Shell's technology division is one of eleven business partners contributing to CatchBio.
At Shell in Amsterdam, Gosselink is responsible for the research in the Biodomain and for exploratory research on refining. Within CatchBio he is sustainable innovation manager, and one of the cluster leaders Energy.
Dr.ir. Hans Gosselink reflects on Shell’s participation in CatchBio, its motivations and expectations.
What is Shell looking for in cooperation with external partners?
"Shell’s technology division has a dedicated bio-team working at several centres around the world and we have forged a number of partnerships, both academic and commercial, to accelerate our work. Adding to our knowledge through genuine and nimble partnerships with top experts worldwide will be critical to speed and success in the fast-moving area of biofuels. A consortium like CatchBio, in which both science and industry participate, is also very suitable for this purpose."
Why CatchBio?
"The Biodomain activities in Shell Amsterdam involve chemical, catalytic and thermal conversion of biomass to next generation of biofuels, which is also one of the CatchBio objectives. We know the Dutch catalysis world, which is internationally recognized. This lead to the decision to cooperate in CatchBio. All partners in CatchBio are very motivated and in an early stage we were able in non-confidential discussions to agree on roadmaps for the consortium, which was a very good achievement."
What does Shell expect from CatchBio?
"Today’s most widespread biofuel, ethanol, is commonly made from crops of sugar cane, corn or wheat. The second most widespread type of biofuel is often made from rapeseed, palm oil or soya beans and is known as FAME (fatty acid methyl esters). For technical reasons, today’s standard vehicle engines can only use fuel with small amounts of ethanol or FAME blended in (5-10%). The Shell Group is working on a number of new processes to convert for example lignocellulose raw material and marine micro algae into advanced biofuels, which can be blended seamlessly to make conventional transportation fuels. New catalysis options from CatchBio could be very interesting."
When is CatchBio a success?
"In principle CatchBio is a success when various new catalyst concepts with fine-tuned reactor concepts and process layouts are being delivered. Proofs of principles are important elements in the CatchBio road maps. Such new integrated catalysis options would be interesting for Shell to consider for further development."
Shell also participates in the socio-economic cluster. Why?
"If you introduce new conversion routes to the next generation biofuels, it will be important that they are economically competitive while striving to deliver environmental and social benefits. The new processes therefore should be very cost-effective and thus for instance should not contain too many unit operations, and should lead to significant reduction of CO2-emissions. Therefore it is important that CatchBio does environmental life cycle assessment (LCA), social assessment and economic process analyses."
Facts & Figures Shell
