Customer briefing note

HOW CAN WE HELP REFINERS AND RESOURCE HOLDERS

TO PRODUCE AFFORDABLE BLUE HYDROGEN?

Are you...
… under pressure to decarbonise your existing operations?
… a resource holder looking for ways to thrive through the energy transition and create value from natural gas by becoming a low-carbon energy producer?

Without low-carbon hydrogen, decarbonising heavy industry to achieve Before investing in Installing With SGP + ADIP Higher operating Pre-reformer, parallel Grey hydrogen
post-combustion capture, low-pressure, ULTRA technology, pressures ensure reformer and syngas can still be
international net-zero ambitions will be difficult. Today’s hydrogen production is the energy efficiency can post-combustion proven higher > 95% CO2 firing are not required. produced with
be increased by installing carbon-capture operating pressures capture with These simplifications SGP but the
carbon intensive. Green hydrogen (from the electrolysis of water using renewable pre- and parallel reformers technology on the minimise the greater solvent and more efficient CO2 technology adds
utilisation
power) is likely to be a long-term solution, but may not achieve cost parity with and by minimising direct
CO2 emissions with
flue gas stream and a
CO2 compressor
hydrogen and CO2
compression duties
capture compensate
for the price of the air
more value for
blue hydrogen
“blue” hydrogen, which is produced from natural gas with carbon capture syngas firing adds substantial cost separation unit applications

utilisation and storage (CCUS), until about 2045.1 Moreover, this analysis is based
120
on producing blue hydrogen using conventional steam methane reforming (SMR)
and autothermal reforming (ATR) technologies, not the Shell Blue Hydrogen
Process (SBHP), which significantly improves blue hydrogen economics. 100
7 100

Relative total capital investment, %

39 —4
THE SHELL BLUE HYDROGEN PROCESS
80
The SBHP, which integrates proprietary Shell gas partial oxidation (SGP) and
ADIP ULTRA technologies, offers significant advantages over the alternatives. —27
60 13 57
Compared with SMR, SGP technology saves money by maximising carbon- 17

capture efficiency and simplifying the process line-up, which offsets oxygen 41
production costs (Figure 1). Post-combustion carbon capture technology, such as 40 36
—25 —15
the Shell CANSOLV2 CO2 Capture System, can be retrofitted to SMR line-ups to
create blue hydrogen. However, for greenfield applications, oxygen-based systems 20
are more cost-effective. This advantage increases with scale, as the relative cost of
the air-separation unit decreases. Post-combustion capture is also higher cost than
0
precombustion capture using Shell ADIP ULTRA solvent technology.
Grey Energy Post- CO2 SMR post- Reduced High Process Installation SGP + ADIP Remove Grey
hydrogen efficiency combustion compression combustion hydrogen pressure pre- simplification of air ULTRA CCS hydrogen
with SMR increase capture capture and CO2 combustion separation technology capability with SGP
compressor capture state unit
state

Increase Decrease Total

Zero Energy Platform: “Commercial scale feasibility of clean hydrogen,” 2017,
1

www.zeroemissionsplatform.eu/wp-content/uploads/zep-clean-hydrogen-report.pdf
2
CANSOLV is a Shell trademark. Figure 1. Relative capital investment comparison between grey and blue hydrogen via SMR and SGP technology.
Compared with ATR, SGP technology has a simpler line-up, with no need for substantial ATR SGP
120
feed gas pretreatment, and does not require a fired heater that emits carbon dioxide
(CO2). Another advantage is that the SGP process generates, rather than consumes,
steam to satisfy the demands of the process and other consumers. The SGP process is 106

also more robust against feed contaminants, which gives refiners greater feed flexibility. 100 100 100 100
Although SGP technology consumes 6% more natural gas for a high-grade hydrogen 100

Relative cost, %
application, this is offset by power generation from the excess steam. For industrial
grade hydrogen, the natural gas consumption can be reduced further.
83
These benefits translate into a 22% lower levellised cost of hydrogen for SGP 78
80
technology compared with ATR (Figure 2, A), and even greater benefit when compared
with SMR. Plant capital expenditure is 17% lower (B) owing to potentially higher
operating pressure leading to a smaller hydrogen compressor and CCS plant, and 66

minimal feed gas pretreatment. Operating expenditure is 34% lower (C) (excluding
60
natural gas feedstock price) through reduced compression duties and more steam for
internal power generation. Natural gas consumption is 6% higher (D) but offset by A B C D
having more steam available for power generation.
Figure 2. SGP technology cost relative to ATR.

THE SHELL BLUE HYDROGEN SMR CANSOLV

CO2
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY CO2
Large reference base, but CO2
Steam Flue gas
The SBHP is an end-to-end line-up that requires post-combustion
maximises the integration of SGP and ADIP CO2 capture for >90%
Feed gas CO2
SMR CO shift Purification H2
ULTRA technologies. capture CH4 pretreatment capture

SGP TECHNOLOGY Steam CO2

The SGP process is an oxygen-based ATR
CH4
system with direct firing in a refractory-lined Feed pretreatment Feed gas
ATR CO shift
CO2
Purification H2
pretreatment capture
reactor. Unlike ATR, it requires little or no Steam for reaction
O2
feed-gas pretreatment, is a noncatalytic Flue gas
Fired heater Feed
(CO2 Air Air
process that produces high-pressure steam heater
emissions) Power separation
from waste heat rather than consuming it
and has no direct CO2 emissions (Figure 3). High-pressure steam CO2
SGP
No or minimal feed pretreatment CO2
CH4 or refinery fuel gas SGP CO shift Purification H2
capture
Steam production using waste heat
O2
No direct CO2 emissions from process Air Air
separation
Power
Figure 3. SMR, ATR and SGP line-ups.
SHELL ADIP ULTRA TECHNOLOGY
Shell ADIP ULTRA solvent technology is a proven gas-treating process for CO2 removal WHY USE THE SHELL BLUE HYDROGEN PROCESS?
that combines an optimal solvent formulation to help maximise process performance Low-carbon blue hydrogen will be part of the future energy mix and the
and reduce energy consumption, and competitive equipment sizing, especially if SBHP offers a lower levellised cost of hydrogen than alternative line-ups.
combined with Shell Turbo Trays, to help reduce capital expenditure.
The technologies that make up the SBHP are proven at the 500-t/d scale
REFERENCE PROJECTS in multiple, longstanding applications worldwide.

SGP technology has more than 30 active gas and residue gasification licensees, and Shell is a market leader in developing full-scale CCUS projects.
there are more than 100 SGP gasifiers worldwide. For example:
the Pearl gas-to-liquids plant, Qatar, has operated 18 SGP trains since 2011,
each with a 500-t/d equivalent pure hydrogen production capacity; and
Pernis refinery, the Netherlands, has been operating at a 1-Mt/y CO2 capture CONTACT US
capacity using the SGP process since 1997. For further information, please visit our website at www.shell.com/ct
Shell also has CCUS experience through its involvement in multiple projects in different
phases of development and can offer key experience and insights into CO2 capture,
compression, transport, utilisation and storage.

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