technology for now and the future - shell global · 4 shell techxplorer digest 22 3 6 85 regular...

Unmanned aerial systems bring business value

Testing lubricants for heavy-duty biodiesel engines

Advanced battery storage for a low-carbon future

TECHNOLOGY FOR NOW AND THE FUTURE

Shell TechXplorer D

igest - 2020 2020

2 Shell TechXplorer Digest | 2020

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Shell TechXplorer Digest a publication that showcases the breadth and depth of scientifi c research and technology applications within Shell by presenting a selection of articles originally published in Shell TechXplorer

Shell TechXplorer was created to report advances in the development and deployment of key technologies to as many interested people as possible within Shell Most of the articles are written by the Shell scientists engineers and technicians who have worked on these technologies

Shell TechXplorer is a strictly internal-only magazine however Shell TechXplorer Digest in contrast provides a medium through which the authors can communicate their achievements to a wider readership

Editorial servicesRSK Group Ltd UK

Editorial email addresstechxplorershellcom

Design and layoutMCW RotterdamMichael de Jong

Cover imageShellrsquos diverse businesses have a portfolio of technologies across all stages of maturity from basic research and development to commercial deployment

EXECUTIVE EDITORS

Evren Unsal and Gregory Greenwell

BOARD OF ADVISORS

Selda Gunsel (TechXplorer Champion)

Mariela AraujoCommercial delivery subsurface

Jack EmmenTechnology for capital projects

Caroline HernGeoscience

Robert MainwaringDownstream products

Ajay MehtaNew Energies

Joe PowellChemical engineering

Bhaskar RamachandranIntegrated gas ndash engineering projects

Anneke van der HeijdenDownstream manufacturing

Frans van der Vlugt Reservoir engineering

About the colour codingThe articles in this publication are grouped according to whether they contribute most to Shellʼs Core Upstream Leading Transition or Emerging Power strategic themes

Core Upstream

Leading Transition

Emerging Power

DEEP WATER

INTEGRATED GAS

ELECTRIFICATION

CHEMICALS

SHALES

OIL PRODUCTS

CONVENTIONAL OILAND GAS

httpsdoiorg1052196208316

3Shell TechXplorer Digest | 2020

Foreword


INTRODUCTION








EXECUTIVE EDITORS


BOARD OF ADVISORS












Core Upstream

Leading Transition

Emerging Power

DEEP WATER

INTEGRATED GAS

ELECTRIFICATION

CHEMICALS

SHALES

OIL PRODUCTS


The graphic flags the starting page of a referenced article If you are reading the foreword on screen you can just click on the graphic to go there

Well this publication will give you a glimpse of the answer It contains a selection of technical articles written by specialists for nonspecialists who often make the connections that spread know-how within Shell Yet you will notice some non-Shell authors This reflects how accelerating the development and deployment of technology requires close collaboration with outside parties ndash now more than ever

Technical advances such as those that shorten a drilling rigrsquos idle time (p 11) will continue as long as oil and gas are produced from wells But other advances may soon make it possible for offshore platforms to inject carbon dioxide into depleted reservoirs or to get their power from the electrical grid (p 16) both of which could help to lower the emissions of upstream activities The carbon footprints of downstream facilities can likewise be shrunk by using electric motors to drive compressors (p 54) electric boilers to generate process steam (p 65) and electric batteries to hold energy in reserve (p 38) Self-cleaning filtration systems (p 59) not only decrease the operating costs and emissions of facilities but also increase their uptime

For motorists we have formulated lubricants specifically for biodiesel engines (p 39) And for households and workplaces we have been orchestrating complex ensembles of equipment that variously generate store use and regulate heat and electricity (p 81) (p 69) (p 73)

With an eye to the more distant future we have been looking at ways of extracting carbon dioxide from industrial flue gases and liquefying it for shipping to underground disposal sites

(p 44) At the same time we have been developing ways to make a pair of tradable commodities ndash hydrogen and carbon ndash without any carbon dioxide emissions at all (p 6)

Of course digital technology can make virtually anything better robots that tirelessly inspect equipment and assets (p 22) cloud computing that constantly keeps track of flanged-pipe connections (p 49) and image analysis that reveals exactly what is happening to fluids in the tortuous flow paths of rocks and catalysts (p 28)

When the COVID pandemic wanes enough to make it safe for visitors to come to Shell premises again I hope that they will pick up a copy of Shell TechXplorer Digest just like you have After all it provides compelling examples of how Shell and its technology development partners are building on their collective strength to answer the calls for action on climate change even while providing more of the cleaner energy that the world needs

Have you wondered what Shell has been up to lately in the realm of technology

Chad HollidayChair of the Board of Royal Dutch Shell plc

Shell TechXplorer Digest | 20204

3

6

85

REGULARFEATURES

CONTENTSFOREWORD

PATENTLY SPEAKING Old ideas for a new way to make hydrogen Itrsquos elementaryA process for producing hydrogen and carbon products through the pyrolysis of methane using a molten-salt-based catalyst system shows great promise

adVENTURE How to avoid all torque and no action Cumulus Digital Systems has taken the Shell TechWorks invented Smart Torque System for reliably making up flanged pipe connections to market

XTERNAL CONNECTShijin Shuai professor in the School of Vehicle and Mobility at Tsinghua University Beijing China is impressed by the professionalism of the Shell staff at the ShellndashTsinghua University Joint Research Centre for Clean Mobility

CORE UPSTREAM

11

16

49

Drilling through faults A detailed look at fault-related lossesData from a drilling campaign in Malaysia reveal that mud loss severity is linked to the downhole mud weight exceeding the reactivation pressure of the faults penetrated

How Upstream can play a role in the energy transitionIn the Netherlands Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij has begun projects for reducing emissions and investigating new lines of business involving carbon dioxide

Up in the air Getting value from unmanned aerial systems Unmanned aerial systems represent a robust asset inspection and aerial surveillance solution but machine vision and advanced analytics will unlock their full value

What happens in porous media during oil-phase emulsificationShell scientists are making the most of advancing imaging technology to reveal what happens in a 3D porous medium during emulsification

22

28


Helping liquefied natural gas plants to cut their carbon footprints Replacing the conventional spinning reserve of part-load gas turbine power generation with a battery energy storage system is a valuable abatement opportunity

Testing engine lubricants for heavy-duty biodiesel applicationsOxidation bearing and engine tests demonstrate that Shell Rimula R4 X exceeds the minimum performance requirements for engines running on high biocontent biodiesel fuels

Building an open network for CO2 transport and storage Maritime transport is emerging as an essential link in the decarbonisation chain by moving liquid carbon dioxide from the source to a safe storage location

Compressor drive electrification A carbon dioxide abatement optionThe replacement of a steam turbine driving a compressor with a high-speed electric motor will give the Moerdijk chemical plant in the Netherlands significant annual carbon dioxide emission savings

One solution for many challenges Self-cleaning filtration Self-cleaning filtration can reduce operational costs maximise plant utilisation and deliver weight and space savings in on- and offshore locations

LEADING TRAN-SITION

34

39

44

54

59

65

73

81

69

Electric boilers Steaming towards a smaller carbon footprintElectric boilers offer an opportunity for Shell assets to continue to use their existing steam systems but with a smaller net carbon footprint

Using advanced battery storage to cut energy costs Behind-the-meter battery energy storage systems at Shell manufacturing plants in Canada are helping to reduce energy costs by covering part of the plantsrsquo energy requirements during periods of high demand and peak pricing

The importance of nanogrids in low-carbon residential communitiesA major US residential development combines a community-wide geothermal energy grid with solar photovoltaic generation and advanced battery storage and management technologies that will deliver thousands of zero-energy-capable homes

Maximising revenue from utility-scale or distributed power assets A dispatch optimisation algorithm aims to help Shell to dispatch its complicated mix of power assets for the highest returns

EMERGING POWER

PATENTLY SPEAKING


There is no such thing as a hydrogen well That is a shame because mass for mass hydrogen has an energy density two to three times greater than diesel kerosene or gasoline and it burns without producing carbon dioxide Instead the universersquos most abundant element is found on earth almost entirely in chemical compounds notably water and hydrocarbons

A reform movement About half the global supply of hydrogen is produced by combining water and hydrocarbons in a process known as steam methane reforming

(SMR) (see boxed text A steamy affair) Most of the remainder is produced by coal gasification or partial oxidation But in addition to being very energy intensive these processes create significant greenhouse gas emissions more than 9 kg of carbon dioxide accompanies every kilogram of hydrogen SMR produces [Ref 1] and the process comes with the risk of methane leaks

Capturing and sequestering carbon dioxide from SMR (SMR plus carbon capture and storage) may offer a way to produce hydrogen with a lower greenhouse gas footprint Shell has already

OLD IDEAS FOR A NEW WAY TO MAKE HYDROGEN

ITrsquoS ELEMENTARY Hydrogen has the potential to play a major role in the transition to low-carbon energy but it is currently environmentally or financially costly to produce Carbon dioxide is a by-product of the most common chemical processes for creating it in bulk the electrolysis of water can be carbon-free but its cost strongly depends on the price of renewable electricity Carl Mesters now former Chief Scientist Chemistry and Catalysis Hans Geerlings Principal Research Scientist and Leonardo Spanu Senior Researcher have filed patent applications for processes that may resolve this conundrum The processes directly convert methane into its constituent elements each with commercial value ndash not only hydrogen but also specific forms of carbon

There is a reason that liquid hydrogen was chosen to fuel NASArsquos Space Shuttle orbiters in combination with liquid oxygen it is the most efficient rocket propellant


deployed similar technology at scale to store 4 Mt of carbon dioxide produced by its Scotford upgrader in Canada but this is only possible where suitable geological formations exist ldquoIn some places there may be a market for carbon dioxiderdquo notes Carl ldquoBut as long as carbon capture and storage remains much more expensive than the value of credits earned by sequestering it greenhouse gases are likely to result from conventional hydrogen productionrdquo

Carbon-free hydrogenHigh-school chemistry students worldwide know of a simpler way of producing hydrogen they learn how to split water into hydrogen and oxygen by passing an electric current though it Indeed the electrolysis of water using renewable electricity offers a carbon-free process for producing hydrogen for fuel and a possible use for the renewable energy that the grid cannot absorb in real time but it requires about seven times the energy of SMR Theoretically 394 kWh of electrical energy is sufficient to produce 1 kg of hydrogen electrolytically enough for a fuel cell electric vehicle to travel about 100 km In practice this figure is more like 65 kWh as energy is lost through conversion inefficiencies and additional energy is necessary to compress the gas for use

Work on improving the electrolysis of water to make it more economically viable is ongoing Shell currently has several programmes focused on addressing the fundamental chemical problems scaling it up and addressing supply chain challenges However realising the potential of

electrolysis for producing hydrogen relies largely on the availability of renewable energy capacity whereas SMR plus carbon capture and storage is only feasible if suitable geological reservoirs are available Given the uncertainty of these outcomes an alternative clean way of producing hydrogen is urgently required if hydrogen is to fulfil its potential as an energy carrier

The best of both worldsLeonardo is part of a global team tasked with monetising natural gas by converting it into valuable products with lower carbon footprints ldquoHydrogen from methane pyrolysis fits well into the vision of a decarbonised future one in which natural gas still plays a critical role in the overall energy systemrdquo he says ldquoMethane is the natural carrier for hydrogen we could move it readily using existing infrastructure and then use pyrolysis thermal decomposition in the absence of oxygen to decarbonise itrdquo

During the search for a way to achieve pyrolysis Leonardo and Carl revisited Shell patents from the 1960s and 1970s that describe the use of

A steamy affair Hydrogen is commonly produced in a highly endothermic reaction between methane and steam at between 700 and 1100degC in the presence of a nickel catalyst The products of reforming and reacting one methane molecule with one water molecule are three hydrogen molecules and one carbon monoxide molecule An additional waterndashgas shift step converts the carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide again with water as the reactant to yield an additional molecule of hydrogen Step 1 CH4 + H2O CO + 3H2

Step 2 CO + H2O CO2 + H2

Together the two reactions turn a single mole of methane into four moles of hydrogen and one of carbon dioxide This theoretical ratio can be approached in practice by completing the first step at a very high temperature (see Figure 1) and the second at a much lower temperature Done this way only very small amounts of carbon monoxide are present in the gas and

separating the hydrogen from the stream is relatively simple However in a typical industrial-scale process burning methane to generate energy for the first step adds to the overall amount of carbon dioxide produced

FIGURE 1The conversion of methane to hydrogen and carbon monoxide is more complete at higher temperatures

ldquoHydrogen from methane pyrolysis fits well into the vision of a decarbonised futurerdquo

30

25

20

15

10

05

0400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Am

ounts

(m

ol)

Temperature (degC)

H2 (g)CO (g)CH4 (g)H2O (g)CO2 (g)

OLD IDEAS FOR A NEW WAY TO MAKE HYDROGEN ITrsquoS ELEMENTARY


molten salt to crack hydrocarbons In these they found evidence that the same approach could achieve what they were after a route to hydrogen production that does not produce carbon dioxide In fact molten-salt pyrolysis potentially had advantages compared with other methods for chemically decomposing methane For example the molten salt could prevent the deposition of carbon on the reactor walls and enable higher conversion of the methane

ldquoBy cracking methane into its basic constituents solid carbon and hydrogen methane pyrolysis provides a third way of producing hydrogen with a lower carbon footprint It was fascinating to read the old patents and to see clear analogies with what we are trying to dordquo enthuses Leonardo ldquoThose patents were set aside when the world was not constrained by carbon dioxide emissions because better options were developed Now when we are striving to shrink carbon footprints chemistry in a molten-salt medium is not an entirely new process for Shellrdquo

Carl summarises the potential value of molten-salt pyrolysis for the New Energies business with its focus on power and new fuels and to the Integrated Gas business which is tasked with increasing the use of natural gas ldquoNatural gas accounts for about half of Shellrsquos production and we are actively looking for outlets to monetise it beyond burning it as a fuelrdquo he says ldquoThe availability of a new process for producing hydrogen from methane is significant because Shell is targeting hydrogen as a clean energy carrier that does not produce greenhouse gasesrdquo

For their next trickAnalysis of the fundamental chemistry of the pyrolysis process was encouraging Molten salts are a great medium for transferring heat into the reaction zone and preventing carbon deposition in areas of the reactor systems where it is not wanted However unlike in the early molten-salt reactor for ethane cracking the predicted conversion level was low The team members soon realised that even after accounting for the cost of carbon dioxide emissions at the internal rate Shell uses a simple molten-salt system may not be attractive In overcoming this their key idea was to include and combine a catalyst for cracking methane within a molten-salt pyrolysis medium to produce hydrogen But the process yields about three times more solid carbon than hydrogen by mass and a strategy to deal with this would be critical for commercial success

ldquoWe needed a way to balance the need for high efficiency which is typical of the hydrogen business with bringing extra revenue from the carbon side where processes are typically less efficientrdquo notes Leonardo In this respect the

teamrsquos approach of using a molten-salt-based catalyst system had another important advantage it offered the possibility of partially controlling the morphology of the carbon in a similar way to the process known as chemical vapour deposition

As methane decomposes inside bubbles rising through the molten-salt bed the shape of the carbon structures formed is influenced by the average particle size and material of the catalyst

ldquoGiven enough energy methane readily splits into carbon and hydrogen The novel aspect that we were interested in was controlling the morphology of the carbon at the same timerdquo Carl notes ldquoWe are fortunate at Shell to have real expertise in catalyst chemistry which we applied to optimising the processrdquo

Getting hydrogen out of the wayThe conversion efficiency of methane pyrolysis is limited because it is an equilibrium reaction and the rate of reaction is determined by the amount of hydrogen present as more hydrogen is produced the conversion rate slows ldquoIt helps the conversion rate enormously if we can remove hydrogen from the reacting mixturerdquo Hans notes ldquoWe can do this by adding a hydrogen lsquoacceptorrsquo to the molten bed If a higher conversion is achieved in this way then the costly separation of hydrogen from unreacted methane may be avoidedrdquo

Titanium is favoured as an acceptor because it forms a very stable solid hydride at the reaction temperatures but readily gives up the hydrogen at higher temperatures In a full version of the process therefore the molten mixture containing titanium hydride would be pumped to a higher-temperature reactor where the hydrogen would be liberated The mixture now containing titanium ready to accept more hydrogen can then be returned to the main reactor

Starting smallThe team concluded that in theory they could produce hydrogen from methane with a high conversion rate so they made a case for a laboratory-scale proof-of-concept trial The project was approved in October 2016 By the middle of 2017 the team had some ideas based on data from the laboratory and were confident enough to try to patent them

Three patent applications filed at the beginning of April 2019 describe the process for producing hydrogen and carbon products through the pyrolysis of methane using a molten-salt-based catalyst system (see boxed text A chemistry set) The patent applications are part of a broader IP portfolio covering methods for converting

FIGURE 2Laboratory-scale experiments were used to demonstrate the process but were too small to provide estimates of its efficiency at a commercial scale


methane into its constituent elements without a costly hydrogenndashmethane separation process and with some control over the carbon morphology

Black to the futureThe experimental reactor used to de-risk aspects of the technology was about 1 m long and 25ndash5 cm wide (Figure 2) This is not sufficiently large to estimate the efficiency of the process but Carl is optimistic that this will not be a deal breaker ldquoIn any industrial process additional energy will be necessary but if we can achieve efficiencies at scale similar to that of SMR

60ndash65 we potentially have the basis of a commercial processrdquo he notes This is not an unrealistic proposition SMR and pyrolysis are both relatively high-temperature processes albeit one in molten salt and the other in the gas phase but pyrolysis requires fewer steps ldquoMore will be known soonrdquo continues Carl ldquoWe are building a test plant to evaluate energy efficiency and developing plans for a demonstration-scale plantrdquo

In a full-scale plant hydrogen and unreacted methane will leave the reactors as a gas

Carbon regionSalt region

A chemistry set1 The first of three patent applications

(WO2019197253) describes a two-stage process that improves on SMR and gasification methods by producing hydrogen without producing carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide In an initial pyrolysis step methane passes over a catalyst at between 700 and 1200degC to produce hydrogen and solid carbon The second stage increases the hydrogen yield by further pyrolysis of the methanendashhydrogen gas stream within a molten bed of salt or metal containing a catalyst and a hydrogen acceptor

2 The second patent application (WO2019197256) describes catalyst systems that produce carbon with specific

morphologies within the molten salt bed used for the second pyrolysis stage The conversion of methane which is thermodynamically limited can also be increased during this stage by selecting suitable catalysts and controlling the process conditions

3 The third patent application (WO2019197257) describes in greater detail the combination of the first two patents for processing feedstock that is predominantly but not exclusively methane for example natural or refinery gas containing ethane propane or higher hydrocarbons and inert gases such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide


[Ref 1] Machhammer O Bode A and Hormuth W ldquoFinancial and ecological evaluation of hydrogen production processes on large scalerdquo Chemical Engineering amp Technology (2016) 39(6) 1185ndash1193

REFERENCE


BIOGRAPHIES

Carl Mesters now retired was the Shell Chief Scientist Chemistry and Catalysis Joining Shell in 1984 Carl was active in catalysis and process research and development across many areas His work has resulted in more than 60 filed patents Carl has a first degree in physical and inorganic chemistry and a PhD from the University of Utrecht the Netherlands

Leonardo Spanu is a senior researcher in Long Range Research based in Houston USA and part of a global team exploring novel routes for the conversion of natural gas into valuable products particularly pyrolytic routes for hydrogen and carbon materials He joined Shell in 2012 Leonardo has a PhD in condensed matter physics from the University of Pavia Italy

Hans Geerlings works as a principal research scientist at Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam and as a part-time professor at Delft University of Technology both in the Netherlands He has worked in the field of hydrogen storage for more than 20 years Hansrsquo current research interests lie in the capture storage and solar-energy-aided conversion of carbon dioxide The latter involves synthesising hydrocarbons often referred to as solar fuels from carbon dioxide

stream Carbon formed during pyrolysis will float on the molten salt and can thus be removed from the liquid surface

The new process is unlikely to be able to compete in the carbon black market ldquoWe will have to find a use for the lower-value carbonrdquo admits Carl ldquoOne possibility which is part of our

investigation is to use it like biochar as a soil-improving system to enhance soil structure and increase water retention But one thing is certain whatever use is found for the carbon is likely to give better environmental outcomes for hydrogen production than the wholesale creation of carbon dioxiderdquo

DRILLING THROUGH FAULTS A detailed look at fault-related losses A recent drilling campaign through a heavily faulted structure in Malaysia experienced numerous mud loss events in multiple wells at pressures significantly lower than the predrill expectations Most of the losses coincided with the presence of seismically mapped faults (Figure 1) A look-back study revealed that the mud loss severity can be linked to the downhole mud weight exceeding the reactivation pressure of the faults penetrated This information provides practical recommendations based on field data for assessing future drilling operational and developmental challenges in this complex structure Addressing these with managed pressure drilling can reduce nonproductive time in operations related to losses while drilling

IntroductionThe mud loss events encountered in the heavily faulted field reduced the safe drilling margin by 30ndash50 To understand the loss events an extensive database was compiled to document all instances when mud losses were reported and the associated drilling parameters [Ref 1] Previous Shell work demonstrated that fault reactivation can be a viable mechanism for lost circulation events [Ref 2] The data set from this field was used both to test the hypothesis that losses were related to fault reactivation and to provide a unique calibration data set for fault frictional properties in the field The studies demonstrate that the loss events have significant implications for the development of this field including a narrower margin in future drilling campaigns owing to reservoir depletion and fault reactivation risks and a lower water injection limit to prevent the water from going out of zone through faults

Because of the business impact of these conclusions a follow-up study has systematically detailed the nature of the lost circulation events encountered during the drilling campaign The following examples demonstrate how the severity of these losses can be related to operational procedures and the estimated reactivation pressures of the penetrated faults A review of the time sequences of lost circulation events in multiple wells highlights that careful mud weight management is the key to safe and successful drilling of wells through faults that cause narrow drilling margins

Dissecting lost circulation eventsInstead of focusing on the initial lost circulation pressure when the faults were encountered as in the earlier work this study examined the subsequent sequence of events recorded from the downhole pressure data

FIGURE 1Lost circulation events observed during a drilling campaign through a faulted structure (modified from Reference 1)

CORE UPSTREAM

SequentialBatch 1Batch 2Batch 3


Example 1 Two events in Well AThe first lost circulation event in Well A occurred early in the drilling campaign (Figure 2) From regional studies with observations from offset wells lost circulation for this well section was not expected unless the downhole equivalent circulating density (ECD) exceeded a mud weight of about 122 ppg However a significant event occurred at about 2100 that resulted in mud being lost at a rate of 200 bblh The memory data in Figure 2 show that the ECD (purple dots) dropped instantaneously from 120 to about 116 ppg The drilling team reacted immediately and adjusted the flow rate to counter the loss

Lowering the flow rate reduced the loss rate to about 120 bblh but it did not cure the losses After drilling stopped at about 2130 the well did not incur losses when the pumps were off and the downhole pressure dropped to the static mud

weight of about 112 ppg Drilling resumed at about 0300 and the losses recurred as soon as the pumps were turned on As drilling continued the loss rate fell further to about 60 bblh

Two seismically mapped faults had been identified and their location along the wellbore made them likely candidates for this loss event [Ref 1] The reactivation pressures for these two faults using the field-calibrated frictional properties [Ref 2] are plotted in Figure 2 The vertical coloured bars represent the severity of the loss as reported in the daily drilling report the higher the loss rate the darker the shade

The reactivation pressure for Fault B (green dashed line) was higher than the recorded ECD throughout which meant that Fault B was unlikely to be related to the losses However the reactivation pressure for Fault A (red-dashed horizontal box Figure 2) was

FIGURE 2Time sequence of the recorded ECD (purple trace) at the bottomhole assembly during and after the initial lost circulation event (modified from Reference 3)

FIGURE 3Time sequence of the recorded ECD and the second lost circulation event (modified from Reference 3)

800 900

Observed dropin ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate160 bblh

Loss rate140 bblh170

Loss rate120 bblh

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500

Well total depthDrill bit passed Fault C

1600 1700

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time

Drilling stopped Pull out of hole

Reactivation pressure for Fault C

Reactivation pressure for Fault B

Reactivation pressure for Fault A

2000 2100

ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate120 bblh

Loss rate70 bblh

Loss rate40 bblh

Loss rate90 bblh

Loss rate58 bblh

Loss rate while sampling80 and 65 bblh

2200 2300 000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time

Range of reactivation pressure for Fault A with 5deg uncertainties in azimuth


Drill bit encounteredFault A or B

DRILLING THROUGH FAULTS A DETAILED LOOK AT FAULT-RELATED LOSSES


lower than the recorded ECD in the period (between 2000 and 2100) leading up to the lost circulation event When the drill bit was at or past the location of Fault A (purple star Figure 2) dynamic losses occurred Meanwhile during pumps-off (when drilling stopped) the downhole pressure was below the reactivation pressure of Fault A and no losses were observed Thus the occurrence of these losses was consistent with the downhole pressure during drilling exceeding the reactivation pressure of Fault A

As drilling continued another lost circulation event occurred at about 0830 see Figure 3 Once again when drilling stopped and the pumps were off no losses occurred When drilling restarted after 1100 mud loss occurred at a rate of 200 bblh and a downhole ECD of about 118 ppg The team decided to drill with losses to reach the section target depth while maintaining an ECD of 118ndash120 ppg The rate of loss in this sequence was almost an order of magnitude higher than the earlier rates (Figure 2) with a similar ECD and reactivation pressure for faults A and B which had been encountered earlier This probably meant that this sequence of loss events was less likely to be related to either fault A or B

After the well was drilled an evaluation of the borehole image log revealed several minor faults (or discontinuities) at the depth where the drop in ECD was reported [Ref 1] The estimated reactivation pressure for these minor faults was significantly lower than for faults A and B owing to their orientation relative to the far-field stresses Given the reactivation pressure of Fault C (as identified on the borehole image) of about 110 ppg the recorded ECD was almost 10 ppg higher than the threshold at which the faults started to take drilling fluids (Figure 3) This excess pressure

(the ECD minus the reactivation pressure) was much higher than during the earlier event which suggests that the rate of loss was potentially linked to the amount of excess pressure

Example 2 Well BA lost circulation event occurred in Well B towards the end of the drilling campaign after the team had incorporated fault reactivation as a viable lost circulation mechanism Multiple seismically mapped faults had been identified along the planned trajectory and the reactivation pressure for each fault was included in the prognosed drilling margin Given the predrill expectation for a narrow drilling margin mitigation measures and remediation plans were put in place

Figure 4 shows the recorded drilling ECD data with annotations on the sequence of events At 0900 losses of 150 bblh occurred when the well encountered the predicted Fault D at an ECD within 02 ppg of the predicted reactivation pressure of 112 ppg After reducing the flow rate the loss rate fell to 60 bblh Lost circulation material was pumped in an attempt to cure the losses As drilling with losses was considered a manageable risk the operations team continued to drill with several mitigation measures in place and safely reached the planned target depth

The subsequent drilling analysis showed that the actual reactivation pressure of Fault D was closer to 109 than to 110 ppg Comparing the updated fault reactivation pressure to the time sequence in Figure 4 shows that the occurrence of losses was consistent with the ECD exceeding the reactivation pressure The rate of loss slowly diminished as drilling continued after the application of lost circulating material and the fault was further behind the drill bit

FIGURE 4Time sequence of the recorded ECD and the lost circulation event for Well B (modified from Reference 3)

800

Loss rate150 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate80 bblh

Loss rate95 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

1000 1200 1400

Drill bit encountered Fault D

ECD

1600 220020001800 000

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time

Reactivation pressure for Fault D

Drilling stopped and lost circulation material applied


One of the most interesting observations during this look-back exercise was what happened after the well reached the target depth A step-rate test was performed to establish the loss-free flow rate for completion operations (green box in Figure 5) Losses occurred just before 1000 after a few stable flow steps during the test The time data in Figure 5 show that the recorded pressure during the final stage of the test when losses were observed (purple vertical box) after several stable flow rates (green vertical box) is in excellent alignment with the postdrilling estimated reactivation pressure of Fault D (red dashed line Figures 4 and 5)

