Finnish marine technology group Wärtsilä has received its first order for carbon capture and storage (CCS)-ready scrubbers for delivery in 2023.

The 35 MW units will be fitted on four 8,200 TEU boxships under construction at an Asian shipyard in an open loop configuration.

Wärtsilä said it will perform additional design and engineering work to ensure that future retrofits for a full CCS system on the vessels have already been accounted for during the new-building construction stage.

The company is currently testing its CCS system at 70% capture rate, and a pilot installation will take place within the next twelve months. The shipowner behind the order was undisclosed, but Wärtsilä said that this CCS-ready solution would allow for continued regulatory compliance for SOx emissions and enable smooth CCS system adoption in the future.

Scott Oh, director at Wärtsilä’s Exhaust Treatment Asia, added, “By investing in a CCS-ready scrubber, shipowners will future-proof their assets and enable a smooth transition to CCS adoption once the technology is mature in the very near future. CCS is one of the key solutions to enable maritime decarbonization in a short timeframe, and we look forward to progressing our technology further.”