Marinematts – Innovative Low Carbon Plastic Free Subsea Protection

Project Summary

The aim of this project is to redesign, construct, test and deploy in an offshore environment an eco-friendly subsea protection mattress system (Marinematts) using a conventional lifting frame. The Marinematt blocks are made from an innovative carbon neutral binder that contains no Portland cement or plastic fibre and are linked together with a rope that contains no polypropylene.

OUTCOMES

The value to industry from this project is the significant positive ESG (environmental, social, and governance) impact of the removal of polypropylene micro-plastics and the reduction of embodied CO2 compared to traditional pipeline/ cable protection systems. The value impact expected from a one-time technology deployment is the reduction of 124t – 140t of embodied CO2 and 12km of 18mm polypropylene rope with a potential to deliver a reduction of 1240t – 1400t of CO2 annually across the UKCS (across all sectors) based on 10 projects per year and an overall reduction of 124,000t – 140,000t of CO2 over a 10-year period. The anticipated value associated with carbon abatement for this project is estimated to be £5.6M based on a £40 per tonne CO2 over a 10 year period.