This observation strengthens the hypothesis that most of the losses observed during this campaign can be consistently associated with the reactivation of faults

Example 3 No losses in Well CThe final example highlights that drilling through a seismically mapped fault does not always result in losses when the appropriate drilling strategy is in place Before drilling Well C four seismically mapped faults intersecting the well path were identified Given the narrower drilling margin because of the faults the asset team decided to deploy managed pressure drilling to deliver the well safely No losses were reported even though all four faults were penetrated

The after-action review revealed that two main factors contributed to the successful execution of this well good ECD management using managed pressure drilling equipment and procedures and that the ECD remained below the fault reactivation pressures for each of the four seismically mapped faults (Figure 6)

FIGURE 6Time sequence of the recorded ECD for Well C (modified from Reference 3)

FIGURE 5The pressure data for the step-rate test (modified from Reference 3)

000

Drilling with lossesloss rate 60ndash90 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate140 bblh

200 400 600

Well total depth

Step-ratetest

ECD

800 1600140012001000 1800

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time


1200

Drill passedFault K (no loss)

Drill passedFault L

(no loss)

Reactivation pressure for Fault K

Reactivation pressure for Fault L Reactivation pressure for Fault M

Reactivation pressure for Fault N

Drill passedFault M(no loss)

Drill passedFault N(no loss)

ECD

2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200

125

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time



Recommendations on drilling through faultsThe review of the time sequences of lost circulation events in multiple wells not just the examples covered here highlighted that careful ECD management is the key to delivering wells successfully and safely in this deepwater faulted structure where drilling margins are narrow Additional discussions on subsurface stress characterisation for geomechanical models based on these lost circulation events can be found in Reference 3

Shell Malaysia has since implemented some best practices and recommendations for drilling through faults

Identify the location and geometry of faults along the proposed well path

Evaluate the potential reactivation pressure for the identified faults to establish the lost circulation threshold according to the subsurface conditions

Incorporate the reactivation pressure as a viable lost circulation mechanism into the pore pressure plot to aid well design and drilling strategy development

Ensure adequate communication between the subsurface and wells teams about the uncertainties and their associated implications for well and mud designs

Ensure collaboration between the subsurface and wells teams on risk mitigation by optimising well design and using appropriate drilling technology to minimise the impact of losses and enhance the effectiveness of recovery mechanisms

AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd ConocoPhillips and Sabah Shell Petroleum Company Ltd for their permission to publish this work We would also like to acknowledge the contributions by our subsurface project team colleagues and partners who have been involved in and provided valuable feedback for improving this work

ReviewBrent Couzens manager geohazards and pore pressure

AUTHORS

Alvin Chan is a senior geomechanicist in Sarawak Shell His work primarily focuses on geomechanics issues relating to depleted drilling waterflooding data acquisition strategies and subsurface stress characterisation Alvin has a PhD in geophysics from Stanford University USA

Mohd Helmi Abd Rahim is a geomechanicist in Shell Malaysia Exploration amp Production He joined Shell in 2014 Helmirsquos technical expertise lies in operational geomechanics particularly the deployment of wellbore instability monitoring protocols and diagnosis across deepwater and assets in the South China Sea He has a BSc in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota USA

[Ref 1] Abd Rahim M H Chan A W Brem A G Seli P and Khodaverdian M ldquoOvercoming subsurface and batch drilling challenges in a heavily faulted deepwater environmentrdquo paper ARMA-2019-0382 presented at the 53rd US Rock MechanicsGeomechanics Symposium New York USA (23ndash26 June 2019)

[Ref 2] Brem A Abd Rahim M H Zhang T and Chan A W ldquoHow strong is your faultrdquo paper ARMA-2019-297 presented at the 53rd US Rock MechanicsGeomechanics Symposium New York USA (23ndash26 June 2019)

[Ref 3] Chan A W Brem A G and Abd Rahim M H ldquoLost circulations due to fault reactivation and its implications on stress characterizationrdquo paper ARMA-2019-0492 presented at the 53rd US Rock MechanicsGeomechanics Symposium New York USA (23ndash26 June 2019)

REFERENCES

Arjan Brem is a senior structural geologist with Sarawak Shell who joined Shell in 2007 He works on integrated subsurface projects supporting exploration and development and focuses on trap evaluation structural framework construction and dynamic fault seal analyses Arjan has a PhD in structural geology and tectonics from the University of Waterloo Canada


HOW UPSTREAM CAN PLAY A role in the energy transition In 2019 the Dutch government reached an agreement with industry and nongovernmental organisations on a package of climate measures to be taken before 2030 These will affect Shellrsquos existing operations but will also present opportunities for investment in new value chains In the Upstream business in the Netherlands Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) a 5050 joint venture between Shell and ExxonMobil has begun several projects for reducing emissions and investigating new lines of business Two projects that illustrate the Upstream response and that could be valuable elsewhere are the electrification of an offshore platform and the preparations for an offshore carbon dioxide (CO2) storage business For both projects technical and economic aspects are highlighted that were counterintuitive and differed from the original expectations

The National Climate AgreementAfter the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement the Dutch government started a broad dialogue with industry and nongovernmental organisations that resulted in the National Climate Agreement published in June 2019 This forms the blueprint for the countryrsquos CO2 abatement programme The government has also published a legislative agenda for the years 2020 and 2021 including a broad revision of the energy legislation and the introduction of a CO2 levy for industry Figure 1 shows the CO2 emission reduction targets for various sectors

PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency has concluded that the ambition of a

49 reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 is challenging but achievable with the planned measures For industry PBL has emphasised the need for measures such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the electrification of industrial processes that are currently mainly natural gas powered Figure 2 shows an indicative profile of future industrial CO2 abatement

In parallel with the national debate on climate change NAM has identified several focused energy transition themes The company recognised early on the need for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and has already made good progress on methane emissions reduction and initiated several

FIGURE 1The Netherlandsrsquo CO2 reduction targets by sector

CORE UPSTREAM

FIGURE 2CO2 abatement for Dutch industry

Cost

eff

ectiv

enes

s (euro

t)

400

300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

Process efficiencyCCSElectrificationUse of hydrogenOther measures

Reduction potential (Mty)

13 25

More than 100 stakeholders are reducing the CO2 emissions of the Netherlands by 49 compared with 1999 levels through the Climate Agreement

Reduction target is 487 Mt CO2

Climatedebate

143 MtCO2 reductionIndustry

Society is participating More than 200 companies

and organisations are joining the discussion

Society

202 MtCO2 reductionElectricity

35 MtCO2 reduction

Agricultureand land use

34 MtCO2 reduction


73 MtCO2 reduction



large-scale abatement projects for reducing CO2 emissions The largest of these projects is the electrification of the AWG-1 offshore gas production platform

Beyond abatement NAM is looking to pursue new complementary business opportunities such as geothermal energy hydrogen technology and offshore CO2 storage The company may look at reusing existing infrastructure and production sites as new energy hubs These opportunities must be achievable and profitable in the next few years

Electrifying the AWG-1 platformNAMrsquos AWG-1 gas production platform lies off the island of Ameland and has been operating since 1986 Its current production is almost 1 million m3d of which 100000 m3d is fuel for powering the platform Driven by the desire to reduce emissions from the platform and improve the reliability of the system NAM initiated a project in 2016 to connect the platform to the electricity grid and replace the compressor and drive system

Because of the wider merits of the electrification project for the sustainability ambitions of the local community the municipality of Ameland has played an important role in obtaining the necessary permits The offshore electrification project is the first such platform conversion in the Dutch sector of the North Sea and will eliminate 62000 ty of CO2 emissions as well as all the nitrogen oxide emissions As an interim step NAM will also electrify the onshore facility AME-1 Figure 3 shows NAMrsquos facilities on- and offshore Ameland

Production from Ameland gas field is in gradual decline The end-of-field-life assumption in the business plan is based on the extraction plan not an economic cut-off Electrification of the platform and compressor replacement will add some additional volume to the forecast (Figure 4) Further development and extension of the extraction plan are possible subject to the overall constraints on gas production in the Wadden Sea such as the subsidence envelope and the environmental

FIGURE 3NAMrsquos Ameland installationsClose collaboration

NAM has been in close partnership with the municipality of Ameland and several other companies under the banner of Duurzaam Ameland (Sustainable Ameland) for over a decade This collaboration has been a core part of NAMrsquos social performance agenda on the island The consortium has developed some landmark projects in this period including a 6-MW solar field NAM has contributed financially or in kind to selected projects The local relationship is generally good as the municipalityrsquos support for obtaining the necessary permits and regular positive engagements with the local community and nongovernmental organisations show This close co-operation has resulted in upgrading the grid connection to the mainland which helps the AWG electrification project but also enables various solar photovoltaic projects on the island The new cable connection will be in place during 2021

FIGURE 4Ameland gas field production forecast

Ann

ual p

rodu

ctio

n

Year2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029 2031 2033 2035 2037 2039 2041 2043 2045

Permitted production Extension

AWG electrificationNo further action forecast


AME-2offshore location

AWG-1production

platform

AME-1land location

HOW UPSTREAM CAN PLAY A ROLE IN THE ENERGY TRANSITION

permit The grid connection will enable further electrically powered well workover projects thereby reducing the emissions footprint and increasing the likelihood of obtaining the required permits

NAMrsquos commitment to this electrification project also improves the possibility of being able to develop or extend the life of the field The experience gained during this project will be used in the feasibility study of electrification of the K14 platform which is much further from the shore

CCS projectsShell is involved with several projects for CCS in the Netherlands in which CO2 from various industrial clusters will be collected at central points along the Dutch coast and transported by dedicated pipeline to offshore storage sites For example the Port of Rotterdam EBN and Gasunie are developing the Porthos project Pernis refinery is involved as a potential CO2 supplier into the shared infrastructure of the project through a joint development agreement signed on 28 October 2019

EBN Gasunie the Port of Amsterdam and Tata Steel are co-operating on a second CCS project Athos that will focus on the Tata Steel plant near Amsterdam and adjacent industries The project has completed a feasibility study and has issued a request for information that seeks to identify storage operators and additional CO2 suppliers The storage location remains undecided but the next phase could be a request for a commercial proposal

NAM CCS project Meanwhile NAM is investigating an opportunity to act as the carbon storage provider in a third project This project aims to reuse the companyrsquos depleted offshore gas fields and infrastructure for CO2 storage The NAM CCS project would be a logical candidate for delivering the storage solution for the Athos project and NAM has responded to the request for information

The NAM CCS project differs significantly from most CCS projects around the world because the CO2 will be stored in highly depleted gas fields with a reservoir pressure well below the CO2 critical pressure instead of in an aquifer This has the advantage that the field geology is generally well understood The geological seal is proven as it has held natural gas for millions of years In addition the CO2 storage capacity can be estimated accurately using the natural gas production history from the field The disadvantage of using depleted gas fields for CCS is that liquid CO2 expands on injection and goes through a phase transition and this leads to significant challenges as the boxed text Cold injection challenge explains

Another major difference from most ongoing CCS projects is that for the NAM CCS project many fields will become available for storage and several will need to be used whereas in other projects there are often only a few storage options of which only one is developed NAM is producing from more than 40 gas fields in the Dutch North Sea which together offer a future CO2 storage capacity of over 400 Mt The plan is to start injecting into one or two fields and move to the next one while the first is filling up thereby ldquodaisy chainingrdquo the fields together To determine which fields should be developed first a NAM project team carried out a screening exercise tailored to depleted gas field storage

Screening for the NAM CCS projectThe first criterion is storage capacity For each field the team calculated the potential storage capacity based on the gas produced to the end of field life the initial reservoir pressure and the reservoir temperature Larger fields bring better economy of scale compared with smaller fields However owing to their higher well count (potential leak paths) larger fields also generally carry a higher risk Another screening criterion is the current reservoir pressure as a higher reservoir pressure could reduce the JoulendashThomson effect (see boxed text Cold injection challenge)

The NAM CCS project is expected to start before the end of field life for most of the fields therefore the team also took into account gas production lost owing to an earlier startup of the CCS project as a screening criterion the lower the lost tail-end production the higher the ranking

As the geological seal of the field is proven the biggest risk for CO2 leakage to the surface comes from the wells To identify show-stoppers the team focused on the properties of currently producing wells for example anomalous annulus pressures surface casing failures and cement bond quality A future more in-depth study of all the wells will include abandoned exploration and production wells and sidetracks

The multidisciplinary project team created schematics to visualise the data collected on all the screening parameters as shown in Figure 6 The colour coding of the fields indicates their score on one of the screening parameters in this case storage capacity

The team used the assessment criteria to discuss which fields to consider for the first injection forecasts and the economic screening for the decision process The team will develop this assessment into an Italian flag analysis that will be carried to upcoming decision gates


From a surface point of view the focus was initially on the gas fields around the landing of the LoCal pipeline on the K15-FB platform This pipeline is currently used for transporting low-

calorific-value gas to shore but opportunities exist to reroute this If this gas could be rerouted via the Western Gas Transmission pipeline to shore the LoCal pipeline could be reused for

Cold injection challengeSeveral CCS projects in the North Sea are facing a serious technical challenge as they involve injecting dense-phase (liquid) CO2 into highly depleted reservoirs with reservoir pressures below the CO2 critical point Consequently the CO2 will undergo a phase change and the accompanying JoulendashThomson cooling may result in issues in the well or the reservoir

The pipelines must be operated in dense-phase mode to be able to have sufficient transport capacity and in single-phase mode to avoid phase changes and slugging A phase change in CO2 causes a sudden drop in density and viscosity which boosts the mobility of the fluid As a result the flow velocity may increase beyond the design erosion velocity of the flowlines In addition sudden phase changes in a very small space could cause cavitation and vibration Well-topside pressure control is therefore key to ensuring that the pipeline system stays in a single (dense) phase However this creates an issue further downstream

When dense-phase CO2 is injected into a depleted gas reservoir where the pore pressure is below the CO2 critical point the CO2 will vaporise within the well or in the near-wellbore region of the reservoir CO2 vaporisation will result in a localised cooling phenomenon known as the JoulendashThomson effect which has several consequences First below a certain temperature and in the presence of water and a gas (either CO2 or methane) a solid hydrate phase forms (the blue box in Figure 5 indicates the hydrate region) that can impair or stop the CO2 injectivity at the well

Second the loss of injectivity associated with CO2 expansion is an operational hazard that in some situations could cause well integrity issues Also because of the sharp contrast between the temperature of the CO2 and that of the reservoir there is the risk of thermal fracturing Finally thermal fluctuations caused during startups and shutdowns could cause stresses in casings completions and cement and could potentially freeze annular fluids

Figure 5 illustrates the phase diagram for CO2 with the three key phases (liquid gas and supercritical) at the start of CO2 injection in the NAM CCS project The exact pressures and temperatures will depend on the field selection the well configuration and the CO2 flow rate The CO2 that arrives at the plant via pipelines or vessels will be compressed and conditioned to liquid state and then sent offshore Travelling from the wellhead down to bottomhole the CO2 will then increase in pressure depending on the completion size while still remaining liquid During transit between the bottomhole and the reservoir the CO2 will cross the phase transition line (red) which will result in dense-to-gas-state conversion which is associated with several flow-assurance issues

Most CCS projects around the world can avoid this phase transition by injecting into higher-pressure aquifers or gas fields However the Porthos project will be the first and the NAM CCS project the second to chart this territory because the gas fields involved have been depleted to very low pressures well below the phase transition line of CO2


FIGURE 5Schematic view of the CO2 properties and reservoir conditions at the start of CO2 injection in the NAM CCS project

ndash20 0

Hydrate region

Plant

20 40 60Temperature (degC)

Phase envelope

Large ΔT

Large ΔP

Liquid

Gas

Pres

sure

(bar

a)

80 100 120 140 160

Supercritical

Platform

Reservoir

Wellhead

Bottomhole

SnoslashhvitGorgon

Peterhead

Northern Lights

Porthos

Sleipner

50

100

150

200


CO2 transport to the CCS fields However a running ductile fracture assessment study has shown that the pipeline could not be reused for transporting liquid CO2

Reusing natural gas transmission pipelines for CO2 transportReusing a pipeline requires careful assessment from considering the pipe materialrsquos capacity to maintain its integrity (no leaks or bursts) and dealing with the internal polymer flow coating that dissolves in CO2 to determining the effects of operating transients and upsets (water excursions and CO2 specification excursions) on the integrity and safety of the pipeline Industry know-how is still very limited in these areas so reusing an existing gas pipeline for CO2 transport is not a given

The study on reusing the LoCal pipeline for CCS kicked off with a running ductile fracture assessment Running ductile fracture is a phenomenon whereby a pinhole leak in a pipeline promotes a running fracture like unzipping the pipeline over a long distance when the material cannot withstand the force exerted by boiling liquid CO2 at a high pressure The driving force for fracture is strongly dependent on the operating envelope (pressure and temperature) and the impurities in the CO2 stream The assessment was

based on the Battelle two-curve model as implemented in ISO 27913 which was calibrated to be conservative using the very limited full-scale test data generated by the European Pipeline Research Group of which Shell Projects amp Technologies is a member

The Charpy toughness as measured on the formed line pipe of the LoCal pipeline was relatively low (50ndash100 J) as is typical for transmission pipelines built during the 1980s which is insufficient for resisting this failure mode in the realistic operating scenarios illustrated in Figure 7

In addition several smaller-diameter interplatform duplex pipelines and risers were confirmed as suitable for liquid CO2 service However a flexible interfield flowline section is unsuitable for CO2 service because of the risk of stress corrosion cracking of the armour wires

The LoCal line could still be considered for gaseous CO2 service but its capacity would be insufficient for the full-scale project

The way forwardMeasures such as platform electrification are significantly reducing the CO2 and nitrogen oxide footprints and securing longer field life for Shellrsquos Upstream operations in the Dutch sector of the North Sea In addition depleted gas fields could be used to store CO2 and thus provide new business opportunities The projects under development could enable Shell to store more than 1 Mty of industrial CO2 by 2026 Long-term storage contracts will assist large industrial clients in meeting their environmental commitments

By 2035 Shellrsquos large-scale CCS projects could secure a material share of the CO2 storage market in the Netherlands and provide a storage solution for other large industrial clients in the Netherlands Belgium France and Germany

To achieve this the storage of CO2 in depleted offshore gas reservoirs must be adequately de-risked Broad industry advocacy and proactive engagement on the risks and merits of large-scale CO2 storage will remain critical to securing community acceptance and political support

ConclusionsThe Upstream response to the energy transition discussed in this article provided some surprising insights The first is that the electrification of the Ameland project has evolved from being a marginal prospect to an opportunity that meets project screening criteria eliminates direct CO2 and nitrogen oxide emissions on the AWG-1 compression platform and establishes it as a low-carbon-footprint processing platform for the remaining hydrocarbon reserves


FIGURE 6The storage capacity of the NAM gas fields in the Dutch North Sea

FIGURE 7Running ductile fracture assessment for the subsea section of the LoCal pipeline

Den Helder

Northern OffshoreGas Transport

LoCal

Western GasTransportNot assessed

gt50 Mt15ndash50 Mtlt15 Mt

Char

py V

-not

ch e

nerg

y (J

)

Temperature (degC)0 5

250

200

150

100

50

010 15 20 25 30

FailPass

Required level (ISO 27913)Available actual minimum level (pipe at ndash10degC)Model validity cutoff

Second the produced gas fields offer enormous CO2 storage potential in well-known subsurface structures For a world-scale project a few gas reservoirs will be sufficient to accommodate the forecast supply However the low ultimate reservoir pressure achieved in gas extraction that is part of NAMrsquos operational excellence introduces new challenges when applying these reservoirs for CCS

Third in the CCS study significant parts of the existing pipeline infrastructure were found to be unsuitable for transporting liquid CO2 owing to the relatively low Charpy toughness of the subject pipelines

AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank Graciela Fernandez-Betancor and the front-end engineering and subsurface teams David Bartmann and the AWG electrification project team for their help with this work They also thank Bostjan Bezensek who led the running ductile fracture assessment on the existing transmission lines in collaboration with Herbert Stoffers

ReviewDick Lont front end engineering manager NAM

AUTHORS

Martijn Kleverlaan is the energy transition manager for NAM where he shapes new business directions for the Upstream business in the Netherlands He started his career as a drilling engineer with Shell in 1999 Martijn has an MSc in physics from Delft University of Technology the Netherlands and an MBA from Edinburgh Business School UK

Adriaan Kodde is a process engineer supporting energy transition opportunities within NAM At NAM he has held team lead process engineering roles for onshore well facility and reservoir management and offshore projects Adriaan has a PhD in catalytic reactor engineering from the University of Amsterdam the Netherlands

Esther Vermolen is a business opportunity manager for subsurface energy storage and a subsurface lead for CCS in the energy transition team in NAM She joined Shell to work on enhanced oil recovery research Later Esther worked as a reservoir engineer in NAM in the Groningen asset and for ONEgas UK She has a PhD in experimental physics from the University of Utrecht the Netherlands

Anurag Mittal is a senior production technologist for NAM supporting CCS and well facility and reservoir management He started working for Shell in 2009 and has had assign-ments in Oman and Dubai (for Iraq) Anurag has a BTech in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee


UP IN THE AIR GETTING VALUE FROM unmanned aerial systems In the last decade unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have grown from being a nascent technology to regular sights at Shell locations around the globe Initial deployments focused on simple one-off inspections such as for flare tips but assets have found many new applications for commercial UASs This has led Shell to develop new technologies and new ways of using these tools In the future machine vision and advanced analytics will help to extend the application space for Shell thus reducing the risks to human operators and lowering costs compared with traditional inspection and survey practices

Background A UAS is a robotic flying device that is launched and recovered from a fixed location (marine or land) and that carries a mission-specific payload for example a camera or other sensor They vary in size and provide capabilities for remote-sensing inspections surveying and surveillance activities A UAS is unmanned so carrying out tasks such as aerial surveys and internal tank inspections is safer and potentially more cost-effective

The available sensor packages cover the visual and nonvisual parts of the electromagnetic spectrum and on-board data recording and real-time data streaming are possible Potential applications include environmental monitoring pipeline and infrastructure surveying inspections land use change identification oil spill detection security monitoring and support for logistical operations The technology concept is adaptable to any situation requiring data collection asset inspection monitoring or surveillance However application-specific proof-of-concept and verification testing may be required to establish limits and uncertainties

UAS use in ShellAbout 10 years ago Shell began investigating the use of UASs for inspections Uptake was initially slow because of concerns about the safety of using these commercial platforms in an operating environment and questions about the quality of the data In 2012 Shell performed a flare-tip inspection and a topographic survey that demonstrated that UASs could be deployed safely and effectively These along with new deployment guides internal knowledge sharing standards from Shell Aircraft and a maturing market that was driving down costs led to a boom in UAS deployments The application space for UASs has now grown so large that it is impossible to track all the deployments in Shell but Table 1 shows some examples

Most UAS applications in Shell have two things in common they are done by third-party service providers and they take place within the visual line of sight These inspections and their data-gathering methods have become a mature service enabling the Robotics Centre of Excellence the geomatics

TABLE 1Examples and benefits of UAS deployments in Shell

CORE UPSTREAM

Application UAS equipment Benefit

Facilities surveillance and mapping

High-definition cameras and laser sensors to generate 3D point clouds of facilities

Reduced health and safety risk exposure lower cost model generation

Tall structure inspection Cameras for close visual inspections Less work at height elimination of scaffolding costs

Topographical survey and mapping

Short- and long-range UASs with visible and lidar sensors to acquire very high resolution imagery for generating topographical and digital terrain data thermal cameras and gas sensing sensors for pipeline leak detection

Reduced health and safety risk exposure easy deployment faster data gathering

Confined space inspection Caged UASs for visual inspections Less confined-space work possible

elimination of follow-up activities

Asset integrity surveillance

Long-range UASs with visual and thermal cameras and leak detection capability for asset integrity rounds on distributed infrastructure

Less driving better operator efficiency

Emission detectionOptical gas imaging cameras andor a laser-based methane sensor for leak inspections or emission detection campaigns

Quicker leak detection less driving better operator efficiency

Emergency response Cameras for visual surveillance during emergency response and assisting in investigations

Low-cost way to provide live information reduced health and safety risks


team and Shell Aircraft to focus on new frontiers in UAS application Deployments of the next generation of the technology are starting and will become commonplace over the next decade

The business caseOil and gas assets are becoming more complex and need to adhere to the relevant health safety security and environmental standards Developing and deploying robotic systems such as UASs is part of the strategy to achieve this Recent experience has shown that modern robotic systems can help businesses to reduce risk exposure for personnel drive efficiency improve operational decisions and deliver substantial cost savings

A key issue that robotic systems address is the mobility challenge It is possible to place fixed sensors almost anywhere in an asset but mobile sensors offer better insights flexibility Fixed sensors are required for certain high-frequency measurements but a single mobile sensor can replace dozens of fixed sensors for lower-frequency measurements Currently most businesses send people out to undertake routine inspection work

Here the opportunity for robotics is to automate data gathering This has many potential benefits For example it means that the workforce can concentrate on issues that require their skills and spend less time looking for problems and more time solving them

The new model for data gathering involves robots collecting data and putting it in the cloud for rapid screening and preliminary interpretation by a machine learning system (Figure 1) The volume of data that todayrsquos sensing systems generate can be difficult to manage In some cases there is too much data for humans to review analyse and interpret without the aid of machine learning systems

Passing on the early stage of data interpretation to a machine system enables businesses to make better use of their data people can quickly find and focus on those parts of the data set that the system is highlighting as having potential issues This offers teams new insights about their processes and infrastructure and enables them to make decisions quicker

FIGURE 1Robotic systems aim to increase the speed at which data the primary value flow move through an organisation thereby maximising data value

FIGURE 2General visual inspection of a tension-leg platform

Collect data

Apply machinelearning and

leveragecomputer vision

Store inpublic cloud

Supportdecision making

leading tovalue creation

Create actionableinsight


UP IN THE AIR GETTING VALUE FROM UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS

Reducing costs for third-party providersThe use of UASs has grown to the point that there is now one in the air on behalf of Shell every day Despite the large scope for these tools the work that needs doing often consists of many small jobs at an asset so needs co-ordination between the various disciplines By looking at UAS operations across an entire location and bundling work scopes sites can reduce the number of vendors and make cost and time savings The deepwater development team in Houston USA recently proved this by performing the first multidisciplinary visual inspection of assets in the Gulf of Mexico involving UASs (Figure 2) The team selected a

single UAS vendor to undertake the combined scope of the platform equipment inspection (painting subsea and civil disciplines) which led to substantial cost savings per platform and avoided a production deferment equivalent to one shift per platform per inspection for flare inspection

Any Shell asset can conduct a similar exercise to identify potential synergies for UAS work In addition to the expected direct cost savings such a scoping activity can also help to identify the frequency at which these inspections can be done This will help with work planning and

FIGURE 3Examples of UAS applications

The building blocks of a UAS programme

Regulatory compliance Programmes and pilots must meet all the local regulations governing the operation of UASs

Rules vary by region and the local Shell Aircraft team can provide advice

Operations and safety manuals These are living documents that define how the programme works the operational limits the training requirements etc

Template documents and support are available from Shell Aircraft

Unmanned flight safety management system

This is the tool used to manage the programme and ensure that it is operating according to the operations and safety manuals

Shell has selected Kittyhawk as its global solution which will greatly simplify programme setup

Aviation liability insurance Aviation liability insurance is required for any drone being operated by Shell

Continuous improvement process There is the need to ensure that a formal process exists to capture lessons learned and embed them back into the operations manual

Data security policy A data policy must be put in place that meets inspection repair and maintenance guidelines laid out in enterprise-to-enterprise service

