Shell consortium plans bulk hydrogen production project

A consortium of Shell Deutschland Oil and Shell Energy Europe with partners ITM Power, SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy plans a project to install a large scale electrolyser to produce hydrogen at the Wesseling refinery site within the Rheinland Refinery Complex. With a capacity of ten megawatts, this would be the largest unit of its kind in Germany and the world’s largest PEM (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) electrolyser.
September 4, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

A consortium of Shell Deutschland Oil and Shell Energy Europe with partners ITM Power, SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy plans a project to install a large scale electrolyser to produce hydrogen at the Wesseling refinery site within the Rheinland Refinery Complex.

With a capacity of ten megawatts, this would be the largest unit of its kind in Germany and the world’s largest PEM (Polymer Electrolyte Membrane) electrolyser. This electrolyser technology is also suitable to improve the stability of the electricity grid with a growing share of intermittent renewable energy sources, such as from solar and wind.

The consortium has been invited to the preparation of a grant agreement by the European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen 2 Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU), following a competitive call for proposals.

Today, the refinery uses approximately 180,000 tons of hydrogen per year in its various plants. The hydrogen is currently produced as a by-product of the refining process or through natural gas reforming, while electrolysis uses electricity to split water into the base components of hydrogen and oxygen.

The project aims to enable the construction and operation of a large scale10 MW electrolyser that can produce high quality hydrogen and CO2 free hydrogen while demonstrating technology and cost improvements through up-scaling and new business applications. Electrolysis using low-cost renewable electricity could be a key technology for a potential CO2 free hydrogen production in the Shell Rheinland Refinery.

Related Content

  • Machine vision needs standards to fulfil ITS demands
    May 28, 2014
    No-one should expect the enabling qualities of machine vision to come free of charge but Jason Barnes finds there is still much that ITS stakeholders can do to help reduce costs. After many years of application in high-end solutions for the enforcement and tolling sectors, machine vision is gaining traction in more general areas of traffic management. Nevertheless, those OEMs producing transport-oriented solutions which incorporate machine vision and looking to increase the technology’s share of the ITS mar
    Read More
  • Kapsch offers EETS–compliant Tolling Services
    June 7, 2017
    Kapsch’s Bernd Eberstaller explains how the company’s new Tolling Services will help expand the number and capabilities of EETS services providers. By 2017, the European Electronic Tolling Service (EETS) should have been in operation for several years but it still remains some way away and with several significant hurdles still to be addressed. The concept behind EETS is simple enough: road users should be able to drive across Europe using only a single transponder to pay for all tolls, with the account-han
    Read More
  • Development banks pledge US$175 billion for clean transport
    June 21, 2012
    Eight of the world’s largest multilateral development banks (MDBs) banks yesterday pledged to invest US$175 billion over the next 10 years to support sustainable transport in developing countries. The pledge was made at the UN Sustainable Development Conference in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20) by the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, CAF- Development Bank of Latin America, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Islamic Developme
    Read More
  • Cities’ quandary over air quality
    October 20, 2014
    Transportation professionals have always made the safety of drivers, other road users and pedestrians their top priority with congestion and other considerations further down the wish list. Now, however, it is not enough to prevent motorists, cyclists and pedestrians being injured in traffic accidents as it appears transport professionals’ responsibilities must go much wider – to the public in general. The OECD has calculated that road traffic related air pollution kills more than three million people per y
    Read More

Highlighted Content