(Yonhap)

South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries Co. said Thursday it has won an approval in principle for a floating carbon dioxide storage unit (FCSU) from Norwegian accredited registrar and classification society DNV.

The floating unit, developed jointly with Malaysia's MISC Berhad, is 330 meters long and 64 meters wide, and is capable of storing 100,000 cubic meters of liquid CO2 at temperatures of minus 50 C and below, Samsung Heavy said.

The shipyard said its FCSU is able to store CO2 captured in land terminals before it goes into the depleted offshore gas and oil wells.

Samsung Heavy added an injection module on the unit's deck can send 5 million tons of CO2 into the ocean floor per year, which is tantamount to the total CO2 exhaust discharged by some 3.3 million cars a year.

Since January, Samsung Heavy and MISC Berhad have been conducting joint research on technologies for CO2 capture and storage products and a feasibility study.

The bilateral partnership calls for Samsung Heavy to supply floating storage units, while MISC is charged with developing a business model for storing CO2 at depleted offshore gas and oil wells across the world.

A senior company official said the shipbuilder will ramp up efforts to secure future growth engines by developing eco-friendly products concerning offshore wind farms, unclear power and carbon capture and storage.

Samsung Heavy is the shipbuilding arm of Samsung Group, South Korea's top family-controlled conglomerate whose marquee unit is global tech powerhouse Samsung Electronics Co. (Yonhap)