Vegetation surveys

Wildlife monitoring

Shoreline surveys

Flood simulation

Sheen detection

Fin fans

Flare tips

Electrical lines

Transformers

Pipeline headers

Pipe racks

Cable trays

Jetty inspection

Mooring lines and dolphins

Solar panels

Damaged and missing cladding

Flood simulation

Standing water

Drains

Seal inspection

Corrosion and holes

Ground slumping

Berm elevation

Tank bulging

Vegetation

CO2

Emissiondetection

Tank farminspection

Environmental

Dog monitoring

Routine patrol

Barrier intrusion

Truck roof inspection

Social distancing

Temperature checks

Site security

Material monitoring

Logistics

Construction monitoring

Turnaround planning

Social distancing

Temperature checks

Project planning

Situational awareness

Pond inspection

Accident investigation

People finding

Oil spill response

Volunteer marine rescue

Mutual aid to other sites

Fire monitoring

Training record

Emergencycommand

Roof inspection

Faccedilade inspection

Sprinkler system

Heating ventilatingand air conditioning

Road inspection

Light post inspection

Real estate

Remote visualinspection


can also support the creation of future commercial agreements

Asset-owned UAS programmesIn addition to periodic inspection activities several daily or one-off activities may benefit from using a UAS These activities may be simple low-visibility and low-value compared with periodic inspections but they still involve some risk Generating a business case for a third party to do these regular activities has proven difficult so teams have started purchasing and operating their own UAS By doing this the team can embed the UAS into daily operations so that people are doing the same jobs they did before but with the aid of a UAS as a new tool Some of the Shell sites that have established programmes are Deer Park USA Norco USA Rheinland Germany Scotford Canada Petroleum Development Oman QGC Australia and Shell Technology Center Houston USA The scopes of these programmes are as varied as the sites themselves (Figure 3) but together they represent significant annual savings in operating expenditure for Shell and decreased exposure to risks such as working at height

It is important to note that setting up these initiatives is not a trivial matter and depending on the number of pilots and the equipment chosen setup costs can exceed six figures Before committing to a UAS programme an asset must clearly identify a scope that justifies it (and that can guide development) and someone on-site to own and administer it

For those sites that set out to create a UAS programme (see boxed text The building blocks of a UAS programme) Shell Aircraft has established the Group requirements for aircraft operation which lay out a framework for safely operating UASs

Shell Aircraft originally developed the Group requirements for aircraft operation with third-party service providers in mind so those who set up UAS programmes were left to create their own tools to manage them In 2019 the Robotics Centre of Excellence in partnership with Shell Aircraft launched an asset-owned UAS service that provides standard UAS hardware and sensors and now includes Kittyhawk as the Shell global standard unmanned flight safety management system This will when combined with operation manual templates from Shell Aircraft make it much easier for assets to set up future programmes

The Shell geomatics team has also created several technical specifications for aerial data collection and management that can help sites that are implementing their own UAS programmes and third-party UAS contractors These technical specifications ensure that

operators collect high-quality data to an industry standard and importantly integrate them with existing Shell corporate geospatial data These technical specifications are now guiding the creation of a full robotics data standard that will enable better integration of the data into the Shell digital workflow for improved data sharing and the creation of new opportunities for value generation

UAS-based pipeline inspectionsShell Canada has successfully transitioned the Quest carbon capture and storage pipeline right-of-way inspection from using a manned helicopter to using a UAS This is the first fully operationalised UAS pipeline right-of-way inspection in Shell Americas The inspection which covers 70 km of pipeline seeks to identify risks such as signs of leaks hot spots using a thermal sensor (Figure 4) ground movement and subsidence erosion washout from rivers third-party access vegetative encroachment and various geotechnical issues This preventive inspection is part of Shellrsquos health safety security and environment management programme and a regulatory requirement

FIGURE 4Images of a hot spot from a pipeline right-of-way inspection (a) optical and (b) thermal

a

b

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40



Before deploying a UAS for the project Shell Canada flew manned aircraft missions over the pipeline right of way every two weeks This was expensive and the low-level piloted flights increased the safety risk Moreover the conventional deliverable was only video footage

whereas the UAS survey provides access to several added-value higher-quality and better-resolution products These can be used in many ways For example automated change detection can compare the results of two surveys to pinpoint any anomalies UAS data also provide a digital terrain model that can be used to evaluate slope stability and perform watershed analysis among other uses

The immediate future is to use the current extended visual-line-of-sight survey to make a safety case to Transport Canada for an exception allowing beyond visual-line-of-sight operation thereby increasing productivity and reducing costs for Shell Efforts are also ongoing for regulatory permission to allow beyond-visual-line-of-sight operation for Falcon Pipeline in the USA and decommissioned well inspection in Canada

The complete digital storyUltimately the data generated by a UAS must be processed to create actionable insights that provide value for the business A human can do this manually but that can be time-consuming and ultimately restricts the potential value of the solution It is therefore vital that UAS solutions are combined with data visualisation and analytics tools For example Shell Technology Center Houston needs to inspect roofs regularly to check for clogged drains among other things All the drains look the same so each drain image must be accompanied with reference information so that inspectors can review the data after the inspection Using a cloud-based aerial intelligence platform enables automated image capture and presentation on an up-to-date map which the UAS team can view more easily

Figures 5 and 6 show how thousands of images gathered during a single roof survey can be combined into easy-to-view overview maps From the optical image (Figure 5) the user can see at a glance that all the drains are clear but can zoom in to a detailed view of anything of interest The thermal image (Figure 6) shows all the hot spots at a glance and the user can zoom in on areas at a higher temperature than the background and see that these potential hot spots are on insulated pipes These examples although simple show the value of visualisation Organising the data and presenting them in a way that people can easily understand can greatly increase the efficiency of the inspection

In addition Shellrsquos digitalisation organisation is looking at how these data can be used to feed machine vision advanced analytics and digital twin applications The data collected by the UASs are stored in an organised fashion that has built-in localisation information Consequently the application of machine vision and advanced

FIGURE 5Roof inspection overview with a detailed view of a roof drain

FIGURE 6Roof inspection thermal imaging with a zoomed-in view of a hot spot


AUTHORS

Ayo Adediran a senior geoinformation management specialist is the global geomatics subject matter expert for aerial surveys and responsible for maintaining the global overview and technical support for the deployment and uptake of the technology He joined Shell in 2008 and had roles in the environmental aspects of land reclamation before moving to geomatics Ayo has a BSc degree in geography and an MSc in environmental management and geomatics

Ilkay Darilmaz is the robotics inspection maintenance and repair programme manager for deepwater technology His main focus areas include drones robotic crawlers mini remotely operated vehicles autonomous underwater vehicles remote sensing technologies and machine vision for subsea inspections Ilkay has MSc degrees in mechanical engineering and naval architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology USA

analytics tools to the UAS data will enable automated detection of defects which further increases the solution efficiency

A team working in the Permian basin is looking to deploy this technology at the largest scale to date in Shell The team will fly a single UAS to gather imagery of each Shell wellsite in the basin and will then use an advanced analytics engine to detect methane emissions This will give Shell better oversight of the emissions in the field without needing to increase the number of operator site visits

ConclusionUASs now represent a mature cost-effective solution for performing inspection survey and surveillance activities and will form a catalyst for future advances at Shell assets However they will not provide a complete digital solution until they are combined with the machine vision and advanced analytics tools that will ultimately help

to unlock the value of UAS data thereby creating actionable insights faster

AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank Georgios Papadopoulos Glen Gallo and the Shell Exploration amp Production Company piping engineering and inspection team for their project contributions and Bart Hulshof for his help with this article

ReviewThis article gives a good overview of the current state of the technology of UAS data acquisition the regulatory landscape and the situation with respect to advanced analytics and machine learning

Maarten Bomers principal technical expert for onshore surveying and head of geomatics Brunei Shell Petroleum

Adam Serblowski is a robotics subject matter expert in the Robotics Centre of Excellence His work focuses on improving operational efficiency and lowering the health and safety risk exposure of humans to potentially hazardous environments through robotics Adam has a global role in which he works with Shell businesses to identify and execute opportunities for applying robotics


WHAT HAPPENS IN POROUS MEDIA during oil-phase emulsification Recent advances in imaging technologies open the door to the real-time visualisation of flowing fluid phases in porous media The ability to image and to interpret such phenomena is vital to advancing Shellrsquos research and development portfolio to help it maintain its competitive edge in areas including geosciences catalysts lubricants and fuels A range of different imaging techniques is deployed from the micrometre to the metre scale Shell scientists have developed workflows that define which imaging technique should be used for which length scale and how the interpretation should be undertaken In a recent study on oil-phase emulsification Shell developed a new experimental and image processing workflow for visualising the compositional gradients formed during fluid flow in porous rocks with time resolutions of a few seconds

Keeping pace The speed at which the imaging technology is advancing is impressive The imaging techniques image processing algorithms and computational power it uses have come so far that direct imaging of flowing fluid phases in porous media has become possible As part of the digital rock programme Shell scientists have kept pace and taken full advantage of the advances in imaging technology to expand Shellrsquos knowledge and understanding in areas ranging from subsurface core analysis workflows to catalyst diagnostics and lubricant and grease science

The latest milestone is the direct visualisation of compositional gradients in micropore spaces during the emulsification of an oil phase by a surfactant solution (Figure 1) The image processing algorithm used for an immiscible two-phase fluid system was adapted to capture the compositional gradient changes as the emulsification advanced at a resolution of a few seconds Part of the experimental study used

Shellrsquos in-house capabilities the rest benefitted from an external technology collaboration with the Paul Scherrer Institute Switzerland The novel image processing workflow was fully developed within Shell

MicroemulsionsMicroemulsions are thermodynamically stable liquid mixtures of oil water and surfactant A surfactant produces intermolecular forces between itself and the molecules of both oil and water that are much weaker than the intermolecular forces that keep the molecules of one phase in cohesion This can generate ultralow interfacial tension (IFT) between the water and oil phases under the right salinity conditions (lt10ndash2 as opposed to ~40 mNm) so that the immiscible waterndashoil system becomes quasimiscible

The ability of microemulsions to solubilise and incorporate solutes within their structures is an attractive transport model in subsurface applications as the oil displacement efficiency generally improves when the fluids become quasimiscible In surfactant flooding low concentrations of surfactant (lt06) are added to the injection water after the waterflooding phase A microemulsion forms in situ once the surfactant encounters the oil in the rock so it becomes a part of the flow system

The physical properties of a microemulsion are different to those of both water and oil Microemulsions are usually more viscous than either and their rheology is shear dependent Consequently microemulsions can negatively affect the flow dynamics even if the IFT values are ultralow For example it is important to keep a favourable viscosity ratio between the injected and the in-situ-formed phases to avoid viscous fingering during hydrocarbon recovery field operations All this means that it is important to know what is going on in the reservoir pores

FIGURE 1 Emulsification of oil by a surfactant solution in a dead-end capillary tube There is a colour gradient from the oil phase (amber) to the microemulsion phase (red) as emulsification progresses

CORE UPSTREAM

Surfactant solution travels into corners and

emulsifies oil ahead

Main flow channel

Surfactant solution enters into dead-end

capillary and emulsifies the oil

WaterOilMicroemulsion

Shell TechXplorer Digest | 202028 httpsdoiorg105219620831604

What is going onPhase behaviour tests are a good starting point Under controlled laboratory conditions surfactant solutions of different salinities are mixed with oil in test tubes and the microemulsions formed are visually inspected at equilibrated conditions External mechanical energy often vigorous shaking or mixing facilitates the emulsification process If the emulsion is turbid a secondary surfactant andor a cosolvent may be added to help the emulsification These are static measurements because the data are from mixtures that have equilibrated after vigorous shaking

The optimum phase behaviour occurs when the surfactant has a similar affinity for both the water and oil phases so these tests provide the basis for formulating surfactants and establishing the

IFT between the microemulsion and the oil (or water) phases

volume of microemulsion and required concentration of surfactant

However emulsion formation in a 3D reservoir occurs under flowing conditions and cannot be predicted solely from equilibrium phase behaviour emulsification also relies on local flow dynamics and the topology of the pore space

So what really happens in a 3D porous medium during emulsification at the pore level

Finding outShell scientists have addressed this question by using a series of imaging techniques to visualise emulsification and transport phenomena at different length scales This research programme has generated a unique skill set and a competitive advantage for Shell research and development teams in domains such as transport phenomena and imaging technology in relation to hydrocarbon recovery as well as other applications where emulsification in porous media is relevant for example catalysis filtration and remediation of groundwater

This study was performed in the Netherlands as part of the Shell chemical enhanced oil recovery and digital rock teamsrsquo portfolio The motivation was to investigate

if and how emulsification occurs in porous media under flowing conditions

how flow and pore geometry affect the emulsification process and

how the properties of microemulsions that form under flowing conditions differ from those that form in static conditions when the emulsification is mechanically facilitated

The study involved a series of experimental and imaging workflows The phase behaviour of a surfactantndashoilndashwater mixture was evaluated at

equilibrium conditions Once the optimum salinity formulation at which a microemulsion formed had been identified the flow experiments commenced using microfluidic studies to investigate the emulsification in individual pores and then extended to X-ray microcomputed tomography to observe emulsification in sandstone rock

The phase behaviour studies used a surfactant from Shell Chemicalsrsquo ENORDET O Series This is an enhanced oil recovery surfactant and chosen because it will form microemulsions with a model oil (n-decane) at ambient temperature conditions The surfactant solution was 2 surfactant 1 sodium bicarbonate and 5 2-butanol (cosolvent) in water This study did not use any polymer The microemulsion formation was observed while changing the salinity of the surfactant solution (Figure 2) The optimum salinity was determined to be 125 sodium chloride The systems with salinity values below and above the optimum salinity are referred to as underoptimum and overoptimum salinity systems respectively

Fluorescent microscopy microfluidic studyThe next stage was to study the emulsification under flowing conditions

A microfluidic chip made of glass represented an ideal pore space between rock grains (Figure 3) [Ref 1] The chip featured a T-junction where two channels merged at 90deg Each channel was connected to a separate syringe pump for the injection of fluids The single constitutive components of the microemulsion ie the surfactant solution at optimum salinity and the n-decane (oil) were coinjected into the T-junction separately via the designated channels The microfluidic chip was placed horizontally under an inverted fluorescence microscope that could operate with normal or fluorescent light

FIGURE 2Equilibrium phase behaviour tests of the surfactantndashoilndashwater system with (a) 075 (b) 1 (c) 125 (optimum) and (d) 15 sodium chloride

Middle line(5 ml oil5 ml

surfactant solution)

a b c d



WHAT HAPPENS IN POROUS MEDIADURING OIL-PHASE EMULSIFICATION

Visualisation of the in-situ formation of the microemulsion at the T-junction was possible by using the fluorescent solvatochromic dye Nile red mixed into the n-decane This dye is highly oil soluble and commonly used for staining lipid droplets Under normal light some interfacing between the phases was visible however it was impossible to identify the phases (Figure 4(a)) Under fluorescent light the coloured n-decane emitted an amber colour and the surfactant solution did not emit any light as the dye was not water soluble (Figure 4(b)) The microemulsion emitted a bright red colour owing to the oil solubilised in the microemulsion The gradient between the amber and red colours (Figure 4(c)) suggested that the oil composition was decreasing from 100 oil

The flow regimes were investigated using different salinity surfactant solutions and oil-phase injection at different rates Figure 5 shows the mapping of the flow regimes salinity versus capillary number Nc = (injection rate times microemulsion viscosity)IFT Two main flow regimes were identified slug flow occurred at Nc values lower than 10ndash2 for optimum and underoptimum (lt125) salinity systems There were occasional snap-off events that

generated additional shear for mixing and promoted the formation of a microemulsion (see where the oil phase is surrounded by a red microemulsion phase) For Nc values higher than 10ndash2 in the optimum and underoptimum salinity systems the flow regimes were parallel which did not significantly contribute to microemulsion formation Only a thin layer of microemulsion formed between the oil and the surfactant solution Systems with overoptimum salinity (gt125) had parallel flow at all injection rates

Imaging compositional gradients with X-ray microcomputed tomography The flow experiments then were performed on a 20- times 4-mm Gildehauser sandstone (porosity 02 permeability 1 D) sample using the fast X-ray microcomputed tomography facilities of the TOMCAT beamline at the Paul Scherrer Institute [Ref 2] The images obtained from the beamline were reconstructed to produce high-resolution 3D images (Figure 6)

The oil was doped with a contrast agent (20 iododecane 80 n-decane) to enhance the X-ray contrast between the individual phases This was necessary to visualise the emulsified phase in which the oil would become diluted The aqueous- and oil-phase contents of the microemulsion were estimated using the linear blending rule for X-ray attenuation coefficients grey value (emulsion) = γo grey value (oil) + γw grey value (water) where γo and γw are the oil and water contents in the emulsion respectively

The rock sample was initially saturated with n-decane First water injection was performed to mobilise the oil phase Then the surfactant solution was injected to emulsify and mobilise the remaining oil in the pore spaces

The evolution of the oil distribution during the water and surfactant flooding was visualised through a sequence of images During

FIGURE 5The flow regimes observed during coinjection of n-decane and aqueous solutions of surfactant at different salinities

Slug flow

Parallel flow

Parallel flow

1E-05 1E-04 1E-03 1E-02 1E-01

15

12

09

Capillary number (Nc)

Salin

ity (

sod

ium

chlo

rid

e)

Ove

ropt

imum

Und

erop

timum

Interface

Flow direction Flow direction

Surfactant solution Surfactantsolution

n-Decane n-Decane

n-Decane Microemulsion

a b c

FIGURE 4At the T-junction during coinjection of surfactant solution and coloured n-decane (a) under normal light and (b) under fluorescent light (capillary boundaries are indicated by the dashed white line) The injection rate was 10 nlmin per channel (c) The colour gradient

FIGURE 3The microfluidic setup with the microscope focused on the T-junction (yellow circle)

Surfactantsolution

Oil

200 μm 100 μm

Glass chip

12 cm40 μm


waterflooding the images were recorded every 7 s whereas during surfactant flooding the scanning rate was reduced from every 7 s to every 60 s so that slower processes such as diffusion could be visualised Histograms were plotted during water- and surfactant flooding to obtain grey level readings associated with defined levels of local oil content in the emulsified phase This enabled the varying oil saturation levels along a gradient composition to be detected and accurately expressed using a colour spectrum in the resultant images

All the scans taken during the water and surfactant floods were processed to determine the average oil fraction in the field of view During waterflooding the oil saturation fell from 058 to 039 owing to immiscible displacement (Figure 7(a))

Surfactant injection gave rise to two defined periods in the oil saturation decay process (Figure 7(b)) The first was a rapid drop in oil saturation from 039 to 018 in 1 min (the exponential regime) The oil mobilised during this period was easily accessible to the surfactant solution ie easy oil The IFT between the oil and aqueous phases reduced which enabled the surfactant solution to access the pore space more easily than just water Two displacement mechanisms were responsible for oil displacement during the exponential regime convective flow and emulsification

During the second period (the linear regime) the oil saturation almost stabilised at 018 and decreased to 016 very slowly (Figure 7) Once the easy oil had been mobilised during the exponential regime the surfactant solution penetrated the porous media more deeply and reached pore spaces such as dead-end pores and disconnected oil clusters far away from the main flow channels As convective flow was absent in such regions of

the rock sample oil mobilisation relied on emulsification through slower diffusive processes The surfactant solution was injected at optimum salinity It is likely that IFT values were reduced but did not become ultralow because optimum microemulsions did not form quickly enough

The surfactant solution used did not contain any polymer However adding a polymer to the solution would have increased the viscosity of the surfactant solution which would have resulted in a more favourable mobility ratio between the aqueous and the oil phases Less oil would

FIGURE 6(a) Core sample schematic (diameter = 4 mm height = 20 mm field of view 4 mm section) (b) A vertical cross section from a 3D pore space showing a dry scan of the sandstone rock with pore spaces (black) and grains (grey) (c) 3D pore visualisation of the field of interest (All modified from Reference 2)

FIGURE 7(a) Volume averaged oil saturation as a function of time during water and surfactant flooding (b) The two regimes observed in oil saturation decay during surfactant flooding (Both modified from Reference 2)

Diameter = 4 mm

Inlet

Field ofview

4 mm

2 mm

20 m

m

4 mm

a c

b 1 mm

Dry scan

Clay

Quartz

0 10 20 30

Waterflood Surfactant flood

40 45 46

Scan 2

Scan 2

48 4947 60 80

1

08

06

04

02

0

Time (min)

Oil

satu

ration

45 46 47 48 49

019 048 076 133

tfrac12 = 022 min

αt500 min

19 247040

035

030

025

020

015

Time (min)

Pore volume injected

Oil

satu

ration

Scan 4

Scan 4

Scan 6

Scan 6

Flow direction

a

bDataLinear decayExponential decay




have been bypassed by the surfactant solution owing to improved mobility control The residual oil saturation after the surfactant flooding with polymer would be lower ie lt005

Surfactant flood scansFurther examination of the scans of the surfactant flood revealed events involving oil displacement

by emulsification (Figure 8) The two fields of interest A and B had an exponential decay in oil saturation A third field of interest (C) showed characteristics consistent with linear decay The field of interest E (the dashed purple circle) highlights the appearance of an emulsified phase It was hypothesised that E formed because of new emulsification of trapped oil

FIGURE 8Scans of the field of view during surfactant flooding (modified from Reference 2) (a) The front view showing the fields of interest (circled) (b) The view from the top

FIGURE 9Close-ups of fields of interest A B and C as marked in Figure 7 [Ref 2]

a

07 mm

1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

b

449 451 458Time (min)

c

AE B

C

A

Scan 6 (458 min)Scan 2 (449 min)

B

C

Flow direction

A B

C

4 mm

Scan 4 (451 min)

4 mm1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

a

b


AUTHORS

Evren Unsal is a senior research reservoir engineer based at Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam the Netherlands She works on fibre optic and other sensor technologies for reservoir surveillance Evren is also the executive editor of TechXplorer Evren has a PhD in chemical engineering from Auburn University USA

Steffen Berg is a research scientist who has worked for Shell since 2005 and is currently working in the special core analysis team in Amsterdam but also deeply involved in digital rock related projects He has a masterrsquos degree in materials science from Saarland University and a PhD in physics from the University of MainzMax Planck Institute for Polymer Research at Mainz both in Germany

[Ref 1] Unsal E Broens M and Armstrong R T ldquoPore scale dynamics of microemulsion formationrdquo Langmuir (2016) 32(28) 7096ndash7108

[Ref 2] Unsal E Ruumlcker M Berg S Bartels W B and Bonnin A ldquoImaging of compositional gradients during in situ emulsification using X-ray micro-tomographyrdquo Journal of Colloid and Interface Science (2019) 550(August) 159ndash169

REFERENCES

or the migration of the emulsified phase from other parts of the rock sample

Figure 9 shows close-ups of fields of interest A B and C for surfactant flooding Regions A and B are oil clusters with gradients in oil saturation The red coloration indicates that saturation was at its highest in the centre of most clusters The gradient in colour from the centre outwards over time suggests that the surfactant flood emulsified some oil very quickly thereby leaving the cluster significantly smaller The disappearance of the red coloration to leave smaller blue phases implies a reduction in the oil content of the emulsified phases A similar colour gradient to that during oil emulsification was also observed during the microfluidic experiments (Figure 4(c))

In region C oil displacement occurred more slowly compared with regions A and B Its red coloration implied a high oil saturation and that hardly any emulsification was occurring This was likely because C was disconnected from the main flow path so that the surfactant solution did not reach it during the period of exponential decay The decay of such a cluster most likely occurred during the linear decay period (Figure 7(b))

Way forwardThrough this study Shell has developed a new experimental and image processing workflow for visualising the compositional gradients during flow in a porous medium with time resolutions of a few seconds The ability to interpret compositional gradients in real time validates equilibrium phase studies and provides insights into interfacial phenomena in applications where in-situ emulsification occurs under flow

Combining in-house image processing capabilities with external collaborative work has enabled Shell to benefit from the worldrsquos most advanced imaging facilities and resulted in a unique capability and competitive edge for its research and development programme

ReviewJeff Southwick digital rock laboratory manager and subject matter expert chemical enhanced oil recoveryJohn van Wunnik principal technical expert chemical enhanced oil recovery

Maja Ruumlcker is a research associate at Imperial College London UK working on the Shell digital rock programme Her focus is wettability and wettability-alteration effects on multiphase phase flow in porous media Maja received her PhD in petroleum engineering from Imperial College London though a joint project with the rock and fluid physics team at Shell Global Solutions

33Shell TechXplorer Digest | 2020httpsdoiorg105219620831604

HELPING LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS PLANTS to cut their carbon footprints The Shell strategy for thriving during the energy transition is to reduce the net carbon footprint of its energy production and to be a net-zero-emissions energy business by 2050 This greenhouse gas intensity target requires a reduction in the carbon footprints of current liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants as well as for new LNG projects One abatement opportunity is to replace the conventional ldquospinning reserverdquo of part-load gas turbine power generation with a battery energy storage system (BESS)

IntroductionMost LNG plants in the Integrated Gas portfolio are in remote locations where the local electrical power grid has insufficient capacity to provide the required operating power which can be up to hundreds of megawatts with the necessary availability and reliability LNG plants therefore often generate their own power

To deal with the planned and unplanned downtime of the power generation unit an LNG plant has a spinning reserve-philosophy of at least N+1 operational gas turbine generators so that a trip of one power generation unit does not cause a total power failure There is often an even higher margin between the operating power generation capacity and the electrical power load demand to enable the power system to recover from a trip of one unit as the units have limited ramp-up rates and ability to deal with step changes in load This results in

lightly loaded and hence less efficient gas turbine generator operation (part-load efficiency can be less than half full-load efficiency) This configuration provides a highly available power generation system at the expense of cost and greenhouse gas intensity

An extreme case of the spinning reserve philosophy is shown in Figure 1(a) Two gas turbine generator units are each running (N = 1) at 40 load (the spare unit is offline) so that a trip in one unit will cause the other to ramp up to 80 load while still retaining some margin between its capacity and the plant load Figure 1(b) shows two offline units and the running unit loaded to 80 In this case the spinning reserve is provided by a BESS sized to supply the power for the LNG plant for the period necessary to restart the tripped unit or to start one of the offline units

Business case for a BESSHaving a BESS will enable a plant to turn off but not necessarily to eliminate the operating spare power generation unit and to operate as an N + BESS configuration With fewer machines operating the remaining units will run at a higher load and consequently higher efficiency This reduces the total fuel consumption associated greenhouse gas and nitrogen oxide emissions machine running hours and operating and maintenance costs This will also increase LNG production at feed-gas constrained plants

Screening studies by the Shell LNG technology platform and the Centre of Excellence for New Energies Integration have shown that having a BESS at an operating plant could mean

a carbon dioxide emissions reduction of about 20 from the power generation facilities and of 1ndash3 of the total LNG plant emissions

FIGURE 1(a) N+1 gas turbine generators (b) N gas turbine generators + 1 BESS

LEADING TRAN- SITION


BESSs similar to these ABB modules could help Shell to reduce its carbon footprint Image courtesy of ABB

a bOne spare

Loads

Two running at 40 load One running at 80 load BESS to deal withgas turbine trips

Two spare

Loads

up to a 50 reduction in the gas turbine generator running hours (cumulative) with an associated maintenance cost reduction

an LNG production increase a positive net present value or valuendashinvestment ratio and

improved power system voltage quality and fast dynamic responses to load changes in the electrical distribution system

BESS componentsCurrent commercially available BESSs are mostly based on lithium-ion batteries controlled using a battery management system

A BESS (Figure 2) has a hierarchical control system The power management system interfaces with the external power system of the LNG plant (typically 50 or 60 Hz alternating current (AC)) and reacts to commands (ie planned events to provide power from the BESS) and to signals (for example changes in power system voltage and frequency) that indicate a response is necessary to restore control to the power system

The power control system controls the operation of the inverter which converts the direct current (DC) from the battery into the AC the LNG plant requires The AC side of the inverter is connected to the external power system using a step-up transformer to match the voltage A power system harmonic filter smooths the output voltage waveform for a better sinusoidal output The power control system also controls the BESS auxiliaries including other monitoring and cooling systems

The battery management system controls the lithium-ion cells and modules that form the battery This system has a high safety integrity level depending on the type of lithium-ion cell chemistry and contains a set of redundant measurements and actuators to protect the battery cells against out-of-range voltages currents and temperatures that could lead to a cell or module thermal runaway This is a self-

sustaining highly exothermic chemical reaction that can cause extremely high temperatures produce flammable and toxic gases and eventually result in a fire

