
Technology for sustainability
Technology plays a crucial role in the transformation of our businesses and the development of cleaner energy solutions that our customers want and need.
Shell scientists, researchers and engineers around the globe are working to develop, deploy and commercialise technologies that are vital in the transition to a low-carbon energy future. In 2021, we spent $815 million on research and development (R&D), compared with $907 million in 2020. In 2021, we started work on 182 R&D projects with universities, compared with 124 in 2020. Discover some examples of how Shell applies innovation to produce more and cleaner energy. Find out more about our approach to sustainability and our performance data in our Sustainability Report.

Hydrogen
Hydrogen plays a central role in helping the world reach net-zero emissions. Because hydrogen has a high energy density, it is especially suitable for hard-to-electrify sectors like heavy-duty transport, heavy industry, shipping and aviation.
We are working globally on new technologies across the entire hydrogen supply chain – from production to storage, transport and use – to develop hydrogen into an accessible, affordable low-carbon fuel for transport and as feedstock for chemicals.
In 2021, we opened REFHYNE, the largest electrolyser of its kind in Europe, at our Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland. This 10 MW electrolyser uses renewable energy to produce up to 1,300 tonnes of hydrogen produced from renewables a year.
Plans are in place to build a 200MW electrolyser, Holland Hydrogen I, in the Port of Rotterdam. The decarbonised hydrogen produced from the electrolyser will be used in our Energy and Chemicals park Rotterdam, with the surplus hydrogen going to our hydrogen retail network. A final investment decision on the electrolyser is expected sometime in 2022.
Together with partners, Shell is also aiming to build one of the largest European renewables-based hydrogen projects in the Netherlands. If given the go-ahead, NortH2 will be capable of producing more than 800,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen a year by electricity generated from a 10 GW offshore wind farm in the North Sea.
These developments are supported by an R&D programme to test and develop new electrolysers in close cooperation with a variety of third parties.
Along with our partners in the CO2-free Hydrogen Energy Supply-chain Technology Research Association (HySTRA), we are developing technologies to transport large volumes of liquid hydrogen by sea. The world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier – the Suiso Frontier – completed its maiden voyage, sailing from Japan to Australia at the end of 2021, where it was loaded with liquified hydrogen before returning to Japan in early 2022.
In the USA in 2021, a Shell-led consortium of leading US companies and research institutions was selected by the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop large-scale liquid hydrogen storage technology. The aim of the project is to develop the technologies needed to create a commercially viable international supply chain for decarbonised hydrogen.
Find out more about Shell’s hydrogen business at www.shell.com/energy-and-innovation/new-energies/hydrogen.
Renewable and sustainable fuels
In 2021 we took a final investment decision to build one of Europe’s biggest biofuels plants at the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park in the Netherlands. The facility will use advanced process technology and catalysts developed by Shell to produce up to 820,000 tonnes a year of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel from industrial and agricultural residual products. A facility of this size could produce enough renewable diesel to avoid 2.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, the equivalent of taking more than 1 million European cars off the roads.
This announcement is a key part of the transformation of one of our major refineries into an energy and chemicals park, which will supply customers with the low-carbon products they want and need.
Huibert Vigeveno, Shell’s Downstream Director
This announcement is a key part of the transformation of one of our major refineries into an energy and chemicals park, which will supply customers with the low-carbon products they want and need.
Title: Shell Pernis Biofuels
Duration: 2.23 minute
Description:
Shell is investing in a new facility in Pernis to take steps towards cleaner energy. With this video, Shell briefly tells us what to expect with the new techniques to realize biofuels in Pernis.
[Video images]
In the images you can see Shell's refinery. The entire industrial area can be seen. The first installation shows Shell's logo next to a large pride flag. The image switches to an employee who is monitoring all the systems on more than twenty computer screens. He is wearing a red overalls.
[Voice-over, female voice with a neutral Dutch accent]
"Shell is going to invest in a large biofuels plant."
[Video images]
One can see how a car drives onto the site in the middle of the large installations. The car drives into one of the halls where it enters a dark space in which rectangular neon-colored arches stand. Here the car drives through.
[Voice-over, female voice with a neutral Dutch accent]
"This is the starting point of the transformation of the Pernis refinery into the Shell Chemicals and Energy Park Rotterdam."
[Video images]
Huibert Vigeveno, Downstream Director of Royal Dutch Shell stands in a suit at the refinery. The camera is focused on his face.
[Huibert Vigeveno, Downstream Director Royal Dutch Shell]
"We are here for the official opening of one of the largest biofuel plants in Europe."
[Video images]
Drone footage of the refinery can now be seen.
[Huibert Vigeveno]
"We're very proud to do this."
[Video images]
Huibert Vigeveno, Downstream Director of Royal Dutch Shell stands in a suit at the refinery. The camera is focused on his face.
[Huibert Vigeveno]
"This is one of the many things we are doing to become net zero."
[Video images]
Shell personnel can be seen giving a presentation to interested parties. The image then spills over to people at work in the refinery.
[Huibert Vigeveno]
"The transformation starts by not only having that ambition ourselves, but by listening to: what do our customers want, what do they need, and how can we help them achieve that?
