Shell to pursue renewable aviation fuel at its existing German hydrogen facility
March 3, 2021The company intends to use its Rhineland refinery’s Wesseling section for this new purpose.
Royal Dutch Shell is making moves toward renewable aviation fuel production in Germany. It will be doing so from the Wesseling section of its refinery in Rhineland. There, it will conduct its research using the new bio-power-to-liquid plant as well as a newly upgraded hydrogen electrolysis facility.
The company recently announced its intentions to bump the H2 plant from 10 MW to 100 MW.
Shell released a spectrum of new plans last week which led up to its more recent announcement of its pursuit of renewable aviation fuel. Last week, it described the moves it would be taking at its existing hydrogen plant in Germany in order to boost capacity from the current 10-megawatts to a substantially larger 100-megawatts. This upgrade will be conducted with the assistance of ITM Linde Electrolysis GmbH, Linde, and ITM Power.
Both the upgraded electrolysis facility and its bio-power-to-liquid plant are key components of the transformation of that location into the “Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Rhineland”, which will include an Energy Campus. The energy giant is currently actively seeking partners for this project.
There will be several paths pursued along Shell’s journey to create affordable and renewable aviation fuel.
“The Rhineland Raffinerie is the engine and heart of Shell’s activities in Germany and will play a key role in providing products that are increasingly different from today’s crude oil-dominated range and that will increasingly convert to regenerative solutions such as synthetic and biofuels as well as green hydrogen,” said Refinery Director Dr. Marco Richrath, discussing the current development plans.
“We will only be able to maintain mobility in the future if it is made more sustainable and road users can significantly reduce emissions on the road, on water and in the air. To make this possible, the location’s product portfolio will and must change significantly,” added Shell Deutschland Oil CEO Dr. Fabian Ziegler while talking about the various pursuits, including renewable aviation fuel, that the company is taking toward its greener future. The global Shell group has established a net zero emissions target for 2050.
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I have followed CHFCA ( Canadian H2 Fuel Association ) for the past year, they seem to be far more advanced than the EU’s Hydrogen website on all things Hydrogen. A few weeks ago, I red that the Canadian company, Proton Technology’s description of H2 @ $ 0.10 / kg. This excited my interest as it entails the injection of Oxygen into depleted or worked out Oil and Gas wells causing an Exothermal reaction which releases large quantities of very cheap H2. I realise that this may not be a truly Green form of H2. However adding HYDROGEN to any combustion or process generally reduces CO2 and other Emissions.
Well done I trust that other oil companies shall also give a thought to this technology.
Hello Shell Fuels, I have for the past 2 years lobbied the Universities, Marine, Motor and Aircraft Industries for the use of H2 Electrolysis as an Interim or Shorter Term Alternative for Reduction of Emissions. The interest in H2 has recently gained momentum, due mainly to the effects of COVID, and companies such as Airbus, Porche, Linde, and the Marine Industry are researching H2 based HYBRID Fuels. I have previously been employed by both Shell and Linde
in an engineering design and construction capacity, and have had an interest in SOLAR PV for over 40 years. I have used Solar Power for Hot Water for 30 years and PV Power for 7 years.