Commercially available BESSs may be highly modular with each container providing 2ndash4 MWh of power and including the cells inverters and auxiliaries for cooling

BESS integration into LNG plantsWhen looking at BESS integration into LNG plants the Shell team considered two basic questions does it have the functionality to stabilise the electrical system if a power generation unit trips and is it safe in an operating LNG plant

BESS functionalityElectrical system studies were carried out to confirm that a BESS could react sufficiently fast to stabilise the electrical system of an LNG plant in case of a trip of a running power generation unit

When a power generation unit trips in a traditional island power system there is an imbalance between the electrical load and the generated power that causes the frequency of the system to fall The inertia of the remaining connected units and the rest of the rotating electrical machines (mainly motors) determines the rate at which the frequency falls before the governor control systems of the power generation units act to increase the generated power to restore the frequency The more spinning reserve there is in the system the higher the inertia and the smaller the proportional response of each power generation unit

Replacing the spinning reserve in part or in whole with a BESS changes the way the electrical system reacts There is less inertia which means that the frequency falls faster but the power electronics and control systems in the BESS can act much faster than those of conventional turbine or engine-driven generators The BESS response

FIGURE 2 The components of a BESS


Battery pack

DC sytem

AC sytem

Bidirectional power flow

Power control system

CL filterActive bridge

inverter

CANbus

∆Y

GridEnergy

managementsystem

PLCSCADA

RTUControl

Batterymanagement

system

is fast and stabilises the electrical system within a few milliseconds Figure 3 shows a typical response for a conventional power generation system and Figures 4(andashd) show that from a standby BESS when the running gas power generation unit trips The BESS delivers active power (megawatts) and reactive power (volts) support to the system more than five times faster than a conventional power generation unit could

One of the drawbacks of this fast response time is that the BESS effectively acts as an isochronous control unit it reacts to every load starting or stopping yet still maintains near perfect control of the power system frequency and can have a comparable effect on system voltage To prevent this from happening a control system is necessary to provide a suitable deadband so that the BESS only responds to significant events on the power system and does not operate continually

Adequate battery autonomy time is required for example 30ndash60 min to allow long enough for starting up a second gas turbine generator or restarting the tripped unit

As an example at Alinta Energyrsquos Newman gas-fired power station in Australia a 30-MW BESS successfully took over the complete load after a trip in an external feeder within 10 ms The power station supplies mining operations

The main difference between such units and those used in large power grids in North America and elsewhere is the ability to do ldquogrid formingrdquo to control the system frequency and voltage which is necessary when the BESS is to operate to supply the load on its own

This capability is currently limited to vendor-supplied models only a global power industry working group called MIGRATE is leading work to study and model what happens to power systems when supplied only by inverter-based power generation systems such as a BESS Their initial conclusions and study focus areas are similar to Shellrsquos work

Traditional electrical protection systems based on the detection of the high current that flows during a fault (the principle of operation of a fuse or circuit breaker) are ineffective when considering inverter-based power generation as the normal load current is not very different from that flowing during a fault Consequently different electrical protection philosophies and equipment are needed

FIGURE 3The response of a conventional power generation system after a power generation trip

FIGURE 4The response of a BESS (a) system frequency (b) active power output (c) main bus voltage and (d) reactive power output


HELPING LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS PLANTS TO CUT THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINTS

0 s

fmin

Typically20ndash30 s

Typically5ndash10 min

Typically5ndash10 s

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)

Time (s)

Initial slopedfdt = ∆P2H

25ndash1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

505

50

495

49

485

48

475

47

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)

Time (s)5ndash1 1 2 3 40

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Act

ive

pow

er (

MW

)

Time (s)

5ndash1

10110009909809709609509409309209109

Voltage

per

unit

Time (s)5ndash1 1 2 3 401 2 3 40

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Rea

ctiv

e pow

er (

MVA

r)

Time (s)

a b

c d

FIGURE 5Typical voltage and current waveforms associated with power transformer energisation

The harmonic content of the system (a measure of how pure the sinusoidal waveform is for the AC voltage) is difficult to estimate during the engineering phase and to control during operation this requires detailed analysis when the specifics of the equipment are known

Simple modelling of the inverter-based generation does not adequately address how BESSs react to events such as the energisation of large transformers Figure 5 shows typical voltage and current waveforms for the system when a large power transformer is energised In this situation the BESS might detect and interpret the current imbalance as an electrical system fault and thus shut down which would lead to a total power failure again more detailed analysis and modelling are required for project deployment

The connection of large numbers of inverters on the same system for example a BESS some solar photovoltaic power generation and variable-speed drive units for motor control could lead to small signal instabilities

New Energies has developed recommendations for deployment that address these issues

BESS safetyNew Energies has identified lithium-ion battery technology as the choice for deployment in utility and industrial systems Figure 6 shows the structure of a typical lithium-ion cell the directions of flow of the ions and electrons are shown with the battery discharging

Lithium-ion battery chemistry offers several advantages over other types of energy storage and battery chemistry for grid and industrial system applications the main ones being low losses (relatively) low cost per megawatt-hour and the widespread availability in the sizes (1ndash50 MWh) being considered

Lithium-ion batteries have an associated inherent risk of thermal runaway To evaluate the risks a coarse hazard identification was undertaken that was initially agnostic to battery chemistry This identified the following safety risks associated with the use of a large BESS in an LNG plant thermal runaway toxicity flammable gases electrocution and arc flash The electrocution and arc flash risks associated with large battery systems are familiar to electrical engineers in Shell as most sites have uninterruptible power supply units connected to large batteries The major difference is the number of battery cells involved and therefore the potential fault current that would flow Industry standards including IEEE 1584-2018 (ldquoIEEE guide for performing arc-flash hazard calculationsrdquo) have recently been revised to reflect better the phenomena associated with DC arcs

The risk of thermal runaway was analysed by reviewing available test results and literature and by evaluating vendorsrsquo protection systems The conclusion was that the risk associated with a BESS can be mitigated to as low as reasonably practicable Measures for avoiding thermal runaway and fire include the design of the battery cell module and rack layout and the battery management system

Some scenarios such as a battery internal short circuit or an external short caused by water or liquid or external heat input cannot be mitigated by the battery management system Although such scenarios have a low incident frequency the battery module design needs to ensure that a thermal runaway in a single cell does not propagate to adjacent cells or modules and subsequently a whole rack or container The UL 9540A test method and IEC 626192017 standard describe methods to test and validate this and should be included in the project specification

In a thermal runaway situation flammable and toxic gases are released that could lead to an explosion or fire andor affect human health The recommendations for deployment propose

installing a gas-detection system for example a hydrocarbon gas cell off-gas or sensitive smoke-detection system appropriate to the battery chemistry in co-operation with the vendor

installing adequate ventilation installing pressure release hatches in the container or housing roof

using a firefighting agent to cool down an incipient cell or module fire

considering a deluge system to flood the BESS housing with water however this might lead


094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

voltage

(kV

)

Time (s)

094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

curr

ent

(A)

Time (s)

to significant quantities of contaminated water and additional short circuits so controlled burnout might be preferable

siting the BESS where fire propagation has limited impact and

training firefighters and operations and maintenance staff on recognising and responding to a BESS thermal runaway and fire

Current statusShell New Energiesʼ distributed energy team has commissioned a 125-MWh BESS for frequency regulation (grid-connected) at the gas terminal in Bacton UK Shell is currently evaluating the deployment of 30-MWh BESSs for spinning reserve applications at several locations

ConclusionsBattery energy storage has multiple applications in the oil and gas industry and greenhouse gas abatement by replacing the conventional spinning reserve in power generation is just one With battery costs continuing to fall it is hoped that more opportunities for deployment will be identified and progressed

ReviewIrina Tanaeva lead Centre of Excellence for New Energies Integration into Integrated Gas assets and projects

FIGURE 6Typical lithium-ion cell construction

AUTHORS

Paul Donnellan is a principal electrical engineer with Shell Projects amp Technology in the Netherlands He joined Shell in 2002 having previously worked for National Power and Esso Petroleum in the UK Paul has a BEng in electrical engineering from Southampton University UK

Arie Bal is a principal electrical engineer battery storage expert in New Energies who joined Shell in 2006 as an experienced technical expert in electrical power generation and distribution systems Until 2018 he led the electrical development construction and commissioning of floating liquefied natural gas facilities Arie has a BASc in electrical energy management from The Hague University of Applied Sciences the Netherlands

Ekansh Aggarwal is an electrical engineer based in the Netherlands providing asset support to Integrated Gas assets with a focus on developments in new energies He joined Shell Projects amp Technologies in 2008 Ekansh has a BTech in electrical and electronics engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Florentina Zietara is a senior process engineer with 11 years of experience in the oil and gas industry She is currently working as a technical integrator in the Centre of Excellence for New Energies Integration in Integrated Gas assets and projects Florentina has a PhD in polymeric materials and engineering from the University of Manchester UK



Electrolyte

SeparatorAnode (ndash)

Cathode (+)

Lithium metalcarbon

Lithium metaloxidesElectron

Lithium ion

Copper currentcollector

Aluminium currentcollector

TESTING ENGINE LUBRICANTS FOR heavy-duty biodiesel applications The growing use of biodiesel reduces fossil fuel dependency and lowers levels of particulate matter unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions compared with fossil-fuel based diesel However biodiesel poses equipment-compatibility and engine-performance challenges and places increased stress on engine lubricants Engine manufacturers want to be certain that lubricant products can cope with these challenges Fleet operators want lubricants that can reduce their total cost of ownership through lower fuel costs and less maintenance Oxidation bearing and engine tests demonstrate that Shell Rimula R4 X exceeds the minimum performance requirements for engines running on high biocontent diesel and will help Shell to maintain its market position

BackgroundThree of the most important trends in road transport over recent years are drives to reduce emissions and fuel consumption and to extend service intervals Changes in engine design and fuel and oil formulations have reduced nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate emissions significantly A typical truck from the 1990s produced the same amount of on-highway emissions as 60 modern trucks Tighter emissions standards have led to engine technology improvements including injection timing retardation in 2000 combustion optimisation and advanced fuel systems in 2006 and more recently particulate filters and closed crankcase ventilation As a result between 2000 and 2013 global NOx emissions fell by 92 and particulates by 90 The evolution of the on-highway emissions regulations is shown in Figure 1 For emissions reduction the main focus has been on constraining NOx and particulate matter but future regulations will increasingly focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions One of the few ways to lower carbon dioxide emissions from diesel engines is to reduce their fuel consumption However this conflicts with the industryrsquos demands for more power and extended

maintenance intervals Fleet operators and equipment manufacturers want to extend the time between oil changes A decade ago a top-quality oil might last 30000 km between changes Today fleet operators are achieving 100000-km oil-drain intervals and many are looking to extend this to 150000 km or more

The role of biodieselThe use of biofuels has grown over the past decade driven largely by the introduction of new energy policies in Europe the USA and Brazil that call for more renewable lower-carbon fuels for transport Today biofuels account for about 3 of the worldrsquos road transport fuel

Conventional diesel fuels are refined from petroleum crude but biodiesel is sourced from biological sources such as rapeseed coconut and palm oil in the form of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) Biodiesel offers an effective way to reduce transport sector emissions but there are challenges associated with the handling that prevent the use of pure biodiesel in engines Consequently blends of biodiesel and petroleum diesel are used A fuel designated B20 for example contains 20 FAME and 80 petroleum diesel (Figure 2)


FIGURE 1Evolution of on-highway emissions regulations

NO

x (g

kW

h)

Particulate matter (gkWh)

6705

5364

160920

001 0

1

001

3

013

4

025

35

50

70

02680027

04

002

Euro VI 2013EPA 2007

Euro V 2008

Euro IV 2005

EPA 2004

EPA 1998

EPA 1994

Euro III 2000

Euro II 1996Diesel500 ppm

Sulphur

10 ppmEPA 2015


Biodiesel offers several important benefits including improved fuel lubricity which helps to reduce wear between moving parts and increased cetane number The use of biologically sourced diesel helps to reduce dependence on fossil fuels lowers costs for countries that import fuel and supports local agricultural businesses that grow crops for fuel In environmental terms including biodiesel in a fuel blend also helps to reduce emissions of particulate matter unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide

There are however disadvantages with using biodiesel as a fuel For example biodiesel can affect the materials used in vehicle components Compared with conventional diesel it can cause greater corrosion in several types of metal though these negative impacts are partially offset by biodieselrsquos improved lubricity

Biodiesel can also degrade some types of elastomers and can lead to greater deposit formation and plugging of some vehicle components compared with conventional diesel Studies on whole fuelndashengine and vehicle systems have found various components such as fuel filters fuel injector nozzles and seals and some of the potentially more expensive components that are central to diesel engines need to be replaced more frequently when operating on biodiesel blends

These operational challenges can be handled by strict quality control proper handling of

biodiesel and a scientific approach to the use of B20 in operations

Shell has been distributing biofuels for more than 30 years and continues to build capacity in this area This includes the development and testing of specialised engine lubricants The key aims are to provide products that enhance driving performance enable low well-to-wheels carbon dioxide emissions and are produced more sustainably

Regulation and legislationFuel economy legislation for heavy-duty fleets is already in place or being implemented in Canada Japan the USA Europe China India and South Korea and more stringent requirements are planned for these countries

Indonesia Presidential Regulation No 662018 mandates the use of biodiesel containing 20 biocontent (B20) typically from palm oil in all segments of the market Although B20 has been used since 2016 it was limited to public-service-obligation fuel under the brand Solar diesel From 1 September 2018 B20 has been mandatory for nonpublic-service-obligation usage including in transportation and heavy and military equipment this has been revised to B30 in 2020 (Table 1)

The mandatory use of B30 is part of the Indonesian governmentrsquos effort to boost the domestic use of palm oil as the global price of crude palm oil falls In Malaysia the government mandated the use of B10 in the transport sector from 1 February 2019 to increase the consumption of palm oil

Lubricant development and testingThe combination of regulatory changes new fuels and advances in engine technology pose significant challenges for engine lubrication

Shell has been evaluating the impact of biodiesel and developing lubricants to meet these challenges Shell Rimula and Shell Rotella engine oils are globally compatible with biofuels the Shell Rimula engine oil range has been delivering value to customers around the globe for many years Many truck manufacturers such as Hino Daimler FAW Navistar Isuzu MAN Scania and Volvo use

FIGURE 2Indonesian palm oil methyl ester conventional diesel and B20 at a low temperature (lt18degC)

TABLE 1Biodiesel regulation for selected Asian countries

TESTING ENGINE LUBRICANTS FOR HEAVY-DUTY BIODIESEL APPLICATIONS


Ingredient Source 2018 2019 2020 2022

Indonesia Palm stearin Palm oil mill effluent B20-NO DPF B30-NO DPF B50

Malaysia Palm olein Palm oil mill effluent B7 B10

Thailand Palm stearin Palm oil mill effluent B7 B20a

Philippines Coconut methyl ester B2 B10 B20

aThere is no mandate to use B20 but there is an incentive if customers use B20 fuel

heavy-duty diesel engine oils from Shell For example Oman Gulf Company was able to increase oil-drain intervals by 60 and save $270000 a year on lubricant and maintenance costs by using Shell Rimula R4 X in its construction vehicles1

The Shell Projects amp Technology lubricants teams in China India Indonesia the UK and the USA work together to ensure that Shell keeps its competitive position globally in biodiesels as well as in lubricant products by ensuring that its products protect customersrsquo equipment in new and challenging environments Their research initially focused on evaluating the compatibility of mainstream and premium Shell products in the laboratory using accelerated tests specified by various industry standards After ensuring full product compatibility in this environment the teams also monitored performance in real-world conditions through an oil analysis programme and engine stripdown inspection to evaluate engine components They also extended the study to include future requirements such as B50 diesel as proposed by the Indonesian government by 2023 These studies have ensured that Shell Rimula products are future ready

Fuel dilutionBiodiesel is a mixture of diesel and FAME Fuel dilution (when fuel mixes with the lubricant in the engine) has a negative effect on the lifetime and performance of engine oil At typical engine operating temperatures the diesel component of the biofuel will evaporate leaving higher concentrations of the FAME component in the engine sump This can be a major concern as the biodiesel may increase oil oxidation which prematurely ages the oil and can cause engine deposits and pumping issues Consequently it is important to evaluate engine oil performance in these areas

In normal engine operation less than 5 fuel in the lubricant is expected With B100 the FAME content in the lubricant would be 5 The actual fuel dilution may vary as it depends on several factors In extreme cases including severe engine operation and extended oil-drain intervals the lubricant may be diluted by up to 10 With B50 this would translate to having 5 FAME in the lubricant (Figure 3)

Equipment manufacturers require biodiesel in the lubricant to be monitored and limited to 5 The use of B20 falls within the allowable limits of many key equipment manufacturers and the impact of fuel dilution should be minimal For example a 5 fuel dilution of B20 fuel equates to 1 FAME content in the total sump volume of the engine

Even considering the extreme situation of 10 dilution with B20 the biocontent would only be 2 To reach 5 FAME in the engine oil the oil would have to be diluted by 25 with B20 which is very unlikely (Figure 4)

Oxidation bearing and engine testsThe European Automobile Manufacturersrsquo Association (Association des Constructeurs Europeens drsquoAacuteutomobiles ACEA) has specified biodiesel compatibility performance for all lubricants meeting E4 E6 E7 and E9 requirements and all lubricants must pass the CEC L-109-16 and CEC L-104-16 tests In addition Daimler also has specified additional biodiesel compatibility tests with 5 B100 in MB 2283 and above grades This test has different test conditions to the ACEA E category

In most situations the biocontent of engine lubricants is likely to be less than 2 more typically 1 However as required by equipment manufacturersrsquo and industry specifications Shell has tested Shell Rimula R4 X with 5ndash10 biodiesel in various oxidation bearing and engine tests

Oxidation performance of Shell Rimula R4 X with biodiesel dilutionShell Rimula R4 X 15W-40 has been evaluated under conditions specified in the Daimler

FIGURE 3Biodiesel dilution for blends from B20 to B100

FIGURE 4Percentage of B20 in oil due to fuel dilution

Fuel

dilu

tion

()

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Biofuel in oil at 10 fuel dilutionBiofuel in oil at 5 fuel dilution

B20 B30 B40 B50 B60 B70 B80 B90 B100

FAM

E (

)

Fuel dilution ()

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

05 10 15 20 25 30 35

1 The savings indicated are specific to the calculation date and site These calculations may vary from site to site and from time to time depending on for example the application the operating conditions the current products being used the condition of the equipment and the maintenance practices



oxidation test using 5 B100 This is a requirement of the MB 2283 service-fill specification The test oil was mixed with 5 B100 and heated at 160degC for 168 h in the presence of a catalyst The oxidation level and viscosity were monitored at regular intervals The results demonstrated that Shell Rimula R4 X provides strong oxidation and viscosity control (Figure 5)

ACEA 2016 oxidation bench test (CEC L-109-16)As part of the ACEA 2016 specification a new biodiesel oxidation bench test was introduced

based on the Daimler oxidation test conditions CEC L-109-16 The test oil is mixed with 7 B100 and heated at 150degC with a catalyst for 168 h Again Shell Rimula R4 X showed strong oxidation performance and exceeded the limits for ACEA E7-16 (Figure 6)

Cummins high-temperature corrosion bench testAnother requirement for Daimlerrsquos MB 2283 specification is the Cummins high-temperature corrosion bench test in the presence of biodiesel The test specifies 10 B100 (80 rapeseed methyl ester 20 soy methyl ester) and measures the impact on copper coupons to simulate the bearing material The results are summarised in Figure 7

ACEA 2016 aged oil mini rotary viscometer test (CEC L-105-12 pumpability)Another effect of biodiesel in lubricant is on its low-temperature pumping viscosity after degradation during engine operation When Shell evaluated Shell Rimula R4 X at 150degC with 5 B100 for 72 h its viscosity remained within the range for fresh oil (Figure 8) This test is a requirement of ACEA E7-2016 Shell Rimula R4 X maintained a stable viscosity to flow and protect the engine even after being subjected to biodiesel dilution

Shell has evaluated the performance of Shell Rimula R4 X with biodiesel in an engine test as part of equipment manufacturersrsquo requirements The OM 646 DE22 LA biodiesel test (CEC L-104-16) involves running for 120 h with exhaust gas recirculation and regular biodiesel dosing On completion of the test cycle the entire engine was inspected and rated for issues such as bearing condition piston deposits engine sludge and ring sticking In this severe engine test all the components remained in excellent condition when using biodiesel-diluted lubricant

Laboratory results for engine wear performance are supported by real-world experience Indonesia has had B20 fuel available since 2018 and B30 from the beginning of 2020 and the Shell team has worked with customers to inspect and assess engine wear Figure 9 shows the results of an inspection on a HINO J08E engine after 500000 km 150000 km of this using biodiesel The inspection tests were conducted with a fuel sulphur content below 2500 ppm and a 15000-km oil-drain interval The piston deposits were evaluated using the ASTM Manual 20 rating method The piston groove gap as given in the manufacturerrsquos specification was still in good condition and could be reused

The futureShell is working with equipment manufacturers and customers on studies that demonstrate the performance of engine oils when used with fuels

FIGURE 5Oxidation and viscosity control results from the Daimler oxidation bench test with biodiesel

Shell Rimula R4 XMaximum limit

20better

66better

Oxidation Delta kinematic viscosity at 100degC average of three runs

FIGURE 6Oxidation and viscosity control results from the ACEA 2016 oxidation bench test


24better

Oxidation increase after 168 h

78better

Kinematic viscosity after 168 h

FIGURE 7Corrosion performance for Shell Rimula R4 X in the presence of biodiesel (ASTM D6594)


36better

70better

Lead increase with fresh oil

Copper increase with biodiesel

FIGURE 8Low-temperature pumping viscosity performance of Shell Rimula R4 X


51better

Viscosity after 72 hours at 150degC with 5 B100


that have 20 biocontent or more Over time technological and regulatory changes will require diesel engine oil to perform with higher biocontent fuels At the same time fleet operators and engine manufacturers expect engine oil to last longer while reducing wear extending engine life and maximising equipment availability

Shell is already working with others to develop the next generation of biofuels that will utilise waste materials as feedstocks in place of edible oils

Environmental issues and the total cost of ownership are major drivers for technology advances in transport applications Shell has a

leadership position through innovation applications and partnerships with equipment manufacturers and customers The organisation has much expertise in fuel economy which is an area of continuing focus Fuel efficiency contributes to the both environment by reducing carbon dioxide emissions and helping customers to spend less on fuel Another area to focus is to offer longer oil-drain intervals in severe operating conditions

ReviewUsha Lad senior project leader heavy-duty engine oils

AUTHORS

Ajay Agarwal is a product application specialist in automotive and heavy-duty oils He joined Shell in 2006 and provides technical support to industrial customers and equipment manufacturers in India and South East Asia through a team of technical advisors He has a BS from BITS Pilani India

Jason Brown is the global technology manager for heavy-duty diesel engine oils He joined Shell in 2007 and has been doing development work on Shell Rotella and Shell Rimula oils Jason has masterrsquos and doctorate degrees in inorganic and materials chemistry from the University of Michigan USA

M Rachman Hidayat is a product application specialist for the fleet sector His focus is on advanced technical analysis new technology trending solutions failure diagnosis and advising on products and services Rachman has wide experience in lubricant and rolling bearing technology especially in the power agriculture fleet mining pulp and paper cement and general manufacturing sectors He has a bachelorrsquos degree in mechanical engineering from Institut Teknologi Bandung Indonesia

FIGURE 9Inspection results for a customer engine using Shell Rimula R4 X after running on B20 and B30 biodiesel blends

Pistonnumber

1

Finding and comment

Rings move freely in the groove Undercrown piston in clean condition

2Rings move freely in the groove Undercrown piston in clean condition


Thrust side Piston pin side Undercrown


Quest

Projects in operation Projects in planningInvolvement through

Shell CANSOLV technology ndash no

Shell equity

TechnologyCentre Mongstad

Gorgon liquefiednatural gas Pernis Acorn Northern Lights Boundary DamNet Zero

Teesside

1 2

3

8

6 7

5 4

BUILDING AN OPEN NETWORK FOR CO2 transport and storage The Northern Lights project a partnership between Shell Total and Equinor will be the first carbon capture and storage (CCS) project capable of storing carbon dioxide (CO2) from multiple industrial sources in Norway and elsewhere The project will use a flexible pressurised shipping solution to transport liquefied CO2 Shell Shipping amp Maritime is taking the leading role in the CO2 shipping component of the project but to achieve this the company has had to overcome significant technical challenges The project is the first step in creating a cross-border open-access CO2 transport and storage infrastructure network that can help to decarbonise European industry

BackgroundCCS has an essential role to play in decarbonising industry For example Shellrsquos new scenarios sketch envisages that a climate-neutral Europe will need to store unavoidable emissions of about 600 Mty of CO2 Shell is involved in several CCS projects in different stages of development around the world (Figure 1) However the industrial sites where CO2 will be captured may be hundreds of kilometres from locations suitable for storing it There is a need for transporting the CO2 safely and efficiently between the capture and the injection and storage sites Shipping is an obvious solution as this mode of transport moves about 80 of world trade volumes [Ref 1]

Norwayrsquos Ministry of Petroleum and Energy reached the same conclusion so the government started an initiative to redevelop the CCS value

chain the ambition is to achieve a full-scale CCS project by 2024 Northern Lights is an outcome of that initiative Because Northern Lights uses a flexible ship transport solution to move CO2 to the storage location it offers European industrial sources the opportunity to store their CO2 safely and permanently underground (Figure 2) However the large scale of CCS operations and the physical properties of liquid CO2 present technical challenges that the team has had to overcome

A first in EuropeEuropean industry is dependent on a secure and reliable CO2 transportation and storage network to enable the capture of its carbon On 15 May 2020 Equinor Shell and Total announced their conditional final investment decision for progressing the Northern Lights project the first European full-scale project for the capture transport and storage of

FIGURE 1Shellrsquos involvement in CCS projects



CO2 On 2 September 2020 the project won the prestigious ONS 2020 Innovation Award

The judges said ldquoThe Northern Lights project is a truly joint effort in the spirit of the ONS 2020 theme lsquoTogetherrsquo The project is a bold and visionary effort to combine continued value creation from existing industries while contributing to solving the grand challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a large scale Even though the benefits of the project are still too early to harvest the partners have passed important milestones this year and created the momentum and enthusiasm that the industry needs The realisation of Northern Lights can be a catalyst for innovation and green growth in Europe and beyond We the jury find Equinor Shell and Totalrsquos Northern Lights project a worthy winner of this yearrsquos ONS Innovation Awardrdquo

The project initially seeks to capture CO2 from two industrial facilities in the Oslofjord region of Norway The plan is to capture 400000 ty from each of these facilities 800000 ty in total However the northern European coast is densely populated with various industrial sites mainly because the regionrsquos ports provide easy access and the success of this project will open opportunities for these industries Figure 3 shows the locations of the large industrial emitters defined as those generating more than 05 Mty of CO2 near ports less than 1500 km from the planned Northern Lights CO2 receiving terminal

The Northern Lights project is based on new innovative shipping solutions Once the CO2 has been captured and liquefied it will be transported by ships to an onshore storage site (Figure 4) from

where it will be piped to an aquifer 110 km off the Norwegian coast that geological surveys and exploration have confirmed is suitable for storing CO2 more than 2500 m beneath the seabed The planned initial storage capacity is 15 Mt CO2y and plans exist to increase the capacity to 5 Mty through additional phases of development and an increasing customer base Any remaining storage capacity will be offered to European customers on a commercial basis

FIGURE 2Computer visualisation of unloading liquefied CO2 from a ship Image courtesy of EquinorndashMulticonsultndashLINK arkitektur

FIGURE 3Large industrial CO2 emitters near a port within 1500 km of the planned Northern Lights receiving terminal Image created using CaptureMap from Endrava


ChemicalspetrochemicalsFoodIron and steel Nonferrous metalsNonmetallic mineralsOil and gas Power to heat Pulp and paperTransformationWaster managementWater treatmentWood and wood products

