Swiss technology company Burckhardt Compression (Burckhardt) will provide its compressor technology for the first industrial-scale liquefied carbon dioxide (CO2) carrier deployed in the Northern Lights carbon capture and storage (CCS) project.
The technology will be installed on the Northern Pioneer, an LCO2 transport ship based in Stavanger, Norway.
Burckhardt’s K-Laby compressors use an oil- and contact-free system to liquefy gaseous CO2 at industrial sites before it is loaded onto transport ships like the Pioneer.
The vessel will deliver the liquid CO2 to the onshore receiving terminal in Øygarden, Norway, where it is held in intermediate storage tanks before being piped offshore for permanent deep-sea injection.
Andreas Brautsch, President Systems Division at Burckhardt, called industrial-scale CO2 shipping a “cornerstone” for commercially viable CCS.
Burckhardt Compressors’ Laby compressors ©Burckhardt Compression
“This order demonstrates how proven compressor solutions can help translate climate ambition into reliable operating infrastructure,” he added.
Northern Lights is the world’s first operational cross-border CO2 transport and storage project. It stored its first volumes of CO2 in 2025 and the project owners have since announced a NOK7.5bn ($775m) investment to increase injection capacity from 1.5 million to at least five million tonnes of CO2 per year.
As of May, the project has received dedicated LCO2 transport ships, including the Northern Purpose, which set sail from Dalian, China towards Norway earlier this year and the Northern Phoenix, which joined the fleet in April.
Project partner Nippon Sanso Europe showed last year how LCO2 is transferred from ship to the Northern Lights facility in Stavanger.