For me this will be an energy and chemistry park where we actually open the gates, let everyone in and show what we can do.
Building a biofuel plant for our customers who all have the same ambition as us: net zero. But they don't know how."
[Video images]
Video footage can be seen of a scientist in a white suit with a mouth mask holding a chemistry beaker containing a sample of the biofuel.
[Huibert Vigeveno]
"With this biofuel, we can help them meet their net zero ambitions as well."
[Video images]
The Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, is shown being interviewed on the grounds of the refinery in Pernis. In the background are the large installations.
[Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam]
"Not only for Rotterdam does the start of the construction of this biofuel plant have significance,"
[Video images]
An overview of the refinery is given. This is a design in a digital program. Then the image moves to the actual refinery. Here the major installations can be seen again.
[Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam]
"It's also an innovative high point for the rest of the world.
This is where we need to go."
[Video images]
An overview of the refinery is given. This is a design in a digital program. Then the image moves to the actual refinery. Here the major installations can be seen again.
[Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam]
"The world runs on fossil fuels: natural gas, petroleum etcetera.
[Video images]
The images go back to the seminar being given. On stage, the Mayor of Rotterdam has also joined in. Together with four men, he answers questions from the panel and the audience. The images change to a board on which three jars can be seen. These are three samples of raw materials for biofuels: RAPESEED OIL, TALLOW and USED COOKING OIL are written underneath the three jars.
[Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam]
"But civilization now demands a transition to something else."
[Video images]
From above, a white car is filmed driving through a green forest.
[Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam]
"Shell understands society and the global community. And is organizing it."
[Video images]
The Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, is shown being interviewed on the grounds of the refinery in Pernis. In the background are the large installations. He is wearing a light blue tie with dots.
[Ahmed Aboutaleb, Mayor of Rotterdam]
"That's going to lead to less pollution.
That's going to lead to more innovative jobs.
That's going to lead to saving the equivalent of a million cars' worth of CO2 in the air."
[Video images]
Jos van Winsen, General Manager of Shell Pernis is interviewed on the grounds of the refinery. In the background are the towers of the plants and construction fences
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"We announced today that we are going to build a biofuels plant," he said.
[Video images]
An excavator is filmed from above. The orange excavator lifts up a large gray pipe and lays it in a trench dug.
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"That we're really going to build a factory where we... "
[Video images]
Jos van Winsen, General Manager of Shell Pernis is interviewed on the grounds of the refinery. In the background are the towers of the plants and construction fences
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"820 kilotons per year.... "
[Video images]
Shell's yellow logo is filmed. It is on large crates. As soon as the image shifts to the right, it can be read on the crate "03 FROM FRITURE FAT MAKE KEROSINE"
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"to biodiesel and biokerosene."
[Video images]
Jos van Winsen, General Manager of Shell Pernis is interviewed on the grounds of the refinery. In the background are the towers of the plants and construction fences
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"So very low CO2 intensity biofuel.
That's good for the world and."
[Video images]
An overview of the refinery is shown.
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"That's good for us.
We also have a future prospect for this refinery with that."
[Video images]
Jos van Winsen, General Manager of Shell Pernis is interviewed on the grounds of the refinery. In the background are the towers of the plants and construction fences
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"This is really a very big investment.
We are investing that purely in biofuel whereas in the past you were always investing on the oil and fossil side."
[Videobeelden]
An overview of the refinery is shown.
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"This is actually the largest investment in 24 years, and we're really putting it into biofuel."
[Video images]
Jos van Winsen, General Manager of Shell Pernis is interviewed on the grounds of the refinery. In the background are the towers of the plants and construction fences
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"With that, I think it's really a turnaround of the refinery....
[Video images]
A large yellow excavator is moving sand around the site. An employee is supervising the process. He is wearing red overalls with a yellow helmet. On the helmet are hearing protectors.
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
“Where we are going to an energy and chemical park."
[Video images]
Several employees come into view. The first is wearing a red overalls. The second is wearing a white lab coat. The third also has an overal on with a helmet under her arm. They look like they are ready to get to work. All three are smiling kindly.
[Jos van Winsen, General Manager Shell Pernis]
"In the end, you see that the future prospect is employment for Pernis.
That's good for Rotterdam."
[Video images]
Huibert Vigeveno and Ahmed Aboutaleb stand together hand in hand. They push a big red button which symbolizes the opening of the park. Many journalists stand around them with cameras.
[Background music can be heard]
[Closing Text]
Shell logo
#PoweringProgress
For more information, visit Shell.com/Biofuels

Carbon capture
In 2021, we moved our solid sorbent carbon capture pilot from Austria to the Netherlands after completing the successful ViennaGreenCO2 project. The pilot plant now captures CO2 produced by generating electricity from chicken manure at BMC Moerdijk. It is a critical step on the way to a first commercial scale deployment of Solid Sorbent Technology.
Subject to R&D progress and future investment decisions, we aim to accelerate development and deployment of the Solid Sorbent Technology towards a commercial scale unit. If successful, the reduced CO2 capture costs and improved environmental performance of Solid Sorbent Technology when compared to existing CO2 capture technologies will give more CO2 emitters the opportunity to capture and store their emissions.
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