Segment

Norcem cementfactory

Fortum Oslo Varmewaste incinerator

Receiving terminal

BUILDING AN OPEN NETWORK FOR CO2 TRANSPORT AND STORAGE

Front-end engineering and designIn 2016 as part of its CCS ambition the Norwegian government launched studies on CO2 capture transport and storage solutions These showed the feasibility of realising a full-scale CCS project The government subsequently decided to use a study agreement covering conceptual and front-end engineering and design studies to continue the development of the preferred concept which comprised

CO2 capture from the Fortum Oslo Varme waste-to-energy plant in Oslo Norway

CO2 capture from the Norcem Brevik cement factory in Porsgrunn Norway and

a combined transport and storage solution for the liquefied CO2

The transport strategy is to optimise the number of ships for the initial volumes which will include CO2 from the two capture plants One ship with a cargo size of 7500 m3 is planned for each capture plant New volumes may require additional ships

The collaboration agreement governs the study and execution work in which Shell Equinor and Total are equal partners More than 150 staff from the three partner companies are involved in the project DNV GL a Norway-based risk management and safety management consultancy company has provided technical supportShell is heavily involved in all parts of the project and has taken the leading role in the CO2 shipping component because of its position as a global leader in maritime and shipping operations (see boxed text Shell Shipping amp Maritime)

CO2 transportationCO2 is common in many industries In transportation terms it is similar to the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) trade in which Shellrsquos Downstream business is very experienced Pipelines can also be used to transport gases however they are fixed and it is expensive to build

Shell Shipping amp Maritime The Shell Shipping amp Maritime is part of Shellrsquos Downstream business It provides commercial ship management and technology services for the group and is responsible for ensuring that all Shellrsquos global maritime activities are safely managed these include a fleet of about 40 liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers and 10 oil tankers In addition there are more than 240 oil and LNG vessels on charter

On any day 2000 vessels associated with Shell are on the water These include ships barges drilling rigs supply boats floating production storage and offloading units floating storage regasification units and single buoy moorings

The Shell Shipping amp Maritime team includes more than 1000 international fleet marine officers with LNG experience and qualifications and more than 3000 seafarers in total all of whom are concerned with operating the Shell fleet and the related operations that take place in ports and terminals


FIGURE 4Capture transport and storage of CO2

Industrial emitters with CO2capture and ship loading

CO2 from other emitters

OffshoreCO2 storage

CO2 storage

Onshore CO2receiving terminal

Ship transport

a new pipeline network Shipping can provide a more flexible option as vessels can travel globally between any port and is less capital intensive than constructing pipelines

Dual-cargo ship designWhen the project team started exploring options for ship designs there was no off-the-shelf option available The food industry uses ships to transport liquefied CO2 for use in beverage products but on a much smaller scale than that required for CCS operations The team therefore looked into LPG ship designs that have similar characteristics to those needed for CO2 carriage However modifications to the shipsrsquo storage tanks would be necessary as the materials used for LPG are unsuitable

The design team then explored the option of a hybrid design that would enable easy conversion to LPG trading as an alternative to dedicated CO2 use Liquefied CO2 carriage would be the primary ship-design basis with an LPG ship as the base case This is expected to be the best option as it uses designs that shipyards are familiar with and enables standardisation as far as practicable thereby potentially setting a new standard for CO2 shipping on coastal trading routes

Key tank design modifications for CO2

The key differences between ships for CO2 transportation and those traditionally used for fully pressurised LPG cargoes are modifications to the tank wall material type and thickness and the addition of insulation By maintaining the operating conditions of 15 barg and minus26degC the CO2 remains stable in the liquid state and well within the range that limits the risk of CO2 subliming between gaseous and solid states The resulting design temperature and pressure of minus35degC and 19 barg are significantly different from those for LPG ships

Another characteristic of liquid CO2 is its higher density approximately 1100 kgm3 compared with about 500 kgm3 for LPG This will increase the shipsrsquo weights Therefore the design includes two large 115-m-diameter single-cylinder pressurised cargo tanks to maximise the carriage volumes improve the economics and keep the manufacturing process simple The ships carrying them will be almost 130 m long

The combination of a high-density cargo a high design pressure and a large tank diameter requires innovative solutions A special high-tensile-strength nickel steel alloy was shown to be safely constructible with a tank wall thickness of 50 mm This combination of operating conditions tank size construction materials and wall thickness has fully maximised the design

The concept design has passed through two of the required three qualification stages with DNV GL including failure modes and effects analysis and materials testing The final third-stage approval will be on basis of the integrated design from the shipyard during detailed design This will happen after a shipbuilding contract has been signed

Additional design modifications have been made These include reinforcing the tank design at various locations but allowing larger deflections elsewhere to reduce the dynamic stresses in the tank and designing the tank to resist variations in pressure and acceleration loads in laden and ballast voyages Front-end engineering and design studies have concluded that the design is robust and able to withstand dynamic loading without exceeding the stress levels that would cause fatigue cracks to propagate All these points will be verified with Shell assurance during detailed design

Research is ongoing on future ship designs to enable the carriage of liquefied CO2 at a temperature of about minus50degC and a pressure of 7 bar very close to the triple point This is in line with containment systems for LPG in a semirefrigerated state and is likely to enable further scaleup of ship capacity to the 20000- to 30000-m3 range

Robust safety solutions The team has developed recommended practices for the safe operation of the ships A linked emergency shutdown system must be fitted that has some modifications for handling CO2 For example a surge control system to detect potential two-phase flow between ship and shore will be built in Another notable difference is the installation of multiple safety valves for CO2 operations owing to possible blockage because of dry ice formation

Safe operation and maintenance of the ships and the new concepts involved will require larger more specialist crews than are typical for vessels of this size Initial operation will require a crew of 17 which will reduce to a minimum of 13 as experience grows and knowledge is transferred

Custody transfer systems The CO2 volumes in the shipments must be accurately measured and reported to the authorities for tracking the captured and stored volumes as proof of sequestration and for compensating the customers These protocols are well established in LNG shipping and will be adapted for CO2 operations the team has consulted established suppliers of approved custody transfer systems and confirmed that this approach is appropriate The ships will be fitted with redundant radar technology to measure liquefied gas volumes Independent verification of these will be required and the necessary documentation must be provided to regulators and customs officials



Energy efficiencyThe ships will be as efficient as possible and will use the best available technology where practicable [Ref 1] Hull forms will be optimised for the trading route and regular manoeuvring profiles will be established A study of the trading route has been made and characteristics such as wind and wave conditions have been considered in the designs This will help to alleviate sloshing loads and maximise propeller and rudder efficiency The primary fuel for the ships will be LNG for which there is an established supply network in the area Other technologies such as wind assistance and air lubrication that could potentially further increase energy efficiency and reduce the carbon intensity of the shipping operations will be considered during the detailed design phase The high manoeuvrability of the vessels will also play a role in reducing the operating expenditure

The bigger pictureThe overall value proposition for the development of transport and storage solutions for CO2 from industrial processes may appear attractive but there is significant risk Over time regulators may introduce requirements to decarbonise fully the production of industrial products such as steel and cement in which case the solutions

developed by the Northern Lights project will create opportunities for shipowners For now it is unknown whether such a market will mature however the timing for the introduction of this technology is good European industry is dependent on a secure and reliable CO2 transportation and storage network if it is to consider capturing its carbon By offering an open-access cross-border implementation of such a network Northern Lights creates the possibility for industrial emitters to store their CO2 safely and permanently underground

Support and encouragement for this process will enable the first European full-scale CCS value chain thus paving the way for cost reductions and scale-up of similar future projects Northern Lights could also act as a reciprocal storage alternative for other European CCS projects in Europe thereby making a European CCS network more robust and flexible

ReviewAjay Edakkara technical project manager project development shipping and maritime technology innovation and digitalisation

AUTHORS

Frank Ollerhead has been the Northern Lights shipping manager through the concept and front-end engineering and design studies after being seconded from Shell Shipping amp Maritime in 2018 He has worked for Shell since 1992 in several shipping roles including operations asset management and project management Frank has a masterrsquos degree in mechanical engineering from Liverpool John Moores University UK

Christiaan van der Eijk is the low-carbon opportunity manager in Norway this includes having responsibility for Shellrsquos participation in Northern Lights He joined Shell in 2005 and has worked in business development and economics and as a strategy and portfolio manager asset manager and business opportunity manager in the Netherlands Dubai Iraq Brunei and now Norway Christiaan has an MSc in econometrics and an MA in history from Erasmus University Rotterdam the Netherlands

Kim Bye Bruun is part of the Northern Lights preparations team and will become its communications and government relations manager He has worked for Shell since 2006 in Norway South Africa and Nigeria in external relations communications project management as a business advisor and was the principal carbon relations advisor in Group Carbon Kim has a masterrsquos degree in sociology from the University of Tromsoslash Norway and an MBA from London Business School UK

[Ref 1] Shell International BV and Deloitte ldquoDecarbonising shipping All hands on deckrdquo Shell report (2020)

REFERENCE



ad VENTURE

HOW TO AVOID ALL TORQUE AND NO ACTIONA few years ago Shell TechWorks invented an integrated management system that uses connected digital torque wrenches to make up flanged pipe connections reliably The invention had such great potential for use in applications outside oil and gas projects that it deserved an entrepreneurial environment for its commercialisation ndash one with a higher tolerance for risk-taking than is traditionally found at Shell So Shell TechWorks and Shell Ventures settled on an unconventional approach a spin-out company financed by venture capitalists That decision in and of itself helped to reduce the overall risk to the company Cumulus Digital Systems Inc (Cumulus)

Here Matt Kleiman formerly of TechWorks and now chief executive officer of Cumulus and Brian Panoff senior venture principal Shell Ventures discuss the dual role that Shell Ventures played ndash first as an advisor and then as an investor ndash in bringing the Smart Torque System (STS) to market Carl Stjernfeldt senior venture principal at the time for Shell Ventures was also instrumental in the project

Can you outline how the STS came into being and how you became involvedMatt The story starts in 2010 when I was working at Draper Laboratory a research and development spin-out of MIT that works on control and guidance systems for aircraft and spacecraft It was right after the Deepwater Horizon tragedy when Shell and other oil and gas companies were looking to the aircraft industry for help in improving safety-critical systems A Draper colleague and I ended up working with Shell for two years on applying proven systems-engineering approaches to blowout prevention and things like that

Shell must have liked what we were doing because by 2012 it had decided to take much of what we were doing in-house The idea was to hire people like ourselves who had the right mix of expertise and entrepreneurship to work

directly with Shellrsquos businesses to help solve difficult problems The outcome was that Shell hired my colleague and me to establish TechWorks as a unit of the Shell Projects amp Technology (PampT) organisation

The STS started life at TechWorks in 2015 as part of the ldquoFuture Constructionrdquo project which aimed to find opportunities for efficiency and productivity improvements in PampTrsquos bread and butter activity the construction of oil and gas facilities

Can you briefly describe what makes the STS a commercial propositionMatt The system uses digital technologies not only to record the torque applied during making up of bolts but also to manage those records It enables faster and more reliable assembly and quality control of flanged pipe connections

When you consider that there are tens of thousands ndash even hundreds of thousands ndash of safety-critical bolted connections in a new refinery each with on average eight bolts that must be tightened to the right torque and in the right order to prevent leaks during testing then the potential for the STS to deliver the original objectives is clear But what really made it stand out from the 20 or so other TechWorks projects at the time was its value beyond plant construction

Cumulus clouds form when air gains enough energy from its surroundings to rise on its own Similarly Cumulus (the company) grew out of TechWorks and is now reaching new heights


The systemrsquos wider potential was first recognised when it was presented as one of several TechWorks technologies during a workshop held in April 2016 at the Shell Jurong Island plant in Singapore The facilityrsquos engineering manager immediately recognised how the STS could be used to improve facility turnarounds which involve opening inspecting and reclosing large numbers of flanged connections He wanted to know how quickly he could get the system

At this point the Downstream business started driving the project even though PampT continued to support it But the Upstream and Integrated Gas businesses also started to take an interest and it was soon clear that the STS could be really useful across all of Shell This was unusual for Shell where things tend to be siloed by business Serendipitously we had discovered a technology

with diverse potential applications in almost every business in Shell and by implication across the energy industry

How was the STS originally put into service and how did Shell Ventures get involvedMatt TechWorks secured more resources for the STS as the project started to take on a high profile in the spring of 2016 which enabled a field trial of a very early prototype This was completed in August 2016 the month that the provisional patent application was first filed

The first large-scale pilot of a more mature prototype was during a facility turnaround at Jurong Island in March 2017 As the trials progressed we gave a lot of thought as to how the STS could be delivered We felt that significant opportunities existed for offering it


There might be a million bolts in a new refinery but the STS can ensure that each is tightened to the required torque

more widely and there was robust discussion about whether to keep it within Shell or whether it made more sense to offer it to others It was at this point that we involved Shell Ventures in an advisory capacity to help us decide how best to commercialise the technology By May a Shell Venturesrsquo permission to commence investigation had been approved

Brian Sometimes it is appropriate to keep a new Shell technology internal for example a new seismic method that gives us a real competitive advantage This was not the case with the STS It was not difficult to see that the system had wide-ranging applications in other energy companies and potential in vertical markets such as aerospace transportation infrastructure safety-critical industrial construction and maintenance But TechWorks does not have a mandate to provide services to external parties and more broadly Shell is not set up to support a growing merchant software business it is just not what we do Consequently we looked at ways of delivering the STS that involved third parties

What ways did you consider for commercialising the STS via third partiesBrian Shell is open to licensing some proprietary technologies ndash typically those that benefit safety as the STS does In this case though we felt that a licensing approach would constrain the markets in which the technology could be offered It is one thing to offer say a new wireline logging technology under licence to an oilfield services company that provides global coverage in its specialist area but it was quite another thing to find a company with sufficient reach to promote the STS across many industries and sectors In addition we questioned whether the existing industry contractors would have enough incentive to adopt the technology as it is somewhat disruptive to the existing supply chain and ways of working

In the end the decision was to spin out a new company from TechWorks to offer the technology on a stand-alone commercial basis By doing this

we expected to harness entrepreneurial energy to improve how our industry and others work in terms of safety and productivity

Matt Spinning out a new third-party business offered a way for Shell to have access to its technology while maximising the return on its investment However the approach was not without risk for the new company Cumulus Shell Venturesrsquo experience with start-ups was extremely valuable in questioning whether a new company with all the associated risks was really the best route to commercialising the technology

Can you describe the key points that were considered when agreeing terms for spinning out Cumulus Brian Among venture capitalists we have a simple rule of thumb which is that more than half of all start-ups fail for one reason or another Although we had every faith in Matt and the team at Cumulus and we wanted to do whatever we could to increase the odds of success the most important thing for Shell was that it retained access to the technology if the spin-out did not flourish

That said we also aimed to give Cumulus the freedom it needed to succeed We knew for example that spin-outs from Shell and other companies have failed because they were not sufficiently distant from the parent company We tried to avoid imposing conditions that did not make commercial sense for any stakeholder or that artificially restricted the companyrsquos ability to pursue its own interests for example by retaining the right of first refusal on new technology developments Cumulus had to be able to capture the potential gains for investors and employees alike if it and Shell were to tap the energy that drives start-ups

Matt I agree with Brian One of the main conditions we set for spinning out Cumulus from Shell was that it had to be an armrsquos-length transaction one in which the benefits to both parties were very clear It was essential that it could operate independently and sell STS technologies to third parties unhampered The only difference


between Shell and other Cumulus customers was that Shell would receive a royalty from third-party users in recognition of its investment

We also considered aspects of the deal other than the purely commercial terms for example our ability to attract and retain talent At Cumulus we needed to be free to incentivise individuals sufficiently to leave safe positions including with Shell and to secure their full commitment to the new venture In doing so we took care not to set any expectations that the team could return to Shell should Cumulus fail to thrive In other words we needed Cumulus to be a true entrepreneurial start-up without Shell as a safety net

Step by step how did the spin-out proceedBrian Shell Ventures initially acted as the conscience of the outside venture capital world

It helped to set out what the new company should look like at a high level This framed the argument for spinning out for those in Shell who did not have a personal interest and were simply wondering whether it was viable or the right thing to do

Matt We believed that the new company had to be attractive to outside investors ones that would evaluate it just like any other potential investment Shell Ventures agreed on this key point which drove a lot of the decision making It helped to prevent any wishful thinking on our part as to the likelihood of commercial success The acid test for the terms we agreed on was whether the new company would attract external investors This was important and became a requirement very early on

Brian Once the decision to spin out a fully independent company had been made Cumulus


Pipefitters working on a flange on a Shell floating production storage and offloading facility in the Gulf of Mexico

was incorporated It was granted a sole licence to deploy the technology and basic terms were agreed At this point Shell Ventures shifted from being an advisor to becoming an investor And as the first investment round got going the decisions made during the run-up to the offering were validated Two other interested investors came forward Brick amp Mortar Ventures a San-Francisco-based early-stage venture-capital firm that focuses on emerging technologies with applications in the construction industry and Castor Ventures which enables MIT alumni to invest together in ventures connected to their peers

Of the three investors it was decided that Brick amp Mortar Ventures would lead the first investment round as a matter of good hygiene and to make sure we were not seeing unrealistic potential through being too close It ensured the fundamentals such as the incentive and capital structures and the licensing terms were set up in the right way and that the spin-out was a truly independent company as capable of serving any of the other oil majors as it was Shell

Has investing effort and equity in Cumulus paid off for both parties How is the company doing and what are its and Shell Venturesrsquo plansBrian Unlike the other two investors Shell Ventures had a nurturing role in helping Cumulus to lift off in this respect we are very pleased with what has been achieved so far

At present Shell is the largest Cumulus customer and remains through Shell Ventures an investor so it is still exposed to risk on two fronts What has changed now is that Cumulus has successfully secured third-party investment and a first patent (US 10589406) was confirmed on 17 March 2020 to issue in the USA so Cumulus can safely say that it owns IP rights in the technology This puts the company in a good position to seek additional funding to grow its business by for example developing the STS and other Internet of Things services that take it into new markets and to create further value for its investors

Along with a representative from Brick amp Mortar Ventures I take an active role as a director on Cumulusrsquo board my Shell Ventures colleague Alexander Urban attends board meetings as an observer and Shellrsquos shareholder representative Ultimately Cumulusrsquos success rests on the shoulders of Matt and the team but Shell will continue to help it on its way by providing input as a valued and important customer and Shell Ventures will provide help on the board until it exits as an investor

Matt I am very proud of what we did to create TechWorks and Cumulus which has come out of it Both were inherently entrepreneurial achievements that is what attracted me in the first place

We have many Shell operating facilities actively using the STS Now with other customers that include major and national oil companies and engineering procurement and construction contractors in North America the Middle East the Far East and South Africa we want to expand our oil and gas sector customer base further and to add other connected-tool applications We think that eventually all safety-critical manual work in the industry could be managed using our system

Longer term we know that the challenges that led to the development of the STS are common to many other industries including power generation transmission railroads aerospace and even amusement parks So at the right time we are going to expand into some of these industries while still looking at efficiency and safety

One final question Why is the company named after a type of convective cloud Matt It was nothing to do with ascending to great heights It is a reference to the way we use cloud storage to keep the data accessible and a play on the word ldquocumulativerdquo In contrast to the very siloed way construction and maintenance is handled currently all the data we generate are brought together in one place

Left to right Matt Kleiman and Brian Panoff


COMPRESSOR DRIVE ELECTRIFICATION A carbon dioxide abatement option Electrification is one of the potential carbon dioxide (CO2) abatement options for the Moerdijk chemical plant in the Netherlands and indeed other Shell assets As high-speed electric motors are now viable alternatives to the traditional steam and gas turbine drivers for compressors the plant has replaced one steam turbine with a high-speed electric motor The project is an integral part of the Moerdijk journey to be in line with the Dutch Climate Accord (Klimaatakkoord) agreement to cut industrial greenhouse gas emissions by 2030

Introduction As part of Shellrsquos Net Carbon Footprint ambition assetsrsquo greenhouse gas emission plans are looking to address scope 1 (direct for example from fired boilers and furnaces) and 2 (indirect for example imported steam and power) emissions

Many Shell sites have steam generation facilities and use steam as part of their processes for process heating to provide quench cooling for process streams for heating of piping and to drive machinery such as compressors and pumps via steam turbine drivers Compressors are often process-critical machines without operational spares and can be up to tens of megawatts (or more in the case of liquefied natural gas plants) in size

The pairing of steam turbine drivers with compressors is simple because the operational speeds of both types of machines match well High operational speeds mean smaller equipment on both sides which reduces the requirements for civil infrastructure to support these machines

Electric motors however are speed limited by the frequency of the power grid (3000 rpm for 50-Hz systems and 3600 rpm for 60-Hz systems) so may require a speed-increasing gearbox to accommodate the rotational speed of the compressor The requirement for a gearbox increases the capital expenditure on equipment and additional civil infrastructure and the operating expenditure (losses and maintenance) and reduces the availability of the compressor train

However developments in high-speed electric motors have enabled reductions in their size and weight thereby opening the way to an electric solution for compressor drivers The power delivered by an electric motor is the product of its torque multiplied by its rotational speed For a given output power the higher a motorrsquos speed the smaller its size A full range of power is available from 1 to 80 MW running at between 3600 and 18000 rpm

Moerdijk chemical plant is looking at electrification as a carbon abatement option



More than 150 high-speed (greater than achievable with grid frequency) electric motors are known to be operating around the world in various oil and gas applications mostly midstream operations for transportation and gas storage and downstream in refineries The key enabler in this development is the voltage source inverter for use as a variable-speed drive (VSD)

Figure 1 shows a schematic for a VSD system The input transformer reduces the voltage of the high-voltage grid-frequency (50- or 60-Hz) alternating current (AC) before the VSD system converts it to direct current (DC) and then inverts it back to AC but at a variable frequency up to 150 Hz The first part of this conversion happens in domestic appliances which run on DC

The developments that have led to the lower-cost deployment of high-speed electric motors have been in the DC to AC conversion Large VSD systems previously used a few high-current electronic power switches called thyristors Though these were efficient and reliable they were unsuitable for driving cage induction motors the workhorses of industry The development of transistor-based VSD systems for higher voltages and currents has enabled the mass production of press-pack-technology switching devices offering increased quality and lower costs These drives are called voltage source inverters the name being derived from the fundamental control of the DC voltage within the drive

Drivers for electrificationThere are several drivers for the electrification of steam turbine drivers

Efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reductionSteam generation at Shell sites may be from dedicated boilers cogeneration units (waste-heat recovery steam generators) and process boilers

In replacing a steam turbine driver it is useful to look at the efficiencies of the various components which then relate to their greenhouse gas emissions see Figure 2 This example is for a conventional boiler

Noise reductionThe noise emissions of an electric motor are lower than those produced by a steam turbine typically by 12 dBA

Operational flexibilityHigh-speed motors driven by VSD systems offer high flexibility compared with most other solutions The motor can be operating at full speed and full torque in a few seconds without having to wait for a thermal cycle

MaintenanceThe time between major overhauls for electric motors is comparable to or longer than that for steam turbines Periodic motor inspection is necessary including endoscopic inspection and electrical testing of the rotor and stator and maintenance of the cooling system but it is reasonable to assume that this maintenance can be done within the window of compressor maintenance For larger synchronous machines robotic air-gap crawlers could be used to reduce the intervention scope and time

An electric motor uses less lubricant than a steam turbine but motor lubricant could be eliminated by using a magnetic bearing solution This option is more attractive for greenfield cases in which both motor and compressor could use magnetic bearings thus eliminating the need for any lubricating oil system

FIGURE 1A VSD system

FIGURE 2The efficiency of a compressor driven by a steam turbine compared with one driven by an electric motor

Transformer MotorLine-side

converter bridgeDClink

Motor-sideconverter bridge

CompressorTurbine

Boilers

Compressor+ auxiliaries

78Motor965

VSD98

Transformer99

Substation transformer

99Transmission

95Power generation (combined cycle)

965

Condenser

Overall efficiency without compressor 48


~60

~80

Low pressure

High pressure


COMPRESSOR DRIVE ELECTRIFICATION A CARBON DIOXIDE ABATEMENT OPTION

A periodic inspection of the VSD system should also be undertaken Depending on the applied cooling system and redundancy it may be comparable to or take longer than that for the motor For the smaller items of equipment within the VSD a contract can be arranged with the supplier for access to spare parts for the many electronic printed circuit boards and power electronics items

Shell Moerdijk steam turbine replacementA 40-year-old steam turbine (Figure 3) driving an air compressor was reaching its end of life in the propylene oxidendashstyrene monomer Unit 1 facility at Shell Moerdijk Replacing the turbine with a 6-MW electric motor offered an electrification opportunity owing to CO2 emission reduction and maximisation of the use of the sitersquos solar power generation To mitigate against long lead times a spare motor has been purchased

This opportunity seemed straightforward but it had many challenges Developing the business case resulted in capital expenditure constraints and fast-tracking Further challenges were the brownfield environment the perceived risks of a revamp rather than a new train time

pressures the small footprint available and the necessary auxiliaries

Electrical infrastructureTo run the electric motor a new 30-kV substation had to be built This substation houses the VSD system and the 30-kV switchgear and is connected to one of the grid-intake substations

The simplest and therefore lowest capital expenditure and highest availability design was to use a VSD system with a diode front-end rectifier for the grid ACndashDC conversion The conversion from AC to DC is passive no control is required However engineering studies were required to confirm that the grid voltage would not be disturbed by the harmonics produced by the rectifiers Figure 4 shows the effect on the grid voltage waveform of potential rectifier topologies and thus the reason for selecting a 24-pulse rectifier

How does the drive affect the power network The effect of the drive on the network power factor harmonics was a key study during the engineering phase It is possible to have an active front-end rectifier (ie controlled) that acts like the drive of an electric vehicle and can regenerate power to the grid but this was not required at the Moerdijk plant

How does the drive affect the driven equipment One of the characteristics of a voltage-source inverter VSD system is that the output voltage and current waveforms are more sinusoidal than for the larger current-source inverters Consequently information from motordrive suppliers includes the size of the required VSD system output sinusoidal filter This filter acts to absorb the high-frequency components of the output waveform and prevents them from reaching the motor thereby protecting the electrical insulation system of the motor cable terminations and the motor insulation from high rates of voltage change

Rotating equipmentConventional motorndashgearboxndashgas compressor trains have complex torsional behaviour with multiple types of inertia and stiffness that result in

FIGURE 4Comparison of grid waveform harmonic distortion for different rectifier topologies

FIGURE 3The old steam turbine

6-pulse rectifier 12-pulse rectifier 24-pulse rectifier

Y ∆Y

Y∆

YY∆

∆Y∆


multiple vibrational frequencies and modes A high-speed motorndashcompressor train driven by a modern VSD presents a simpler torsional model In a greenfield project the compressor supplier would be responsible for the overall vibrational analysis and the electric motordrive supplier would supply information as a subcontractor One of the challenges in this revamp project was that the motordrive supplier would be the lead contractor so data for the compressor and the foundation that were required for vibrational analysis would not be readily available

Civil and mechanical requirementsThe plot space and allowable weight were constrained the project team required the motor manufacturer to design a motor to fit over the bolt locations of the existing equipment As the new equipment was to stand on concrete tabletop foundations the full scope for the steel base frame and the motor was given as a single scope to the motor manufacturer This enabled detailed stiffness calculations to be carried out to demonstrate that the static and dynamic behaviour of the new train (motor and compressor) were acceptable The result was an unusual motor layout (Figure 5) cooling with frame-mounted motor-driven fans was chosen for better operability especially at low speeds using the electric motor for compressor barring

Testing construction commissioning and startupDuring a partial load test (motor + skid + test bench drive) an operational deflection shape test was carried out to identify all the principal natural frequencies and to confirm the dynamic stiffnesses at the different fixation interfaces of the system were as per the model

