The role of chief scientist was created to reinforce the Shell commitment to science, technology and innovation. Each chief scientist has internationally recognised expertise in individual fields. They deliver innovative technology that has a strong impact on wider business development.
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Jose Bravo
Shell Chief Scientist Separations
Jose is a world-renowned expert in separation technology. He is developing new equipment for refineries, chemical plants and gas operations. He believes part of his role as a chief scientist is to champion technology excellence.
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Video transcript
One of the key challenges the industry faces, that Shell faces, is the fact that the fuels we produce, have to be cleaner and cleaner. And they come from crude oil that is getting more and more difficult to process all the time. The challenge is to close that gap.
For example, one of these is sulphur. Sulphur in the fuels we sell these days, is a hundred times less than the sulphur that we had in those same fuels ten years ago. At the same time the crude we use to manufacture those fuels, has a hundred times more sulphur. That means you need to remove 10,000 times more sulphur than you used to do. The seriousness of the challenge is important. It's something that's fundamental to Shell.
We're following a route that's based on fundamental principles of science. And we're addressing the problem at the beginning to improve the crude before it gets to the refinery.
Shell is pursuing three parallel courses of research for this problem. The first one is we're actually working on the physical separations aspect which means removing water, removing metals. The second approach is the chemical separations approach. Where we actually, by use of catalysts, can remove acids and can remove some of the metals that are bound into the molecules of the crude oil. And the third is pre-treatment of the oil, which means it likely cracks the oil by the use of a catalyst, it produces lighter proponents that can then be refined into diesel or gas oil.
It's a fantastic project that involves many different kinds of people from different parts of the business and with very different sets of skills. And it uses about every size of technology available to Shell.
The interesting part to me is that it covers everything from very basic research all the way to implementation. You learn a lot and that's really the exciting part. It's a very steep and energetic learning curve. We see technology as a way that Shell is going to carry on into the future. It is a fundamental part of our business strategy and the people that deliver that technology are the key resource for the company for the future.