Shell and Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry sign R&D agreement

Jan van der Eijk, Chief Technology Officer of Royal Dutch Shell plc, and Sun Yuhan, President of ICC-CAS, signed the R&D agreement at a signing ceremony in Beijing. The agreement highlights the strategic collaboration between Shell and ICC-CAS on novel ways of syngas conversion.

Jan van der Eijk said: “Shell remains dedicated to finding better and cleaner ways to utilize fossil energy resources, which are of vital importance in the foreseeable future. This agreement is a nice example of Shell's approach to collaboration with Chinese institutes to find and demonstrate an alternative way to convert coal into fuels.”

To turn coal-based syngas into higher alcohols is a technology for the production of alternative liquid fuels.  It has the potential to become an attractive route to realize the clean use of coal and reduce petroleum dependence for cleaner fuels and fuel additives.

Sun Yuhan said: “The research projects proposed in this agreement will make full use of the bilateral strengths and expertise. Under this agreement, we are looking forward to a fruitful cooperation between Shell and ICC-CAS.”

With proper catalytic reactions, higher alcohol synthesis (HAS) can be produced from coal via syngas process. The resultant mixed alcohols can be used as fuels, fuel additives or intermediates for value-added chemicals such as medicine, cosmetic and polyester.

Lim Haw Kuang, Executive Chairman of Shell Companies in China, said: “Shell believes the R&D agreement will bring cutting-edge technical innovations to China’s energy industry, building on Shell's coal gasification process, which is a clean way of using coal and applied at 19 Chinese coal-based projects."

One innovative feature of the higher alcohol technology is its capacity to minimize environmental footprints.  By-products of the process, such as CO2 and hydrocarbons, can be reformed into syngas or directly used in gasoline blending.

ENQUIRIES:

Shell Companies in China        010-65054501 ext. 2685
Li Lusha                               E-mail: lusha.li@Shell.com

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