Construction started in April 2018 with the excavation of the trenches for the main high-voltage routing 13 km of high-voltage cable In parallel with the cable installation the underground infrastructure for the new modular substation was prepared piles concrete and steel on which the new substation would be placed The substation was built off-site as a modular unit which enabled integration of the electrical equipment before on-site installation The key electrical equipment inside the substation comprises the 30-kV switchgear a water-cooled VSD low-voltage motor control centres a heating ventilation and air conditioning system and fire and gas protection In September 2018 the substation (Figure 6) the transformer and the cooler for the VSD system arrived on-site and were hoisted onto the foundations Then the electrical and instrumentation connections were made and the project scope before the maintenance shutdown was completed

Steam turbine replacement took place during a planned plant maintenance shutdown in 2019 and was completed without safety incidents The team was given 35 d from compressor shutdown to commissioning of the new motor The demolition scope at the start of the turnaround was extensive and required the removal of steam piping as well as the old steam turbine The key challenge was to separate the turbine from its tabletop foundations without damaging the concrete so that it could be reused without too much civil work control of the tabletopndashmotor skid grouting mixture was key for successful alignment The electric motor was then installed and aligned with the compressor (Figure 7) Next the mechanical electrical and instrumentation connections were made after which on-site

FIGURE 5Motor layout showing the cooling circuit

FIGURE 6Modular substation installation on-site

Water coolerat Interface 1

(N + 1 fanredundancy)

High-speed inductionrotor at Interface 1

Skid at interfaces1 2 and 4Flexible

coupling atInterface 2

Interface 2 compressor axis heightInterface 4foundations

Four-lobe oil-lubricated bearing at Interface 3



commissioning began The lubricating oil system for the compressor and motor also required fine-tuning as the new motor uses significantly less lubricant than the steam turbine

ConclusionsReplacing a steam turbine at the Moerdijk plant is only one step on the assetrsquos plan to meet Shellrsquos Net Carbon Footprint ambition and the Klimaatakkoord agreement This steam turbine replacement will save CO2 emissions comparable to the CO2 savings from the sitersquos solar photovoltaic farm The site recently also gave the go ahead for revamping the older naphtha cracking furnaces which will result in the next significant step to reduce CO2 emissions further The lessons learned from project execution and about the effects on the

site utilities and process systems will help to drive the scope and timing for future electrification activities

The project has been recognised through an award for profitable decarbonisation from the chemicals executive vice president in Europe in the category ldquoGrowing value through projects and customersrdquo

There are aspects to electrification that need consideration however Replacing an extraction or backpressure steam turbine has knock-on effects on the heating system of steam-heated exchangers and reboilers and a sitersquos fuel balance Further turbine replacement will significantly increase electrical power consumption and result in changes to on- and off-site electrical infrastructure and the additional export of produced fuels The removal of steam turbines creates a deficit in the steam for process heating which can be generated in electric boilers at medium and low pressure Such alterations will need a change in the electricity grid CO2 intensity so that steam generation in electric boilers does not result in increased CO2 emissions

ReviewWil de Vreede senior engineer energy systems and utilitiesMarcel Visser principal technical expert motors and drives

FIGURE 7Motor installation on-site

AUTHORS


Lionel Durantay is the chief technology leader in General Electricrsquos rotating machines group He has an engineering degree and a PhD from Ecole Nationale Supeacuterieure drsquoElectriciteacute et de Meacutecanique Morocco

Jackie Lava is an electrical project engineer for Shell Nederland Chemie She has held several positions as a discipline engineer in various business units within Shell Jackie has a masterrsquos degree in sustainable energy technology from Eindhoven Technical University the Netherlands


ONE SOLUTION FOR MANY CHALLENGES Self-cleaning filtration In 2013 a Filtrex self-cleaning filtration system for heavy hydrocarbon residue was successfully implemented in the Hycon unit at Pernis refinery the Netherlands This configuration has reliably operated for more than seven years and has delivered substantial benefits including annual savings on backwash of about $8 million and helping to maximise Hycon unit utilisation The success at Pernis refinery has led to self-cleaning filtration systems being developed for a range of applications and different Shell businesses both up- and downstream

IntroductionThe filtration and backwash robustness of the self-cleaning filtration configuration deployed at Pernis prompted engineers to work closely with Filtrex to explore other self-cleaning applications in areas where backwash efficiency was key andor where the use of cartridge filtration could be avoided or reduced As part of this work the joint team focused on developing a self-cleaning filtration system with finer filtration cutoffs They found both up- and downstream development areas including in waterflooding with seawater (6ndash20 μm) and in wastewater recovery systems

Filtrex srl has its headquarters and manufacturing plants in Milan Italy These provide unique filtration technologies to many industries and are supported by research and development facilities engineering and worldwide technical services

Several potential self-cleaning filtration spin-offs have been recognised in upstream water treatment applications In offshore settings for example self-cleaning filtration systems offer potential weight and space savings and help to reduce waste Onshore at the Bacton UK gas terminal and at Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappijrsquos facilities in the Netherlands decontamination activities have seen both waste and cost reductions At the Den Helder gas terminal in the Netherlands a self-cleaning filtration system was used to remove mercury species in scalefouling material for disposal cost savings of $300000

Backwash filtration versus self-cleaning filtrationThe initial application of self-cleaning filtration resulted from an initiative to investigate the root cause of increasingly frequent upsets in the Hycon unitrsquos feed filtration sections This challenging filtration involves heavy long and short residue feedstocks and an operating temperature of 250degC Over the years many vendors had reviewed the causes of frequent filter blockage and high backwash consumption but all the proposed mitigation measures had failed Staff at the plant often kept the filter bypass open to avoid the issue

In 2007 the introduction of a more challenging feedstock exacerbated the problem Pernis refinery requested a filter ldquoautopsyrdquo so a used filter pipe from the Hycon filter bank was sent to a laboratory at Shell Technology Centre Amsterdam the Netherlands for detailed investigation Analysis of this filter and others using techniques such as scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis helped to reveal the cause of the filter plugging effects and related backwash phenomena Figure 1 shows the problems in a typical conventional backwash filter

The presence of sticky solids in the feed material such as asphaltene-related solids andor gum-like materials reduces backwash efficiency Filter candles are generally flushed with a backwash volume of at least three times the volume of the

FIGURE 1Conventional backwash-related issues (a) dirt remaining in the top section of the filter tubes causing surface area loss (b) plugging effects due to a velocity increase and (c) increases in backwash frequency and dP creep


Time

Baseline shift

dP

a b c

Backwash

Remainingcontamination

Preferential flow

Com

plet

ely

cont

amin

ated

filte

r can

dle

t = 0 t = e


filtration vessel but sticky solids mean the volume required becomes significantly higher

The presence of sticky solids results in the backwash liquid preferentially flowing in the bottom section of the filter pipes (see Figure 1(a)) Consequently the backwash efficiency in the top section of the filter pipes falls significantly This causes a phenomenon known as pressure-differential (dP) creep which is a key symptom for irreversible filtration fouling (Figure 1(c)) This also indicates that the filtration system is losing its effective surface area because of foulants remaining in the system

The dP increase phenomenon is exacerbated by an increase in solids plugging effects (Figure 1(b)) which is caused by the rising filtration velocity due to the loss of effective filtration surface area In practice operators may accept higher dPs to achieve longer filtration run times In the long term however this contributes to even more severe plugging Eventually the dP increase becomes irreversible and manual cleaning using for example high-pressure jetting or ultrasonic techniques or even filter candle replacement is required

Self-cleaning conceptThe self-cleaning filtration concept emerged as an alternative to conventional backwash systems in

about 2008 This backwash system consists of a wire-mesh filtration vessel equipped with a suction scanner that acts like a reverse-flow-driven vacuum cleaner This delivers a high-velocity backwash flow equalised (from top to bottom) over a segment of the filterrsquos surface area Concentrating the backwash liquid over a small section enables a very high and equally distributed velocity to be achieved Rotating the cleaner so that it covers the entire filter cylinder area delivers effective and uniform cleaning

Initiation of the self-cleaning filtration backwash cycle is dP based and starts at a dP of 05 bar This is relatively low compared with conventional backwash filters where pressures up to 2 bar or higher are common The low dP approach avoids penetration and leaching of finer coretained solids such as iron particulates During the backwash the internal suction scanner rotates at about one rotation in 10ndash15 s A major benefit of this type of filtration is that normal filtration continues during backwash operation Consequently there is no filtration downtime and no spare filter is required during backwash The self-cleaning filtration configuration is shown in Figure 2

A video of the backwash concept can be seen here wwwfiltrexitproductacr-operation-principle Figure 3 shows the recovery of the filtration dP for a typical healthy backwash

Lowering carbon dioxide emissions and increasing product valueIn hydroprocessing such as in the Hycon unit filtration of heavy residues is necessary to prevent (catalyst) fouling It helps to deliver effective product throughput and extended runtimes Following a successful field trial a Filtrex self-cleaning filtration system was deployed in May 2013 to filter the Pernis Hycon vacuum residue feed at 250degC This new approach to reactor fouling abatement targeted the 25-μm design filtration cutoff The system has helped to enable full reactor throughput and associated margin improvements Figure 4 shows the self-cleaning filtration system which has a feed capacity of 5000 td There are three filters on a skid measuring 25 times 25 times 5 m This compact design was used because of limited plot space as the existing filters remained until the next turnaround

The existing feed filter system was consuming 2ndash4 weight on feed of flashed distillate product as backwash and downgraded to fuel value The self-cleaning filtration system has reduced backwash consumption by 80ndash90 This saves on distillate product downgrading and reduces the Hycon unitrsquos carbon footprint through less backwash effluent work-up in the subsequent process unit

This proof that self-cleaning filtration can trap fine particles and coarser foulants and can filter sticky

FIGURE 3Life testing of the Hycon slipstream filter

FIGURE 2Self-cleaning filtration backwash in operation Image courtesy of Filtrex

dP (

bar)

Date and time

045040035030025020015010005

012-Aug1200

12-Aug1100

12-Aug1000

12-Aug0900

12-Aug0800

12-Aug0700

12-Aug0600

Top view

Backwash(intermittent)

Feed in

Filtrate out

ONE SOLUTION FOR MANY CHALLENGES SELF-CLEANING FILTRATION


components opened up a range of potential new process applications for example product stabilisation especially in heavy treated residues

Scouting upstream applications WaterfloodingDetails of this successful self-cleaning filtration were shared across the Shell separations community The advantages it offered would fit well with upstream applications Smaller system footprints and lower weight are key considerations for offshore settings so waterflooding was one of the first applications to be considered for this filtration innovation

Waterflooding programmes usually require the removal of suspended matter from the injected water The filtration processes must operate down to a small particle size and a low suspended solids concentration The specifications depend on the application for example matrix or fracture injection or low-salinity flooding For matrix-injection projects a particle size smaller than 1 microm and a suspended solids concentration below 1 mgl are necessary to avoid reservoir plugging For fracture injection the requirements may be less stringent The permissible maximum particle size might be 1ndash10 microm and the total suspended solids might be up to 10 mgl depending on the local geology For low-salinity flooding the salt levels must be reduced by nanofiltration or reverse osmosis technology Self-cleaning filtration technology is a perfect prefilter for that

The reliability of the Hycon filtration system and the widespread use of Filtrex technology in marine ballast water applications led to these systems being selected for a waterflood filtration development and de-risking programme The outcome was covered by a development release for a 20-μm and above cutoff Other vendors could be considered for water applications but Filtrex is currently the only supplier for hydrocarbon applications The company has developed wire-mesh configurations in the significantly lower filtration cutoff regime below 20 μm as part of its ACB series

At present 6 and 10 μm are the limits commercially applied in marine applications Nonetheless this would drive a significant reduction in the need for

cartridge filtration andor its footprint for waterflood application These options were verified by Shell during bench-scale tests during 2013 in which the cutoff performance was shown to be efficient

Applying such a low particle cutoff size would substantially reduce the solids load on the downstream cartridge filters1 In some cases cartridge filtration might be unnecessary or applied only as a final polishing step for a consequent smaller footprint and very low cartridge exchange frequency Figure 5 shows a typical line-up for waterflood applications in which multimedia filters such as sand filters are generally used A major benefit of replacing these with self-cleaning filters is the significant footprint and equipment weight reduction

For a self-cleaning filter even in combination with a cartridge filter for the final polishing step the capital expenditure will be significantly lower than for conventional multimedia filtration systems This is demonstrated by an exercise undertaken for the 240000-bbld offshore application shown in Figure 6 where there is a reduction of more than 65

A recent (2019) successful application of a self-cleaning filtration system to mitigate

1 Cartridge filters provide an absolute particle cutoff size unlike self-cleaning filters that have a nominal particle cutoff size and therefore have a filtration performance curve

FIGURE 5A typical line-up for waterflood applications

FIGURE 4A bank of self-cleaning filters at Pernis refinery

Seawaterinline screens

Seawaterlift pumps Electrochlorinator

Coarse filters(80 μm)

Fine filters(1ndash10 μm)

Vacuumtower

Seawaterbooster pumps

Seawaterinjection pumps

Proposed line-up (240000 bbld) Oxygen scavenger

Biocide (batch)



cartridge filtration replacement issues is at the Leman platform in the North Sea where it is being applied to safeguard a reverse osmosis system

Challenge 1 Corrosion One of the key challenges when using seawater in upstream applications is managing the corrosion risk Standard design and engineering practices advise using superduplex steel rather than stainless steel for equipment with seawater exposure However superduplex steel is too rigid and brittle to use as a filter screen (mesh) It very difficult to weave the finer mesh material and there is a high risk of rupture being caused by the backwash forces Filtrex has successfully applied stainless steel mesh for its ballast water configuration in combination with a nickelndashaluminium bronze feed vessel The theory is that nickelndashaluminium bronze (ASTM B148 C95800) provides sufficient corrosion protection to the stainless steel 316L filter mesh

As part of the waterflooding filtration development this kind of cathodic protection was tested and witnessed by Shell to support its design and engineering practice derogation

Challenge 2 Filtration performance cutoff As the technology in this cutoff regime (lt20 μm) had not been applied for waterflooding applications within Shell a test programme was agreed to verify the filtration and backwash performance of filters for the 6- and 10-μm cutoffs

The trial on the Filtrex ACB filter was held at an independent laboratory in the Netherlands that offers specialised filter assessments and certifications for ballast water The organisation has

test facilities on a barge in Den Oever harbour The trial was conducted in harbour conditions at a time when there was significant solids contamination of the water feed (total suspended solids 20ndash100 mgl) owing to harbour dredging activities Some of the solids levels encountered were close to those found in algal bloom conditions

The development programme found that for a cutoff range of 6 μm and above the Filtrex filter achieved appropriate backwash efficiency even at the very high solids loads seen in algal bloom situations (20ndash100 mgl)

the backwash frequency results (total number of backwashes) suggested that users could expect reliable filter screen performance and longevity

the design flux of a wire-mesh filter is directly proportional to the mesh size

the advantage of filtration below 10 μm becomes significant because of operational expenditure savings enabled by the reduced frequency of cartridge replacement for seawater applications with a high total suspended solids content

the overall removal efficiency for particles in the lower particle size regime (lt10 μm) was significant (gt35)

the rejection effect was even higher for organic material in this particle size area and

in a broader particle-size distribution context which is expected in seawater conditions the efficiency was gt95 This is supported by Shell 2013 bench-scale tests and historical data from ballast water certification testing The latter confirmed that for a cutoff gt10 μm the rejection for typical algal and diatomic material would be 85ndash95

Using historical data the laboratory was able to present information on larger microbiological species (phyto- and zooplankton) A 10-μm mesh removes

practically all organisms larger than 50 μm about 75 of phytoplankton (analysed as chlorophyll concentration) and

about 75 of phytoplankton larger than 10 μm so does not achieve a sharp cutoff at 10 μm

Consequently in situations where the phytoplankton load affects the exchange frequency of cartridge filters for example in far

FIGURE 6Capital expenditure comparison for a multimedia filter (sand) with a self-cleaning filter

Capital e

xpen

diture

(

)

Conventional Novel

100908070605040302010

0

Cartridge filterMultimedia filterSelf-cleaning filter

Phyto

pla

nk

ton b

iom

ass

Phyt

opla

nkto

n 10ndash5

0-μ

m c

ell (

num

ber

ml)

10000000

100000

10000

1000

100

10

1

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0

Organisms gt50 μm Phytoplankton gt10 μm IntakeAfter filter

a b

FIGURE 7Rejection of organisms gt50 μm (a) and phytoplankton gt10 μm (b)


offshore conditions a 10-μm self-cleaning filtration system will reduce the cartridge exchange frequency by a factor of about four The impact of a 6-μm self-cleaning filtration system might be not much higher Figure 7 shows typical 10-μm rejection performance for marine organisms

Future opportunitiesTo date there have been no self-cleaning filtration deployments for continuous produced water treatment However self-cleaning filters are being considered for multiple produced water treatment line-ups including for

upstream tertiary produced water treatment for example high-flow and ceramic ultrafiltration to minimise the solid load and performance degradation impact for technologies that remove oil from water and

debottlenecking existing produced water reinjection line-ups when cartridge filters require very frequent cartridge element replacement

Successful implementation in decontaminationField decontamination might appear an unlikely application for self-cleaning filtration but the technique has potential for projects linked to plant maintenance or facility decommissioning particularly when the objective is to reduce waste volumes or to recover the water for example where water resources are scarce

Operators at Shellrsquos Bacton and Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappijrsquos Den Helder and Delfzijl (gas) facilities are using self-cleaning filters in their standard decontamination line-up to enable recirculation of waste water The objectives were to

minimise the costs associated with wastewater disposal at third-party facilities and

reduce health safety and environmental risk exposure by cutting the number of truck movements from the site to third-party disposal andor treatment facilities

Under the new approach decontamination effluent streams are routed to settling tanks to remove the bulk of the solids and condensate before filtering out any remaining solids to meet the water quality specifications for the cleaning equipment (no solids gt100 μm) before reusing the water stream This process was first used for slug catcher cleaning in Bacton in 2017 and storage tank cleaning in Delfzijl in 2018 The wastewater processing savings were significant more than $150000 for Bacton and $700000 for Delfzijl The configuration for a tank-cleaning operation is shown in Figure 8 and a filter installation is shown in Figure 9

New spin-off for mercury removalIn January 2018 the produced water tanks at the Den Helder gas and condensate receiving plant experienced mercury contamination The mercury content was too high (~5000 microgl) to export the produced water to the disposal wells in Delfzijl where the maximum receiving limit for mercury is 760 microgl Disposing of such contaminated water through a third party is very costly Building on the positive experience of slug catcher cleaning at the Bacton gas facility a Filtrex self-cleaning filter was installed on a short-term (one-week) rental basis to recycle the produced water across the filter (Figure 10) The mercury content was subsequently reduced to below the threshold for disposal at the Den Helder facility This application delivered waste disposal savings worth more than $300000

Other applicationsIn downstream hydrocarbon applications there are several more potential spin-offs and Filtrex has a significant reference list including in fuel oil fluidised catalytic cracker slurry oil and diesel

FIGURE 9The Filtrex self-cleaning filter during slug catcher cleaning at Bacton

FIGURE 8Integration of self-cleaning filtration for waste reduction during a tank cleaning exercise

Condensatetank

Buffertank

Skim tank and settling tanks

Self-cleaning

filter

To clean

Cleaning water

Backwash truck

Cleaning truck

Wastewater



filtration and hydrotreater feed prefiltration Meanwhile a licensing agreement with Filtrex has been agreed

A recent novel application is in organophilic nanofiltration this involves removing asphaltenic components in a phased way from for example shale oil Given Shellrsquos capability in organophilic nanofiltration a relatively broad patent has been filed for that application [Ref 1]

For Filtrex there has been a successful application to a prefiltration step for a reverse osmosis unit on the Leman platform

The futureThe developments and successes presented in this article show there are many diverse applications for self-cleaning filtration and highlight the importance of sharing developments between the expertise areas in up- and downstream and in midstream settings such as catalyst recovery in gas-to-liquids processes

As Shell is entering new processing routes such as for alternative energy sources or product recycling more solid separation challenges may be foreseen so the Shell separations team welcomes suggestions for challenging application areas

AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to acknowledge the various people within the applications areas and sites whose co-operation and support resulted in spin-off applications Special thanks go to Nicola Riolo managing director of Filtrex Italy and the Filtrex team members for their dedicated support during the application developments throughout laboratory and field testing

ReviewKeith Whitt lead principal technologist distillation and separations

FIGURE 10The Filtrex self-cleaning filtration configuration at the Den Helder site

Clean water tank

Wastewater tank

Self-cleaning filter

Recycle pump

Feed pump

[Ref 1] Den Boestert J L ldquoProcess for removing asphaltenic particlesrdquo international patent application WO 2010070025 A1

REFERENCE

AUTHORS

Jan den Boestert is a technology specialist in special separations (membrane technology and filtration) at Shell Projects amp Technology in Amsterdam the Netherlands His more than 30 years at Shell have included roles in separation technology reactor engineering fouling abatement and decontamination Jan has more than 25 patents to his name

Leon van den Enk a hydroprocessing technologist focuses on the technology de-risking of bottom-of-the barrel upgrading technologies He has worked on various projects utilising physical separation techniques for water treatment in oil and gas production facilities Leon has a BSc in chemical engineering from the University of Twente the Netherlands

Jeroen Oomen is a waste and industrial cleaning specialist for Shell Upstream Europe who has worked for Shell since 1991 In 2006 Jeroen joined Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij and adapted downstream industrial cleaning knowledge to upstream projects and waste treatment He has a BSc from HLO Etten-Leur and an MSc from the University of Amsterdam both in the Netherlands

Coen Hodes is technology team leader for the hydroconversion of heavy oils in Shell Projects amp Technology His 20 years at Shell include being a unit technologist on the Pernis Hycon unit Coen has a masterrsquos degree in chemical engineering from the University of Groningen and a professional doctorate in engineering from Delft University of Technology both in the Netherlands


ELECTRIC BOILERS STEAMING TOWARDS A smaller carbon footprint Using electricity from renewable power sources instead of using power from fossil fuels ie electrification has been identified as a carbon footprint reduction opportunity for Shell assets The Shell Electrification Platform investigates and develops suitable electrification technologies for example electrical cracking process heating and steam generation To that end a development release was issued supporting the deployment of two types of electric steam boiler (e-boilers) in Shell assets at the beginning of 2020

Introduction Many lines of business have traditionally used steam as an efficient working fluid for transferring heat into and out of chemical processes and energy into steam turbine drivers for rotating equipment (mainly large compressors) and power generation However generating heat for steam by the combustion of hydrocarbons produces carbon dioxide and is responsible for about 5 of the hydrocarbon intake being converted into steam in Downstream and Integrated Gas assets Consequently the benefits of deploying various e-boilers were assessed as they have lower emissions use a high-density energy carrier utilise the existing utility network and are relatively low cost

The commercially available steam e-boilers considered are mainly used in the power and utility industries The development release covers electrode-type e-boilers (Figure 1) of up to 60 MWe up to 110 th saturated steam and up to 65 barg and resistive-type e-boilers and superheaters of up to 9 MWe per unit a maximum steam pressure of 100 barg and super heating up to 540degC

E-boilers are characterised by a a fast response they regulate from about 4 to

100 in less than a minute b a high turndown c a high efficiency above 995 as there are no

stack losses d a compact footprint especially for large

capacities and e high reliability and a requirement for periodic but

minimal-scope maintenance and inspection

The combination of these advantages with their carbon abatement potential when used with green electricity makes a strong business case for e-boiler technology in a wide range of industrial and process applications E-boilers are also suitable for intermittent operation to utilise the available renewable capacity to ensure a proper balance in power grids E-boilers are a novel technology for Shell but have been applied in other industries for almost 100 years

The development release work provides assets and projects with readily available (off-the-

shelf) technology options for electrifying steam generation

Introducing an e-boiler on a site affects several site system balances

the steam system itself especially in the dynamic states of load and boiler startndashstop operation

the fuel system (assumed mainly gas) as the displaced hydrocarbons (previously burned in the boilers) need accommodating in the site fuel mix and

the electrical power system a load balance study and an impact assessment on the electrical infrastructure are necessary If the electrical grid needs reinforcement at a grid-connected site there may be consequences for the local public utility In north-western Europe this issue is especially relevant as the output from the gigawatt-scale offshore wind farm projects (including those with Shell participation) has to be transported to consumers as part of the energy transition process regulators and governments have identified wide-scale

FIGURE 1A Parat electrode e-boiler in situ

EMERGING POWER


electrification of industrial processes as an option Shell and other petrochemical facilities near the coast are well-placed to ldquosinkrdquo these renewable electrons

Types of e-boiler and operating windowsTwo main types of e-boiler were investigated for the development release

electrode-type e-boilers (immersed and water-jet type) in which

water acts as the ohmic resistor

saturated steam is generated between the electrodes

the steam pressure is controlled by the power input and

water has the conductivity essential for carrying the electrical current

resistive-type e-boilers and electric superheaters in which

the working principle is the same as for resistive process heaters ie resistive heating elements that introduce heat into the medium

saturated steam is generated in a kettle-type e-boiler and

superheated steam is generated from saturated steam in an electric superheater which is only possible with a resistive electric heater as steam does not conduct electricity

Table 1 provides an overview of electrode- and resistive-type e-boilers and superheaters including a range of or limitation on unit capacity power supply steam rate pressure temperature water specification and potential vendors

Electrode-type e-boilers Electrode boilers utilise the conductivity and resistive properties of water to carry electric current and generate saturated steam An alternating current flows from an electrode of one phase through neutral to an electrode of another phase using the water as the conductor As water has electrical resistance this current flow generates heat directly in the water The more current that flows the more heat is generated and thus the more steam that is produced

Electrode boilers for saturated steam are high-voltage boilers and compact especially for large capacities for example above 5-MW duty These boilers are three to five times smaller in size than conventional fired boilers

TABLE 1Overview of electrode- and resistive-type e-boilers

Shell Electrification PlatformThe Shell Electrification Platform is a global and cross-business platform that aims to catalyse the implementation of electrification technologies in order to integrate more renewable power into Shellrsquos current and future assets thereby providing low-carbon energy for heating and shaft power The platform has a steering committee comprising development champions from all lines of business

The platformrsquos goals are to bring together and share knowledge and experience on electrification throughout Shell to accelerate learning and reduce costs to create a network of discipline engineers business focal points and other specialists to support assets projects and businesses effectively while ensuring a multidisciplinary approach and to undertake research and development to support the deployment of new technologies

The platform has already de-risked technologies that now are part of the global technology catalogue including e-boilers Its other activities include electric heater technology research for example in high-temperature heating cracking impedance heating and novel retrofit designs the development of a resistive heater pilot at Pernis refinery in the Netherlands a heat storage study at Moerdijk with MAN and several electric heater and e-boiler opportunity framing studies for the refining and the lubricant supply chain businesses

ELECTRIC BOILERS STEAMING TOWARDS A SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT


Type ServiceUnit

capacity (MWe)

Power supply (kV)

Maximum steam

rate (th)Pressure

(barg)Temperature

(degC)Water

specificationPotential vendors

Electrode Saturated steam 3ndash60 High voltage

6ndash22 (AC) 110 10ndash65 282 EN 12953 boiler feedwater quality

Parat Halvorsen

Zander amp Ingestroumlm

Precision Boilers

Resistive Saturated steam 9 (maximum)

Low and medium voltage 15

(DC) lt66 (AC)14 100

(maximum) 312 EN 12953 boiler feedwater quality

Chromalox EXHEAT Kloumlpper-Therm

Resistive Superheated steam 9 (maximum)

Low and medium voltage lt15

(DC) 66 (AC)20 100

(maximum)

450 (540 maximum with

proven technology)

Steam


Saturated steam at temperatures up to about 282degC (65 barg) can be produced using commercially available electrode boilers with capacities of up to 60 MWe per single unit

In terms of pressure limitation designs available on the market can operate up to about 65 barg

Electrode type e-boilers have an energy efficiency of 995 or more with some insulation losses and no stack or heat transfer losses (heat losses in the control unit are very minor)

Two main types of electrode e-boiler are available immersed and water jet A schematic of an immersed electrode-type e-boiler is in Figure 2

Resistive-type e-boilersResistive-type e-boilers consist of a pressure vessel and a heating element bundle immersed in the boiler water in the pressure vessel They are similar to shell-and-tube heat exchangers in which the shell side contains water or steam and the tube side contains resistive heating elements Water is pumped through the shell side and heated by the heating elements which are electrically insulated from the water side

