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Conversion processes
Shell Global Solutions’ conversion processes form the backbone of numerous operations around the globe, and have been fine-tuned using real business challenges. But as the energy landscape evolves, new technologies will be essential, so we have made an extended commitment to research and develop new, state-of-the-art solutions that will help our clients to address the challenges of the future.
Anything to liquids
The increasing vehicle numbers intensify the need for fuels producing fewer harmful emissions. Shell Global Solutions provides technology that turns gas, biomass and coal – in fact, just about anything organic – into clean-burning liquid fuels.
Anything to liquids (XTL) technology is helping to unlock non-oil energy reserves and increase energy security. Road trials have demonstrated the substantial benefits of XTL fuels on local air quality.
XTL technology is built on 30 years of innovation, which began with our pioneering gas to liquids (GTL) research. Shell built the world’s first commercial GTL plant in Malaysia, and is now building the world’s largest GTL plant in Qatar.
Shell is also investing in responsible biomass to liquids (BTL) fuel technologies. For example, the organisation is helping to build the world’s first commercial BTL facility. The plant will use non-food feedstocks, such as wood chips, to produce synthesis gas, which is then converted into fuel using technology developed and refined through our GTL research.
Global Solutions’ GTL and BTL technologies won the 2005 Professor Ferdinand Porsche Preis. The prize is awarded by the Vienna University of Technology, Austria and recognises significant engineering breakthroughs in automotive engineering.
Cost-effective, reliable separation technology can improve margins
Global Solutions offers integrated separation technology that is the result of innovative R&D and an extensive operations background. Shell ConSep‡ mass-transfer distillation trays use the principle of de-entrainment by centrifugal force to remove the gravitational limitations of jet flood. The novelty is in combining the features of a contacting tray and a centrifugal separator in a single stage.
The trays have a capacity 40% higher than other leading trays, according to independent tests performed by Fractionation Research Inc.
This technology has been applied to refineries and offshore facilities. One customer reported that the solution offered for revamping a crude distillation unit, which included new distillation trays, was not what had been expected. However, this alternative solution gave the customer, Statoil, $2 million per year in improved margins at its Kalundborg refinery, Denmark.
Shell ConSep‡ is a Shell trademark.
Ultimate zero-sulphur fuel
As governments around the globe continue to impose increasingly stringent air pollution legislation, Global Solutions continues to research cleaner, more cost-effective refining technologies.
In Europe, for example, the mandated sulphur content of automotive fuels has been reduced from around 500 ppm in the 1990s to 10 ppm. Hydrodesulphurisation is the conventional method for removing sulphur, but applying such a process to heavier fuels may become exponentially costly owing to the severe reaction conditions required for heavy fuels and the high hydrogen consumption.
Global Solutions has a portfolio of initiatives to explore the potential of alternative technologies. For instance, one project is looking at desulphurisation methods for vacuum gasoil, long residue and heavier fuels.