Sustainable synthetic kerosene
The initiative to produce 500 litres of sustainable, synthetic kerosene came from the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management as a step to making aviation more sustainable. Shell accepted the challenge and made synthetic kerosene using green hydrogen and CO2 which was used on a KLM flight to Madrid.
Flying on 100% synthetic kerosene is not yet allowed, the maximum is currently 50% so the synthetic kerosene was mixed with regular kerosene before use.
This is still a long way from large-scale implementation but it is the critical first step.
Green hydrogen
Hydrogen is a major chemical building block in the manufacturing of many products. Being able to produce it by electrolysis based on sustainable electricity (“green hydrogen”) is a positive way to limit the resulting CO2 emissions.
At Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam, green hydrogen is produced with electricity generated by the 232 solar panels located on its roof which are dedicated to this purpose. With this pilot, we can demonstrate that the integration of electrolysers and renewable power will also work if we do it on a scale 2000 times greater. This hydrogen is split for use between a major test installation and a hydrogen pump providing fuel for cars. We are a strong believer in an H2 economy. We have two hydrogen cars that can be potentially used by the Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam community for business mileage and the Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam may support frequent use of H2 cars through our onsite green H2 fueling station.
This pump is the first in the Amsterdam region to represent the entire green hydrogen chain, from energy generated by the sun to the emission of just water vapour from the car.
Circular plastic
A technique, known as pyrolysis, turns hard to recycle plastic waste into liquid. Shell transforms this liquid with inhouse new technology into suitable feedstock to convert it back to plastics.
3D printing
3D printing can optimise the energy industry’s spare part management to significantly reduce costs and emissions.
At Energy Transition Campus Amsterdam, we are progressing 3D printing to print spare parts on demand, develop novel equipment and rapidly prototype engineering designs. We are developing in-house capability to bridge the gap between 3D printing manufacturers and large-scale deployment in industry. Thanks to the unique knowledge and facilities we developed progressively, in 2021, Shell became the first company in Europe to have certified an in-house 3D printed pressure equipment in accordance with the European Pressure Equipment Directive (PED). Read here how we worked with LRQA on this 4-year research projects and developed the knowledge to also help our partners certify their printed parts for commercialisation and support technology development and deployment.