The principle behind the technology is to run current through a resistor inside a tubular heating element that generates heat that is transferred to a medium This means that the capacity of the unit depends on the surface area of the immersed tubular heating elements

Resistive-type e-boilers have an efficiency of up to 99 (heat losses in the control unit are very minor)

Vendors confirmed that they have several references for resistive type e-boilers The mechanical design limits the maximum

pressure A pressure of 100 barg is within the normal range of application

A typical resistive type e-boiler is shown in Figure 3

Comparison of e-boilers with conventional hydrocarbon-fired boilersE-boilers offer a range of benefits compared with conventional hydrocarbon-fired boilers They

can regulate from cold to full load in less than 15 min conventional boilers take several hours

have a fast response of from 4 to 100 steam capacity in less than 1 min conventional boilers go from 40 to 100 in 3 min

High-voltage supply

Pressure control

Pressure safety valve

Pressure safety

Throttle valve

Level safety

Blowdown

Processedfeed water

Level control

Steam outlet

Conductivitycontrol

Circulation pump

FIGURE 2Schematic of an immersed electrode boiler Image courtesy of Parat Halvorsen AS

FIGURE 3Typical layout of a resistive-type e-boiler

Medium-voltageheater elements

Medium-voltageheater terminal box

Anticondensationheater junction box

Drainblowdown

Sight glasswith valve set Water inlet

Primary water column

Auxiliary water column (low-water cutoff probes)Overtemperature thermocouplejunction box

Pressure gauge Inspection port

Steam outletPressure transmitter



AUTHOR

Dirk Jan Treur is a senior energy utilities and heat transfer engineer who works for Shell Projects amp Technology in upstream asset support He joined Shell in 2006 and has 22 years of oil and gas experience His extensive experience covers both brown- and greenfield fired-equipment-related projects Dirk Janrsquos work is now moving towards low-carbon energy generation

have a minimum turndown to 0 conventional boilers have a turndown to about 25

have extremely high efficiency above 995 for electrode types conventional boilers are up to 94 efficient

have a compact footprint up to one-fifth the size of a similar capacity conventional boiler

have higher reliability rates with minimal need for maintenance turnarounds and inspection

have a higher availability of up to 99 as inspection and maintenance only take a few days and e-boilers are not prone to tube rupture conventional boilers have up to 98 availability but this is often less owing to unplanned maintenance and reliability issues

have no direct emissions to air conventional boilers produce nitrogen oxide carbon monoxide (potentially) and carbon dioxide emissions

produce less noise the only noise is produced by the pumps and watersteam flowing through the pipes

have lower capital costs and have significantly shorter construction and startup periods the unit is compact and supplied as a packaged unit requiring a short installation time and there is no extensive boil-out andor steam blow required at startup

Risk evaluationThe development release identified and addressed the risks associated with e-boiler technology In a risk identification workshop the multidisciplinary team identified 21 medium risks 10 low risks and 0 high risks

All the risks were evaluated to be as low as reasonably practicable The three remaining medium risks area that boiler feedwater potentially contains

hydrocarbons that desorb during heating and could explode

b the possibility of electric shocks and electrocution and

c conventional water-based methods of firefighting would be unsuitable

These three risks are applicable to electrode-type boilers as the design requirements for resistive-type steam boilers and superheaters follow existing Shell design and engineering practices

The development release team identified several mitigation measures for e-boiler deployment

Electrode boiler designs should include an automatic vent system with venting to a safe location and startup and normal operating procedures should include the venting requirements

Electrical safe working practices including a permit-to-work system and lockouttagout should be applied

The correct procedures for firefighting of electrical equipment should be applied (this is known to firefighters for incidents in electrical substations but the procedures would need extending to cover electrode boilers)

ConclusionsShell projects are yet to include e-boilers in their scope even though they have been in use for more than 100 years

Given the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the technical benefits e-boilers bring it is advocated that future projects should consider e-boilers as a competitive boiler concept owing to their high operating flexibility low carbon footprint for produced steam and ability to utilise potentially low-cost (renewable) electricity

Although the development release work has de-risked e-boilers to allow the deployment of readily available (off-the-shelf) technology to electrify steam generation per opportunity changes in heat material and power balances and economics will need careful evaluation

ReviewPieter Popma electrification technologist



USING ADVANCED BATTERY STORAGE to cut energy costs A joint venture between Shellrsquos New Energies business and Convergent Energy + Power (Convergent) has installed advanced battery energy storage systems (BESS) at Shell plants in Sarnia and Brockville Ontario Canada These systems with a combined rating of 212 MWh operate at times of peak energy demand when the unit cost of electricity is much higher than normal Operation of the BESSs is guided by an advanced algorithm that predicts when peaks will occur This approach is expected to result in significant energy cost reductions for these plants and could prove valuable elsewhere

Background A changing energy marketElectricity is the fastest-growing part of the global energy system This rising demand coincides with the power market becoming increasingly decentralised and customers large and small generating power and storing it or redistributing it back into the grid

Shell established its New Energies business in 2016 One focus area for this business is power including generating buying selling and supplying electricity directly to customers New Energies is investing up to $2 billion per year in different services and products

Energy storage is an important part of the New Energies strategy Recently Shell acquired sonnen a leading smart energy storage company based in Germany with operations in Europe the USA and Australia The company provides BESSs to households and small businesses with rooftop

solar panels Owners of sonnen batteries can also share surplus energy with each other thereby enabling them to operate like virtual power plants

Shell has also commissioned industrial-scale storage projects at several of its own sites including at Shell Technology Center Houston USA and the Bacton gas terminal and several retail stations in the UK

In January 2019 New Energies and Convergent confirmed a joint-venture agreement for the provision of BESSs combined with state-of-the-art predictive algorithms Convergentrsquos technologies aim to reduce electricity bills for commercial and industrial customers and to provide utilities with cost-effective grid solutions

The first projects under this arrangement involved the installation and management of 212 MWh

The Shell manufacturing complex in Sarnia has a peak energy demand of 30 kW

EMERGING POWER


FIGURE 1The BESS at the Sarnia plant

of industrial BESSs at Shell Canada manufacturing facilities in Sarnia and Brockville

Battery energy storage in CanadaShellrsquos Sarnia manufacturing centre has a capacity of 75000 bbld of crude oil and its products include gasoline distillates liquid petroleum gas heavy oils petrochemicals and solvents The Shell Brockville lubricants plant is the largest blender and packager of retail passenger-car motor oils in Canada and produces more than 2500 lines

The management teams at both plants were seeking a way to reduce their energy costs All electricity consumers in Ontario are subject to a global adjustment charge which causes electricity costs to soar at peak grid times The adjustment charge in Ontario is much higher than those in other parts of Canada large energy users pay about 65 more for electricity at peak times than they do in any other Canadian province Ontario uses the revenues raised from the global adjustment charge to pay for its renewable energy policies The charge also covers the cost of building electricity infrastructure and delivering conservation programmes in the province

Customers with an average peak demand greater than 1 MW can opt into a system where they pay a global adjustment charge based on how much their peak-demand use contributes to the top-five provincial peak demand hours This represents a substantial portion of the total energy costs for the Shell plants in Sarnia and Brockville

Dealing with peak demandThe simplest solution for reducing energy costs during periods of peak demand is to curtail operations and reduce energy use However industrial and manufacturing processes cannot always be cut back or suspended at short notice A different approach was necessary to generate cost savings for the Sarnia and Brockville plants Installing a large BESS that provides energy during peak demand periods provides a more passive

method for energy cost saving and should have zero impact on plant operations and efficiency

The Convergent solution combines a BESS with a peak prediction system that helps commercial and industrial facilities to reduce their peak demand by putting megawatt-scale systems to work at their facilities The business model that Convergent has adopted for this is to provide storage systems to consumers at no cost and to share the value of the resulting energy savings In the case of these BESSs both Convergent and Shell invested in the projects

Convergent was the first company to bring an energy storage solution online to reduce the impact of Ontariorsquos global adjustment charge and with more than 120 MW in its pipeline (80 MW online) is the leading independent developer of energy storage solutions in North America The system developed for the Sarnia plant is tied with another Convergent system for the biggest behind-the-meter BESS in North America

The Sarnia plant has a fairly stable and predictable energy demand and an average peak of 30 MW In terms of energy requirements Brockville is a much smaller facility and has a stable average peak demand of 18 MW

At the Sarnia plant the BESS is housed in 11 standard 40-ft shipping containers and can provide 10 MW for 2 h (20 MWh) from its lithiumndashironndashphosphate cells (Figure 1) The system includes four 25-MW inverters to convert the systemrsquos direct current to the alternating current the plant needs These inverters are grid synchronous and do not cause harmonic distortion This means that the plant operators experience a seamless crossover when the battery power source is activated

The system at the Brockville plant which can provide 600 kW for 2 h (12 MWh) uses lithiumndashnickelndashmanganesendashcobalt oxide cells and has a much smaller footprint (Figure 2) The installation in Brockville was straightforward the main construction work lasted only four weeks However the facility is a distribution-level customer which led to a more onerous interconnection approval process with the utility company Hydro One

The final investment decision for the BESS at the Sarnia plant was in January 2019 The site management team selected an unused plot near the chemicals plant side entrance to install the batteries Construction commenced in April 2019 after the necessary design and engineering work and permit and utility approvals

The initial construction and installation plans for the Sarnia system envisaged overhead cables to deliver the power from the battery system to the

USING ADVANCED BATTERY STORAGE TO CUT ENERGY COSTS


plantrsquos 276-kV interconnection point The plant operator rejected this option Consequently the alternative scheme involved routing the interconnection cables underground A GPS-directed drilling rig was used to drill a conduit 20 ft below ground level which is unusually deep for an electrical supply conduit This was necessary to avoid existing electrical cables water pipes and other buried utilities

The installation of the Sarnia BESS was during a plant turnaround This meant that there were extra pressures on time and resources Close collaboration between the Convergent team New Energies and the plantrsquos management led to a successful outcome Official commissioning took place in October 2019 and the system was declared ready for operation in November

Installation of the Brockville system began in late June and lasted about four weeks The project extended the facilityrsquos 416-kV switchgear to tie in the battery The system was fully operational in January 2020 following final approval to operate from Hydro One

Peak prediction How it worksThe ldquobrainrdquo of the battery storage system is the Convergent PEAK IQ dispatch system (Figure 3) This best-in-class asset management platform is the result of seven years of development The proprietary algorithms PEAK IQ uses draw data

from the grid operator weather stations and energy markets to make data-driven real-time decisions about when to dispatch the BESS to target Ontariorsquos grid peaks

Experience has shown that the PEAK IQ dispatch algorithm has a peak prediction accuracy that is 25 better than public market forecasts An audit by a third-party consulting firm showed that the PEAK IQ system attained a 100 coincident peak abatement rate for the period July 2017ndashMay 2018 This level of performance coupled with

FIGURE 2The much smaller BESS at the Brockville plant

FIGURE 3Real-time monitoring of energy demand data



a reliable and efficient energy storage system can save large commercial and industrial customers up to 40 on their electricity bills

The predictive capabilities of the PEAK IQ algorithm are integrated into a single proprietary control platform that enables seamless remote operation and accurate forecasting of peaks up to a week in advance Convergent informs customers of upcoming peak events but the switch to battery power is seamless and automatic The expectations are that energy will be dispatched from the Sarnia battery system about 40 times per year to realise the projected cost savings

The PEAK IQ system combines state-of-the-art machine intelligence and analytical techniques (including include deep learning neural networks multiple linear regression ridge regression convex optimisation decision-tree analysis and auto-regressive integrated moving average time-series forecasting methods) and human ingenuity to predict coincident peak hours accurately

The wide range of analytical techniques in the PEAK IQ system is reinforced by 24-h real-time monitoring to predict peak days and hours Since its first commercial deployment in 2018 the PEAK IQ system has predicted at least 80 of peaks with a 2-h energy storage solution and has had an availability of 999

Early operation and the future When not predicting and discharging for peaks the Sarnia BESS will deliver ancillary services and energy arbitrage savings and help to ensure power quality Convergentrsquos systems aim to respond to an

average of four out of five demand peaks over the life of a project but in Ontario the companyrsquos systems have hit all the peaks that they have encountered This requires them to discharge 25 to 40 times per year for potential peak hours

The successful completion of the projects at the Sarnia and Brockville plants has provided some important insights and lessons about the challenges of planning and deploying BESSs One of the key lessons was the need to consult with the regulatory authorities at the earliest possible opportunity to give adequate time to obtain the necessary permissions and to check that assumptions about site conditions and customer requirements are valid The ConvergentndashNew Energies joint venture understands what it takes to get batteries up and running in Ontario specifically in terms of interconnection costs and permitting requirements This will help smooth the path to regulatory compliance for future customers in the province and elsewhere

The combination of large-scale battery storage and the PEAK IQ algorithm makes this solution ideal for locations with high demand charges and sites with ageing utility infrastructure Convergent and New Energies intend to collaborate on future projects for customers within and beyond Shellrsquos affiliated portfolio

ReviewMatt Baker business development manager Distributed Energy

AUTHORS

Justice Akuchie is a project manager for the Distributed Energy business and responsible for all phases of project management and execution for the Americas region He joined Shell as an experienced project engineer in 2012 and has more than 14 years of experience in the energy industry Justice has a BSc in chemical engineering and an MBA with focus on energy investment analysis from the University of Houston USA

Derek Longo is vice president of project development for the Convergent Energy + Power team He is responsible for all phases of project execution including technical co-ordination supplier oversight and expediting project budgeting installation and commissioning of project equipment Derek has a BSc in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University USA

Anthony Mancusi is a project manager at the Sarnia manufacturing centre He is responsible for overall project execution including initiation planning scheduling design cost control construction commissioning and start-up Anthony joined Shell in 2014 and has more than 18 years of oil and gas industry experience He is a Professional Engineer and has a BESc in civil and structural engineering from the University of Western Ontario

THE IMPORTANCE OF NANOGRIDS IN low-carbon residential communities Whisper Valley is a large residential development in Texas USA that combines a community-wide geothermal energy grid with solar photovoltaic (PV) generation and advanced battery storage and management technologies to deliver zero-energy-capable homes1 This development and others signals a fundamental change to energy supply for domestic consumers Industry forecasts suggest that by 2030 consumers will be investing more money in grid-edge devices (solar PV batteries charging stations electric vehicles and smart controls) than electric utilities will invest in power generation and electricity grids Its involvement with projects such as Whisper Valley shows how Shell is seeking to influence and enable this shift

Introduction Shell is building a global lower-carbon integrated power business as part of its wider ambition to be a net-zero-emissions organisation by 2050 or sooner In 2016 Shell established a New Energies business to focus on new fuels for transport and power The business includes renewables such as wind and solar power new mobility options such as electric vehicle charging and hydrogen and a global power trading business Shell is also investing in nature-based solutions that protect or redevelop natural ecosystems such as forests grasslands and wetlands to offset emissions from hard-to-abate sectors of the energy system

In 2019 Shell acquired sonnen a leader in smart energy storage systems and innovative energy services for households The German-based company has been pioneering in the energy market by combining its technology with new business models to build decentralised clean and controllable energy infrastructure The sonnen home battery for example pairs with solar PV generators and the local grid to store excess energy and optimise its use by powering homes at night and keeping the lights on and the solar system working during a grid outage Beyond individual homes sonnen is also building virtual power plants2 worldwide that enable entire communities to become cleaner and more energy independent and even to provide services to support the local utility grid

Shell had an instrumental role in EcoSmart Solution (EcoSmart) becoming an independent company through a joint venture formed with Taurus Investment Holdings in April 2019 EcoSmart helps builders to produce affordable zero-energy-capable homes Its solutions include energy-efficient insulation rooftop solar PV power (with the option to add a sonnen battery) energy-saving appliances and home-automation products The key element in this development is the GeoGrid a shared geothermal exchange loop field energy system that EcoSmart owns and operates that delivers substantial savings in heating and cooling costs

Ideas into action Welcome to Whisper ValleyLarge-scale residential and mixed-use master planned communities which can include thousands of new homes are common in the USA EcoSmart and sonnen are working together to offer zero-energy-capable solutions for such developments Whisper Valley in Austin Texas which will cover 2000 acres (Figure 1) is an EcoSmart energy infrastructure development project where EcoSmart is the green energy service provider to all the homeowners in the community sonnen is being introduced to the solution package to provide customers with the additional benefits of energy storage for managing the solar energy and providing resiliency to power outages

There are numerous challenges to minimising the environmental impact of energy use in residential developments These include maximising the energy efficiency of buildings and increasing the proportion of energy demand met from

FIGURE 1The Whisper Valley development Image courtesy of EcoSmart and Jay Hubert photographer

EMERGING POWER


1 A zero-energy-capable home targets a Home Energy Rating System rating of 25 or less Such a house enables the homeowner to have a very low or zero utility bill depending on personal energy behaviour and the time of the year

2 A virtual power plant is software for controlling power generation assets

on-site renewable sources Promoting the widespread use of renewable energy requires a new approach to power infrastructure an approach that must be cost-effective in the current market conditions and sufficiently flexible and scalable to meet future needs

Whisper Valley features a distinct energy sharing infrastructure with a geothermal exchange loop field (a GeoGrid system) that provides the bulk of thermal energy for heating and cooling Unlike geothermal power generation that uses high-temperature sources typically from deep locations within the earth for electricity generation geothermal exchange loops in combination with ground-source heat pumps provide a highly efficient renewable energy technology that ldquopumpsrdquo thermal energy from the earth to buildings in the winter and reverses the flow in the summer

Greenfield site construction starts with the installation of horizontal infrastructure such as roads and utilities across the development Installing a

GeoGrid system is relatively simple and cost-effective at this stage In contrast retrofitting geothermal systems to existing properties is a significantly more expensive and complex installation process

Combining a GeoGrid system with energy-efficiency measures such as ultra-efficient appliances and smart thermostats can reduce energy requirements by about 65 [Ref 1 Ref 2] The addition of rooftop solar panels for electricity generation and sonnenrsquos intelligent home battery system to manage electricity use (Figure 2) reduces or eliminates net electricity energy consumption from the grid

The sonnen residential batteries are designed to be installed at the battery ownerrsquos home to charge using their on-site PV generation to use excess energy to offset their peak consumption or even run their house nearly independently from the grid and to provide islanding capabilities to protect that house from power outages Beyond individual residential nanogrids sonnen has pioneered the development of virtual power plant software that enables these distributed batteries to work together as a ldquohiverdquo to decongest the grid and decarbonise energy production This combination of battery installation in individual homes and aggregation by way of cloud-based software enables truly scalable management of renewable resources such as solar with the implementation of community virtual power plants

A pathway to scalable development As of August 2020 Whisper Valley had 161 occupied homes and another 39 under construction as part of the full 237 homes in Phase 1 The infrastructure for Phase 2 is complete and this will see 267 more homes phases 3 and 4 will add a further 373 homes Estimates of aggregate power generation assume that each home will have 4ndash6 kWp (peak) of rooftop PV Assuming an average of 45 kWp per roof in Phase 1 the community generates a total of 724 kWp from the 161 currently operating houses

One of the most important requirements for any new energy system is that it is easily scalable to meet demand The total build-out (estimate of maximum potential development) at Whisper Valley is 5000 single-family homes and about 2500 apartments In addition the community will feature two million square feet of commercial space along with schools community buildings and even a wastewater treatment plant all with the potential to produce as much electricity as they use Beyond Whisper Valley the EcoSmart zero-energy-capable model enables significant scalability as geothermal exchange technology has widespread application across the USA

EcoSmart and sonnen are applying lessons learned from Whisper Valley to other low-carbon smart-

FIGURE 2Combining a geothermal exchange system or GeoGrid and rooftop solar systems (a) with safe clean energy storage and energy management software (b) creates an optimal energy balance

a

b

THE IMPORTANCE OF NANOGRIDS IN LOW-CARBON RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIES


energy developments sonnenCommunity projects that combine solar storage and energy efficiency are already under way with various home builders and developers in Arizona California Florida Illinois and Utah thus demonstrating the growing demand for cost-effective clean-energy and lower-carbon living EcoSmart has prospective projects in Texas at the feasibility study stage and has engaged with developers throughout the coastal and western US states Effective integration of the system components is crucial for creating a zero-energy-capable home Whisper Valley incorporates a host of advanced designs and technologies and a new development philosophy that enable its homeowners to reduce their carbon footprints dramatically

Technical solution designThe heart of the EcoSmart programme at Whisper Valley is the GeoGrid system (Figure 3) For this EcoSmart uses a polyethylene product with a 50-year warranty for the underground vertical and horizontal geothermal exchange piping Each home is equipped with a crosslinked-polyethylene vertical double U-bend ground loop and a highly efficient geothermal heat pump from either Bosch Thermotechnology or Enertech To take advantage of the earthrsquos 22ndash23degC year-round temperatures in Austin the vertical ground loop is inserted into a 350-ft-deep borehole Water passing through this pipe to the heat pump absorbs or emits heat energy depending on the season

What makes Whisper Valleyrsquos geothermal system innovative is that every vertical ground loop is networked through more than five miles of piping to form a unique GeoGrid system with an energy centre that provides central pumping ancillary heat rejection through cooling towers and advanced monitoring and control systems The GeoGrid network provides resiliency for individual borehole failures and diversifies the individual peak thermal demands across the community such that an individual homersquos geothermal capacity does not need to be sized to the homersquos peak load The monitoring and control system coupled with ancillary cooling towers enables the entire system to share and optimise thermal energy

In Austin the peak energy demand occurs in summer because of the high cooling demand and evaporative cooling towers will augment the ground loop for heat rejection For Phase 1 EcoSmart has installed only one of the two planned towers because the combined thermal performance of the boreholes has exceeded the original projections and the thermal benefit from the miles of horizontal district pipes and the vertical boreholes Interestingly it is reasonably straightforward to model the thermal dynamics of either a vertical or a horizontal loop thermal heat exchanger but there are no standard modelling

tools that can model the combined effects of both in a hybrid system such as the GeoGrid system As EcoSmart gains empirical data from the operation of the GeoGrid system its engineers will be better able to predict the thermal dynamics from the GeoGrid systemrsquos horizontal district lines and thus inform the GeoGrid design for future phases

The GeoGrid system makes it easy to deal with seasonal temperature variations The GeoGrid system uses the horizontal district lines and a cooling tower to extract heat from the boreholes during the late winter and spring (late December through early March) ie it reduces the geothermal water temperature to below the long-term average earth temperature (22ndash23degC) so there is ample thermal capacity to absorb the heat from cooling loads during the summer and early autumn During the summer heat rejection from the homesrsquo ground-source heat pumps gradually increases the borehole temperatures The GeoGrid monitoring system (Figure 4) enables operational control of the GeoGrid system and the cooling tower to ensure that the geothermal water does not exceed the maximum temperature and to promote efficient operation of the ground-source heat pumps

FIGURE 3The EcoSmart GeoGrid district-wide geothermal exchange system links hundreds of individual ground loops to create a highly efficient integrated thermal management system during summer (a) and winter (b)

a

b



In Whisper Valley rooftop solar PV systems are installed on every home These rooftop solar systems are custom sized to each home to optimise the offset of electrical consumption and maximise savings The metric EcoSmart has adopted is the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) as defined by RESNET This is an industry-standard system of benchmarking the projected energy performance of a residential home by modelling the energy efficiency of the home and offsetting electrical consumption with any on-site generation such as solar PV EcoSmart targets a HERS rating of 25 or lower to size the energy infrastructure (PV) for each home in the residential network A HERS rating of 25 indicates that the home would consume 75 less energy than a standard conventionally built heated and cooled new home

In the absence of battery storage the electricity produced by the rooftop solar system serves the

immediate energy demand of the home and feeds any excess electricity (net of the required load flows) to the grid The current solar feed-in tariff from the local electric utility provides a fixed rate of about $006kWh exported to the grid This rate is only two-thirds of the retail electricity rate for energy consumed from the grid Therefore homeowners would much prefer the energy they generate from their solar systems to be ldquoself-consumedrdquo and not just exported to the grid when it is generated thereby making the sonnen home battery solution an attractive option

With the integration of a sonnen home battery the excess solar electricity is stored for use later in the day or when the home needs it most Homeowners at Whisper Valley will have a choice of sonnen products depending on how much storage capacity they require including the eco 10 (8-kW10-kWh) eco 175 (8-kW 175-kWh) or ecoLinx 20 (8-kW20-kWh) models The home battery which is generally installed in a climate-controlled garage or utility room uses lithiumndashironndashphosphate batteries that are safe long-lasting and 100 cobalt-free The sonnen battery has a minimal risk of thermal runaway which makes it ideal for residential use unlike batteries used by other manufacturers The specific sonnen home battery installed at Whisper Valley offers an industry-leading warranty of 15000 charge cycles or a 15-year lifespan and an expected 248 MWh of lifetime energy throughput

The sonnen home battery offers resiliency for homeowners through a built-in automatic transfer switch that isolates the homersquos electrical system from the grid (in under 100 ms with the ecoLinx system) EcoSmart uses the term nanogrid for this operating mode in residential applications By pairing the sonnen battery with the rooftop solar installation the system can power essential loads in the home most importantly lights plug loads refrigeration heating ventilation some air conditioning and Wi-Fi until the grid comes back on

FIGURE 4Seasonal temperature profile in the GeoGrid system showing the water temperature leaving the pumphouse

100 degF

95 degF

90 degF

85 degF

80 degF

75 degF

70 degF

65 degF

60 degFNov Dec 2020 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug


FIGURE 5The Sense energy monitoring application Image courtesy of Sense Labs

If the solar generation is sufficient for size of the home loads the battery enables the home to continue independent operation for many hours or days after a grid failure as the rooftop solar panels will recharge it When operating in a normal daily grid-tied mode the sonnen system uses built-in algorithms to maximise self-consumption of locally generated energy and minimise pulling of energy from the grid at peak times The sonnen ecoLinx system also offers an optional upgrade that enables homeowners to pair the intelligent battery with controllable breakers and to manage energy use dynamically through a third-party home automation platform

The EcoSmart home also includes other energy-efficiency and smart-home technologies The Google Nest family of products is designed to optimise energy use according to each homeownerrsquos schedule The Works with Nest program serves as the portal to smart homes and can integrate more than 10000 products The homes also feature high-efficiency appliances including refrigerators and dishwashers designed to minimise energy demand All EcoSmart homes are now provided with an energy monitoring platform from Sense (Figure 5) that enables homeowners to gain visibility of their energy use and take control over how they allocate their energy expenditure

Energy storage use cases Typical operation versus grid outageFigure 6 illustrates one full day of system operation During the early morning hours the blue spikes reflect the air conditioning of the ground-source heat pump cycling on and off For the first few hours the battery discharges to meet this load until it reaches the preset 20 reserve state of charge at about 0500

When the sun starts to shine on the solar array at about 0700 the PV system begins generating energy Initially all the solar energy offsets the homersquos load but soon it starts charging the sonnen battery (green overlay) until its state of charge reaches 100 at about 1530 From then all the excess solar energy is exported to grid at the utilityrsquos feed-in tariff rate Finally at about 1830 the solar generation falls below the homersquos energy consumption so the sonnen battery begins to discharge (red overlay) the energy stored earlier to meet the homersquos load minimal energy is imported from the grid until the battery storage is depleted the following morning

This daily operation of the sonnen storage system results in the home loads using significantly more energy from the homersquos solar system thereby reducing reliance on the grid In this illustration 80 of the sonnen battery capacity was used to store solar energy during the day for use during the afternoon and evening ie about 16 kWh of additional PV production was used to offset the homersquos energy load than would have been the case without the storage system

This sonnen system has an adjustable preset minimum battery state-of-charge limit of 20 to provide reserve energy in case of a grid outage

Figure 7 illustrates a day when the electric grid was intentionally disconnected from the home at 1200 The solar system immediately automatically turns off as a protective measure as per grid regulations and the sonnen battery begins to discharge to satisfy the homersquos energy load This switchover between the utility grid power and the sonnen nanogrid power occurs in less than 100 ms and noticeable by home residents only as a transient light flicker After a 5-min quiescent period the

