Seabound has received a grant of £1.1m ($1.48m) from the UK Government as part of the sixth round of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC6) to develop a carbon and emissions capture project at the Port of Southampton.
This initiative, in collaboration with STAX Engineering and Associated British Ports (ABP), aims to integrate Seabound's modular carbon capture units, designed to fit standard 20ft containers, with STAX's emissions capture and control system.
The announcement follows the companies' previous commitment to deploy these technologies during the Maritime UK Solent Coastal Powerhouse Summit.
The Energy Ventures Accelerator programme, which was launched in 2024, is said to exemplify ABP's support for early-stage clean energy innovators, including Seabound and STAX.
This project complements other initiatives at the Port of Southampton, such as the UK's first large-scale investment in shorepower facilities.
The Southampton project will make the port the first in the UK to implement a fully integrated solution for capturing both carbon dioxide (CO2) and criteria pollutants, including sulphur oxides (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), directly from vessels while docked.
The combined technology from Seabound and STAX offers maritime operators a practical approach to comply with evolving environmental regulations and decarbonisation mandates without necessitating costly retrofits to vessels or port infrastructure.
Support for Seabound's expansion and commercialisation is also being provided by lomarlabs, a maritime venture lab established by Lomar in March 2023.
Seabound is collaborating with Lomar Shipping to implement its carbon capture solution across the fleet.
Seabound CEO and co-founder Alisha Fredriksson said: “This is the first time in the world that carbon and air pollution capture will be combined and deployed at full commercial scale in a port.”
Seabound and STAX’s solution, previously validated at the Port of Long Beach, connects to a ship's exhaust, enabling STAX to eliminate up to 99% of particulate matter and 95% of nitrogen oxides.
The treated gas is then processed through Seabound's compact capture unit, which isolates and stores up to 95% of CO2 and 98% of SO₂ before releasing the cleaned exhaust.
The funding from CMDC6 will facilitate essential pre-deployment activities in Southampton, including testing logistics for container swapping, refining Seabound's advanced carbon capture system and laying the groundwork for a fleet of barges to service key berths in the port.
This initiative builds on Seabound's previous success in CMDC Round 3, where the company achieved a CO2 capture efficiency of 78% and over 90% SO₂ removal during a shipboard carbon capture demonstration on the MV Sounion Trader.
The project is also expected to create new skilled jobs at the Port of Southampton, covering areas such as barge operations, maintenance, and carbon capture servicing.
ABP plans to scale this solution to other ports in the UK, providing a model that could be replicated globally.
ABP strategy and sustainability head Max Harris said: “Sustainability and innovation are key themes as ABP helps its customers to adapt to the changing environment.”
In July this year, Seabound launched an onboard carbon capture initiative in partnership with Hartmann Group, InterMaritime Group, and Heidelberg Materials Northern Europe.
