Shell in Germany seeks to speed up drive to go green

Royal Dutch Shell in Germany aims to produce aviation fuel and naphtha made from crops and renewable power and to increase to commercial scale an electrolysis plant that makes fossil-free hydrogen, as it seeks to move away from crude oil. The energy major told an online conference on Friday it had applied for subsidies to carry out the work from the EU and from German funds earmarked for decarbonisation. Fabian Ziegler, head of Shell Deutschland, said several hundred million euros should be spent per year, but he did not give a desired ratio between company and public funding. The global Shell group has set itself a goal of net zero emissions by 2050. At Wesseling, part of the Rheinland refinery, Shell plans to use green electricity and biomass to produce synthetic power-to-liquids (ptl) in a carbon-free way to replace, over the long term, conventional jet fuel and naphtha. The 100,000 tonnes/p.a. ptl plant could be built from 2023 and start producing in 2025.<br/>