carbon capture is conventionally constrained by the space and weight limitations of offshore installations. To address this, the latest CycloneCC C1 design has a 70% reduction in height and a tenfold decrease in the size of key components compared to traditional column-based technologies.
The platform’s underlying Rotating Packed Bed (RPB) technology also improves process intensification, which enables higher mass transfer rates in a reduced volume. The partnership will retrofit existing vessels with the OCCS solution and integrate it into MODEC’s future FPSO design architecture as a standard emissions abatement solution.
Koichi Matsumiya, Chief Technical Officer at MODEC, commented: ‘Based upon the early success of the partnership that we are currently enjoying with Carbon Clean on the pilot plant project, we decided to take this daring step to commit early to accelerating this work.’
The initiative follows Carbon Clean’s agreement with Samsung Engineering in February 2025 for the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of the first CycloneCC unit to be deployed on a MODEC-operated FPSO.
Aniruddha Sharma, Chair and CEO of Carbon Clean, stated: ‘This agreement is a major step toward commercialising onboard carbon capture for FPSOs and sets a precedent for the broader maritime industry. As the International Maritime Organization’s emissions regulations develop in support of maritime decarbonization, CycloneCC offers a scalable and viable solution to help vessels meet these targets and achieve full emissions reductions before the end of this decade.’
