Royal Dutch Shell plc, has taken a final investment decision to build an 820,000-tonnes-a-year biofuels facility at the Shell Energy and chemicals Park Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The facility, once built, will be among the biggest in Europe to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel made from waste.
It is expected to start production of low-carbon fuels such as renewable diesel from waste in the form of used cooking oil, waste animal fat and other industrial and agricultural residual products, in 2024.
The facility is expected to produce enough renewable diesel to avoid 2,800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions a year, in other words taking more than one million European cars off the road.
The transformation of the former Pernis refinery into an energy and chemicals park is one of the ways Shell intends on meeting its target of becoming a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050, in line with the Paris agreement.
Shell in the same statement stated that “As part of its Powering Progress strategy, Shell is transforming its refineries (which numbered 14 in October 2020) into five energy and chemicals parks
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And one of its aims is to reduce the production of traditional fuels by 55% by 2030 and also help to meet growing demand from the transport sector, including hard-to-decarbonise sectors such as heavy road transport and aviation hydrogen.”
This energy transition initiated with the launch of its first energy and chemical park in Germany, will supply customers with the low-carbon products they want and need,” said Huibert Vigevano, Shell’s Downstream Director.
Marjan van Loon, President Director of Shell Netherlands BV said: “Shell has been on the road to a lower-carbon future for some time. This investment is an important step as we transform the Energy and Chemicals Park Rotterdam from a traditional refinery into a sustainable energy park.
The project will mean hundreds of millions of dollars of investment each year during construction, it will create hundreds of jobs, and help to maintain the facility’s competitiveness for years to come.”
