MOSCOW (MRC) -- Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it was conducting a feasibility study with partners to trial the use of hydrogen fuel cells for ships in Singapore, the first such move for the oil major, reported Reuters.
If successful, the trial will pave the way for cleaner, hydrogen-powered shipping, the company said, adding that its analysis points to hydrogen with fuel cells as the zero-emissions technology having the greatest potential to help the shipping sector achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
The trial will involve the development and installation of an auxiliary power unit fuel cell on an existing roll-on/roll-off vessel that transports goods, vehicles and equipment on lorries between Singapore and Shell's Pulau Bukom manufacturing site located on an island near the mainland.
A roll-on/roll-off vessel is a cargo ship designed to carry wheeled cargo such as cars, which are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels. Shell will charter the trial vessel and provide the hydrogen fuel. It is also working with SembCorp Marine Ltd and its unit LMG Marin, which will design the fuel cell and retrofit the vessel, owned by Penguin International Ltd).
The team will first carry out a feasibility study with the intention to install the fuel cell next year and the vessel will operate for a trial period of 12 months, Shell said.
To achieve the goals for the shipping industry set by the United Nations, industry leaders say the first ships with net-zero emissions must enter the global fleet by 2030. Ships powered by hydrogen could help meet the target.
As MRC informed earlier, Royal Dutch Shell Plc restarted the small crude distillation unit (CDU) on 2 April at its 318,000-bpd joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery. The 70,000-bpd DU-1 CDU was shut on Feb 14 by a pump seal failure. All other units were shut the following day by severe cold weather. DU-1 is the last unit shut in February to restart at the refinery.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
Royal Dutch Shell plc is an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the biggest company in the world in terms of revenue and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors". Shell is vertically integrated and is active in every area of the oil and gas industry, including exploration and production, refining, distribution and marketing, petrochemicals, power generation and trading.
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