FIGURE 6A day in the life of the sonnen energy storage system nanogrid Source sonnen customer portal

16 Jul 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 17 Jul

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()

sonnen charging

sonnen fully charged

PV production

sonnen discharging

Heat pump intervals

Energy consumption Solar generation Battery charging Battery discharging State of charge



solar system turns back on to continue to supply power to the nanogrid Once the solar system charges the sonnen battery to near full charge the solar system turns off (1500) to prevent overcharging of the storage system Once the sonnen storage system reaches the lower state-of-charge threshold the solar system comes back on (1600) to power the essential loads and recharge the battery

BenefitsFor residents the key benefit is having an affordable comfortable quiet (in the absence of conventional heating ventilating and air conditioning units) and sustainable home that delivers a high degree of energy independence and resilience when there are grid outages Consuming low-carbon electricity (using stored solar energy during evening peak times and storing excess energy overnight to power a home during morning peaks) is also increasingly important to many people Some sustainable developments have been challenged as being too expensive too complicated and too time-consuming Whisper Valley is helping to change this perception

A certified and independent home energy rating professional assesses the energy efficiency of each home in the energy storage system programme The US Department of Energy statements note that a geothermal heat exchange system with ground-source heat pumps provides the highest efficiency for the heating and cooling systems available The RESNET HERS rating system illustrates the impact of the GeoGrid system working in tandem with ground-source heat pumps to deliver HERS ratings before the inclusion of solar in the low 50s (about 50 lower energy consumption than conventional new homes) There is a fixed monthly geothermal service fee that the projected energy savings exceed The solar PV

system on the roof typically brings the HERS rating to below 25 thereby further reducing the home energy consumption to less than 25 of a conventional code-compliant home The sonnen system provides power backup and energy services that go beyond these estimates

In Whisper Valley homeowners are currently eligible for tax incentives on their homersquos solar PV system plus sonnen battery and the geothermal exchange equipment on their property This includes the ground-source heat pump (including installation) that drives the geothermal heating and cooling system in each home The current federal tax incentive allows homeowners to write off 26 of the value of both systems

The city of Austin has some of the most stringent building codes in Texas and the USA which can be very demanding to meet For builders one main benefit of the Whisper Valley approach is that it provides a well-defined path to meeting or exceeding these standards and an advantage over traditional new builds Developers can use the new approach to create sustainable communities without any upfront infrastructure costs for themselves or their builders The capital costs for GeoGrid infrastructure and EcoSmart-provided components within the home are added to the home sales price and amortised over the lifetime of the mortgage The housing sector in and around Austin is strong and zero-energy-capable carbon-neutral homes are selling points for developers

For utility companies and city authorities the Whisper Valley design offers a sustainable way to integrate and manage intermittent renewables on the grid with the inclusion of the PV system plus battery technology to reduce the scale of transmission and distribution investment and provide new grid services and a green energy service

FIGURE 7 What happens during a power outage Source sonnen customer portal

21 Aug 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 22 Aug

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()

Utility disconnection at 1200

Overcharge preventionsonnen discharging

to meet load



Energy storage and community grids Key enablers for electrificationFor most households the delivery and billing of energy has not changed in decades the resident holds a contract with an electricity supplier and is billed for the kilowatt-hours consumed at the address Fundamental changes across the entire energy system are transforming this familiar arrangement The emergence of numerous smaller and distributed points of generation enabling consumers to become producers is the most obvious change

Many companies are now entering the newly established market space between conventional utility suppliers and their customers At sonnen for example the founding vision was for every household to become a clean small power plant Over the past decade the company has evolved from being a manufacturer of home batteries to being an energy supplier and dispatch hub for a new clean and decentralised energy system Today there are more than 60000 homeowners worldwide who power their homes with sonnen and renewable energy and there are numerous sonnen virtual power plant models that are enabling a scalable clean energy future for the world

Looking to the future EcoSmart and sonnen are co-operating with other Shell companies to develop a fully integrated electrification strategy for the residential development market One obvious area for inclusion is e-mobility charging Home is often the most convenient and cost-effective place for private customers to recharge their cars as it is where most cars are parked overnight The EcoSmart team is exploring electric vehicle charging solutions with Greenlots a fully owned Shell subsidiary to provide smart charging stations on the development

An efficient and widely available home charging infrastructure will encourage consumers to switch to plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicles this is a large potential market

Today sonnen is actively deploying technologies and services that establish its position as the grid services provider of the future These include the sonnen virtual power plant a service that combines the capabilities of individual sonnen systems through a simple internet connection and sophisticated virtual power plant management software (Figure 8) By controlling the conditions and timing of each system storing solar

FIGURE 8 The sonnen virtual power plant technology enables individual residential sonnen home batteries to be linked together via software to provide fleets of batteries that can be managed as grid assets Source sonnen

Wind farm

Virtual power plant community

Hydropower plant

Utility-scale solarNatural gas plant Markets

Rooftop solar

Control centre



energy and discharging it on demand the sonnen virtual power plant acts like a single large battery The virtual power plants can provide solar and battery services to both individual homes and the local utility grid thereby managing capacity and reducing wear and tear on the grid infrastructure The virtual power plants also provide energy to support grid resiliency and lower costs for all ratepayers in addition to serving the homersquos energy needs sonnen is also providing grid stability services to utilities and partnering with Shell Energy North America to provide the capacity in energy markets

Because residential batteries within a community like Whisper Valley are at the point of consumption and can charge discharge and react within seconds to a need on the grid they can provide high-value services to grid operators and energy retailers Decongesting the grid infrastructure stabilising the grid and avoiding consumption peaks or large swings benefits all customers by reducing grid system costs and carbon dioxide emissions With sonnenrsquos virtual power plant software a battery owner can support the grid by providing these services without any direct input sonnen is working with EcoSmart and several developers to create communities with virtual power plants thereby providing financial savings resiliency and environmental benefits In some markets outside the USA households that participate in a sonnen virtual power plant receive an annual profit share in return

In the USA the market for virtual power plant based grid services is still nascent In many deregulated markets grid operators restrict virtual power plants from participating in some grid services However this is evolving rapidly as concerns about the system reliability and proper compensation are alleviated

In most regulated energy markets there is no market for these services which means that the battery owner cannot be compensated for their batteryrsquos support of the grid sonnen is collaborating directly with utilities such as Rocky Mountain Power [Ref 3] to create and dispatch virtual power plants for these services Developing a marketplace model for energy services is the next step in empowering the energy transition away from fossil-fuel-powered central production

In addition sonnen is working with MP2 Energy to help homeowners make informed choices about using solar systems to make money through a solar buyback programme or to partner with community-based solar farms This enables consumers to access 100 renewable energy even if they cannot install solar panels on their home

EcoSmart continues to support the build-out of the Whisper Valley development Phase 2 home construction is under way and phases 3 and 4 are in development Future phases and other project developments will include multifamily housing and require innovations in the GeoGrid system solar PV storage monitoring and control As technologies like energy storage and electric vehicle charging prove to be compelling and economical for mainstream application EcoSmart plans to integrate these innovative technologies into the standard EcoSmart package for home builders throughout the communities it serves

ReviewMatt Baker business development manager distributed energy Jon La Follett team lead energy systems integration and storage

AUTHORS

Greg Wolfson is the chief technology officer of EcoSmart Solution Previously he was the head of technology and analysis for Connected Energy a division of New Energies that connects distributed energy resources to provide cleaner more cost-effective and more resilient energy for end-use clients Greg has an electrical engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of California Berkeley both in the USA

Michelle Mapel is sonnenrsquos senior director of marketing and formerly the director of US sales Before joining sonnen she held product and marketing manager roles in the clean energy digital financial and travel sectors Michelle has a bachelorrsquos degree in anthropology from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Duke University both in the USA

[Ref 1] The Geothermal Exchange Organization ldquoGeothermal 101rdquo trade association report [Ref 2] GeoVision Harnessing the heat beneath our feet US DoE GeoVision report (2019)[Ref 3] Walton R ldquoRocky Mountain Power to operate largest US residential battery demand response projectrdquo Utility Dive

(27 August 2019)

REFERENCES


1 Dispatchable generation refers to sources of electricity that can be used on demand and dispatched according to needs An example of dispatchable generation is a diesel engine generator that can be turned on or off at will Contrast this with a nondispatchable source of electricity like wind which generates power based on wind speed and not the asset ownerrsquos needs


MAXIMISING REVENUE FROM utility-scale or distributed power assets As Shell grows its presence in new energies and power it aspires to deploy an array of asset types to provide more and cleaner sources of energy It is targeting utility-scale installations such as solar and wind farms and large-scale batteries and smaller ldquodistributedrdquo generation options These include on-site batteries used for reducing a sitersquos demand charges (energy charges related to how spiky usage is) and generators typically used for on-site backup but capable of being dispatched1 to reduce on-site power use or to sell power back to the grid To transition to this reality Shell must learn how to dispatch this complicated mix of assets for the highest returns A dispatch optimisation algorithm will help

The challengeCurrently many operators of power generating resources (including natural-gas-peaker combined-cycle and nuclear power plants) in deregulated power markets continually face the same question ldquoShould I run the plant ie generate power or notrdquo This is because their financial returns are based principally on the simultaneous power price If prices are high for example during an extremely hot afternoon in Texas USA the generatorrsquos earnings are relatively high per unit of energy it generates If power prices are low however that generator earns proportionately less for the same amount of energy created In short the question comes down to ldquoAre the plantrsquos revenues (money earned per megawatt-hour) greater than its costs (fuel incremental operations and maintenance opportunity costs etc)rdquo

The same is also true for many new energies assets even though the marginal cost to supply electricity is often significantly lower a wind turbine does not require fuel but it does have operating and maintenance costs when working Power generating assets have a vast array of efficiencies operating and maintenance costs risk appetites and exposures to local price (both fuel and power) fluctuations As the contribution from volatile solar and wind power generation grows there is also more reliance on forecasting the generation from these assets This leads to a range of offers for generating power and markets are designed to compensate generators by finding the optimal balance at all times of supplied energy at these ldquooffersrdquo and the loads they must serve Power markets have operated securely in this manner for decades

Now however there is a rapid influx of new asset types and participation options such as different possible revenue streams For example operators of utility-scale ie large batteries have the added complexity of needing to plan ahead to ensure an adequate state of charge (ideally charging when power prices are low) and to estimate when power prices will be high for a subsequent discharge compared with running a generator that is either on or off Batteries have little stored energy to dispatch

before they are fully expended and further opportunities are lost until the next charge

Smaller distributed assets historically used for on-site backup such as smaller batteries or generators can additionally be used to take advantage of revenue streams such as dispatching energy opportunistically into the grid when prices are high or to reduce the spikiness of the sitersquos load which is often penalised via the aforementioned demand charges However the opportunities to participate in the power system for economic returns are beyond the scope of this article

The energy system integration and storage team a division of New Energies Research and Technology has been developing algorithms to take advantage of this increased complexity by algorithmically planning the dispatch of assets for economic purposes This class of algorithms is broadly called dispatch optimisation

Dispatch optimisation algorithmsA dispatch optimisation engine generates a schedule to run a combination of assets in a revenue-maximising way for a configurable duration for example a one-day or one-year schedule but is typically used for generating a schedule one or two days in advance The algorithm uses a form of optimisation programming most commonly mixed-integer linear programming Almost any programming language can be used to build the algorithm but Python and Julia are the current leaders

Each timestep in the resultant schedule contains an instantaneous power value for each asset in the system that will deterministically (omnisciently) maximise revenue (or cost offset) against several

EMERGING POWER


revenue streams and intrinsic costs Figure 1 shows a sample schedule for the Shell Technology Center Houston (STCH) USA microgrid generated over 300 timesteps (approximately 24 h of 5-min intervals) Figure 1(a) shows when throughout the schedule period the assets are enabled or disabled and Figure 1(b) shows stacked instantaneous power values selected to optimise against costs In Figure 1(a) the positive values represent the import of power (consumption) and the negative values represent the export of power (generation) All the assets available on the STCH microgrid were enabled in this model run The total power through the site interconnect with the grid is shown as a black line (Figure 1(b)) Note that power flow switches between import (positive) and export (negative) depending on the instantaneous asset powers

The paradigm of the current dispatch optimisation algorithms is that at least one asset but often a mix of assets is optimised to minimise the overall power costs or to generate revenue These assets can be combined behind a single utility meter or regionally distributed assets can be aggregated into a single optimised dispatch

The following are all examples of locations for which dispatch optimisation algorithms could be utilised

a utility-scale battery This can participate in several power markets but must be offered into the optimal mix of markets and charged in time to fulfil its obligation to these markets

a generator installed for building or site backup power for example for resiliency This could be used to offset the site load when it spikes for example for demand charge mitigation or to reduce the site load when the power prices to which it is exposed are high

a Shell fuel station with solar panels on its roof and an on-site battery The battery is used for backup power but is opportunistically dispatched when power prices are high

multiple distributed utility-scale batteries and generators These can be co-optimised to provide benefits beyond their individual value to the power system the so-called portfolio effect

a mix of assets as sophisticated as the STCH microgrid which has a commercial building a solar photovoltaic array multiple large batteries a natural gas generator and a load bank Electric vehicle chargers including two vehicle-to-grid chargers were recently installed on the STCH microgrid but were not included in this analysis

The algorithm makes its decisions based on input forecasts (solar power market price and building or site load demand) and internal constraints or rules The constraints can include

battery state of charge conservation The battery state of charge at all times must be

Pric

e ($

MW

h) 4540353025

200 250 300150500 100Time

State

of

charg

e (

) 100

80

60

40

20

0200 250 300150500 100

Time

Ass

et p

ower

(kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

200 250 300150500 100Time

a

b

c

BatteryLoad bank

Photovoltaic schedule (scaled)Photovoltaic forecast

Regulated supply loadGenerator set

Net interconnectDemand charge threshold

FIGURE 2Sample output of the code with only the battery enabled for clarity (a) the market price forecast is used to determine when the battery should charge and discharge which results in (b) the state of charge and (c) the instantaneous power schedule

MAXIMISING REVENUE FROM UTILITY-SCALE OR DISTRIBUTED POWER ASSETS

Generator set

Load bank

Photovoltaics

Battery

Time (interval)

Change

to p

ow

er (

kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

ndash300

ndash400

ndash500

Asset power (kW)200 250 300150500 100

200 250 300150500 100

Net interconnectNatural gas generator

Load bankPhotovoltaics

Battery chargeBattery discharge

a

b

Natural gas generatorLoad bank onPhotovoltaics onBattery chargeBattery discharge

FIGURE 1 A sample schedule generated over 300 timesteps


equal to its previous state of charge (the previous interval which could be for example 5 min ago) and the power flowing into or out of it during the previous interval

solar commitment conservation The power generated by the solar array in any given time interval can be split in any number of directions but cannot exceed the forecast power ie it is impossible to use more solar power than the array will generate

building or site load conservation The forecast load must be met at all times by either buying power from the grid or providing it from on-site resources such as generators

The algorithm uses these forecasts model constraints and internal rules to generate a schedule (Figure 2) Simple optimisations can run in under a second Adding assets a longer calculation time horizon additional revenue streams or more sophisticated versions of the algorithm can increase the compute time to multiple minutes on a typical workstation This is critical as the dispatch optimisation algorithms used to control assets are intended to be run frequently for example every five minutes when the power market closes This enables the optimisation to take advantage of any updated forecasts or asset conditions

There are several envisioned implementations for dispatch optimisation algorithms

locally run dispatch algorithms for single-site use centrally co-ordinated multiple distributed asset dispatch

improved informing of trader and power asset operators for better management of the growing number and complexity of assets under their control and

planning of the development and deployment of power assets by testing scenarios asset mixes or use cases

Dispatch optimisation on the STCH microgridAs part of a proof of concept with the Energy Platform a version of the energy system integration and storage teamrsquos dispatch optimisation algorithm written in Python was used to dispatch assets on the STCH microgrid (Figure 3) One purpose of this facility is to de-risk renewable energy technologies and assets so it was the ideal location to trial cloud-based control of distributed assets At the time of the tests the microgrid had a

300-kW solar array 250-kW1050-kWh Tesla Powerpack2 battery 127-kW Kohler natural gas generator and 250-kW load bank

The microgrid sits behind a power meter attached to the shipping and receiving building which has

a commercial-style load that turns on in the early morning to ~140 kW then drops to ~50 kW in the early evening and overnight The STCH microgrid is also relatively complicated in that internal power flows among the assets are allowed for example the solar array can charge the battery or the battery can discharge to serve some of the building load The code allows for this power flow when it is economically beneficial to do so The arrows in Figure 4 indicate the power flow direction and the colour denotes whether the code internally considers the power flow as a positive value or negative value

These assets are typically run using a local controller but were configured to be dispatchable from a cloud-based platform hosted by the Energy Platform and connected to the STCH assets by AutoGrid a third-party vendor

The proof of concept demonstrated cloud control of the assets and a response to a simulated power market price spike The success of this effort has led to a planned second proof of concept to demonstrate a more robust control loop and advanced dispatch optimisation algorithms developed in-house by the Energy Platform

FIGURE 3 The STCH microgrid

FIGURE 4 A schematic showing the power flows available to the STCH microgrid

Solar array

Tesla battery

Load bank

Natural gas generator

Shipping and receiving building

Switchgear enclosure

Solar

Battery

Shipping andreceiving building

Natural gasgenerator

Grid

Mar

ket p

rice

expo

sure

Positive kW valuesNegative kW values



The future of dispatch optimisation algorithms Dispatch optimisation based control of assets is a commercially viable solution Services based on this technology can be procured from third parties but with varying levels of sophistication and used to dispatch assets Several Shell groups are developing dispatch optimisation algorithms to fit their specific needs for example the Energy Platform and e-mobility Although such algorithms are feasible today in a basic capacity a wealth of options exists for future development Indeed to match the sophistication of the variety of assets Shell plans to deploy in the new energies and power spaces dispatch optimisation algorithms must be advanced to leverage the capabilities of these assets properly

To assist the business and provide near-term research and development uplift the current primary focus of the energy system integration and storage team is to advance the code to incorporate a stochastic formulation In contrast to the schedules from the deterministic algorithms discussed previously that assume perfect foresight the schedules generated by a stochastic optimisation are informed by the full statistical distributions of the input forecasts Therefore the algorithm will provide a different schedule on two days with identical mean price forecasts where one is very certain while the other is wildly uncertain ie has large error bars around the

mean forecast Given a large enough sample size for example many assets over the course of a year a stochastic optimisation should outperform deterministic optimisations The lessons learned and code base generated as part of this effort will inform future dispatch optimisation code for the business or help in planning asset deployment in a world in which the future is uncertain

AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank Jon La Follett for his contribution to the project

ReviewThe future of the energy landscape will be increasingly electrified distributed in nature and more complex to manage This paper describes a methodological framework for optimally scheduling a portfolio of different power-based assets Publication will help to promote what types of energy generation will be ubiquitous in the future and how these assets can be operated to optimise return on investment The work is highly scalable and has great potential to be rolled out across Shellrsquos future energy portfolio It is important to maintain the research effort in this area to gain a competitive advantage in an increasingly challenging business area

Wayne Jones senior statistician

AUTHORS

David Chalenski is an asset optimisation trader for Shell Energy focusing on power market participation of Shell assets During this work he was a research scientist in New Energies Research and Technology He joined Shell in 2013 as a research geophysicist in areal monitoring focusing on novel deepwater 4D seismic applications David has a PhD in experimental plasma physics and pulsed power and a BS in electrical and computer engineering both from Cornell University USA

Erik Daniel is a research engineer in the energy system integration and storage team in New Energies Research and Technology He joined Shell in 2007 to support the development of subsurface heating systems for Shellrsquos in-situ upgrading and conversion processes before moving into deepwater research and development He has BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Houston USA


XTERNAL CONNECT

Shijin Shuai is a professor in the School of Vehicle and Mobility and the Vice Director of the Centre for Combustion Energy at Tsinghua University in Beijing China His research focuses on fuel flow spray and combustion alternative fuels and engine-exhaust aftertreatments Shijinrsquos work includes supervising extramural research activities in lubricants for Chinas automotive industry

He is also the director of the Fuels and Lubricants Committee of the Chinese Society of Internal Combustion Engines Shijin has received multiple awards for his research and teaching

He has bachelorrsquos masterrsquos and PhD degrees in internal-combustion engines from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan China

What interests you most about the work that yoursquove recently been doing for ShellShell is a global energy company with an open mind and an international vision The ShellndashTsinghua University Joint Research Centre for Clean Mobility was founded in 2017 As the director of the centre I am fortunate to have many opportunities to work with leaders and experts from Shell I am deeply impressed by their professionalism and dedication and really enjoy discussing with them the progress of research projects of mutual interest

What aspect of that work in particular do you think Shell should learn more about ndash and whyChina is the worldrsquos largest energy consumer and carbon dioxide emitter and it is actively promoting the electrification and diversification of vehicle power systems in the country I think that Shell should learn more about the real reasons behind this governmental programme To get a deeper and better understanding of the unique developing road maps in China I also suggest that Shell should continue to strengthen its exchanges and co-operation with the relevant Chinese energy companies and research institutes to help bring good international experience to China

In addition I recommend that Shell give more opportunities to local employees to improve the running efficiency of Shell in China I understand that the young Chinese people Shell has recruited are excellent They have a good professional education and a global vision They understand not only Chinarsquos politico-economic system but also the workings of international markets

In your dealings with Shell what aspect of the company has surprised you mostI have been surprised by the standardisation of Shellrsquos work practices its care for employees and its attention to personal safety This is something Chinese enterprises and individuals could learn from

Xternal ConneCt


Shell TechXplorer D

igest - 2020

copy 2020 Shell Global Solutions International BV



INTRODUCTION








EXECUTIVE EDITORS


BOARD OF ADVISORS












Core Upstream

Leading Transition

Emerging Power

DEEP WATER

INTEGRATED GAS

ELECTRIFICATION

CHEMICALS

SHALES

OIL PRODUCTS




Foreword


INTRODUCTION








EXECUTIVE EDITORS


BOARD OF ADVISORS












Core Upstream

Leading Transition

Emerging Power

DEEP WATER

INTEGRATED GAS

ELECTRIFICATION

CHEMICALS

SHALES

OIL PRODUCTS













3

6

85

REGULARFEATURES

CONTENTSFOREWORD




CORE UPSTREAM

11

16

49





22

28







LEADING TRAN-SITION

34

39

44

54

59

65

73

81

69





EMERGING POWER

PATENTLY SPEAKING






















30

25

20

15

10

05

0400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Am

ounts

(m

ol)

Temperature (degC)






























REFERENCE


BIOGRAPHIES












CORE UPSTREAM










800 900

Observed dropin ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate160 bblh


Loss rate120 bblh

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500


1600 1700

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time





2000 2100

ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate120 bblh

Loss rate70 bblh

Loss rate40 bblh

Loss rate90 bblh

Loss rate58 bblh


2200 2300 000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time














800

Loss rate150 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate80 bblh

Loss rate95 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

1000 1200 1400


ECD

1600 220020001800 000

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time










000


Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate140 bblh

200 400 600

Well total depth

Step-ratetest

ECD

800 1600140012001000 1800

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time


1200


Drill passedFault L

(no loss)






ECD

2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200

125

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time












AUTHORS






REFERENCES









CORE UPSTREAM


Cost

eff

ectiv

enes

s (euro

t)

400

300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200



13 25



Climatedebate




Society


35 MtCO2 reduction


34 MtCO2 reduction


73 MtCO2 reduction











Ann

ual p

rodu

ctio

n

Year2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029 2031 2033 2035 2037 2039 2041 2043 2045





AWG-1production

platform

AME-1land location

























ndash20 0

Hydrate region

Plant


Phase envelope

Large ΔT

Large ΔP

Liquid

Gas

Pres

sure

(bar

a)

80 100 120 140 160

Supercritical

Platform

Reservoir

Wellhead

Bottomhole

SnoslashhvitGorgon

Peterhead

Northern Lights

Porthos

Sleipner

50

100

150

200
















Den Helder


LoCal



Char

py V

-not

ch e

nerg

y (J

)


250

200

150

100

50

010 15 20 25 30

FailPass






AUTHORS












CORE UPSTREAM



























Collect data
























Vegetation surveys

Wildlife monitoring

Shoreline surveys

Flood simulation

Sheen detection

Fin fans

Flare tips

Electrical lines

Transformers

Pipeline headers

Pipe racks

Cable trays

Jetty inspection


Solar panels


Flood simulation

Standing water

Drains

Seal inspection

Corrosion and holes

Ground slumping

Berm elevation

Tank bulging

Vegetation

CO2

Emissiondetection

Tank farminspection

Environmental

Dog monitoring

Routine patrol

Barrier intrusion


Social distancing

Temperature checks

Site security

Material monitoring

Logistics


Turnaround planning

Social distancing

Temperature checks

Project planning


Pond inspection


People finding

Oil spill response



Fire monitoring

Training record

Emergencycommand

Roof inspection


Sprinkler system


Road inspection


Real estate












a

b

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40












AUTHORS




















CORE UPSTREAM



Main flow channel
























a b c d












Slug flow

Parallel flow

Parallel flow

1E-05 1E-04 1E-03 1E-02 1E-01

15

12

09


Salin

ity (

sod

ium

chlo

rid

e)

Ove

ropt

imum

Und

erop

timum

Interface



n-Decane n-Decane


a b c



Surfactantsolution

Oil

200 μm 100 μm

Glass chip

12 cm40 μm










Diameter = 4 mm

Inlet

Field ofview

4 mm

2 mm

20 m

m

4 mm

a c

b 1 mm

Dry scan

Clay

Quartz

0 10 20 30


40 45 46

Scan 2

Scan 2

48 4947 60 80

1

08

06

04

02

0

Time (min)

Oil

satu

ration

45 46 47 48 49

019 048 076 133

tfrac12 = 022 min

αt500 min

19 247040

035

030

025

020

015

Time (min)


Oil

satu

ration

Scan 4

Scan 4

Scan 6

Scan 6

Flow direction

a










a

07 mm

1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

b

449 451 458Time (min)

c

AE B

C

A


B

C

Flow direction

A B

C

4 mm

Scan 4 (451 min)

4 mm1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

a

b


AUTHORS





REFERENCES





















a bOne spare

Loads


Two spare

Loads
















Battery pack

DC sytem

AC sytem




inverter

CANbus

∆Y

GridEnergy

managementsystem

PLCSCADA

RTUControl

Batterymanagement

system












0 s

fmin



Typically5ndash10 s

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)

Time (s)


25ndash1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

505

50

495

49

485

48

475

47

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)


30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Act

ive

pow

er (

MW

)

Time (s)

5ndash1

10110009909809709609509409309209109

Voltage

per

unit

Time (s)5ndash1 1 2 3 401 2 3 40

30

25

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0

Rea

ctiv

e pow

er (

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r)

Time (s)

a b

c d

















094 104102100098096

400

200

0

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ent

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(kV

)

Time (s)

094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

curr

ent

(A)

Time (s)








AUTHORS







Electrolyte


Cathode (+)

Lithium metalcarbon


Lithium ion










NO

x (g

kW

h)


6705

5364

160920

001 0

1

001

3

013

4

025

35

50

70

02680027

04

002


Euro V 2008

Euro IV 2005

EPA 2004

EPA 1998

EPA 1994

Euro III 2000


Sulphur

10 ppmEPA 2015


































Fuel

dilu

tion

()

12

10

8

6

4

2

0


B20 B30 B40 B50 B60 B70 B80 B90 B100

FAM

E (

)

Fuel dilution ()

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

05 10 15 20 25 30 35














20better

66better




24better


78better




36better

70better





51better








AUTHORS





Pistonnumber

1

Finding and comment






Quest



Shell equity



Teesside

1 2

3

8

6 7

5 4


















Segment



Receiving terminal
















OffshoreCO2 storage

CO2 storage


Ship transport





















AUTHORS





REFERENCE



ad VENTURE







































































CompressorTurbine

Boilers


78Motor965

VSD98

Transformer99


99Transmission


965

Condenser



~60

~80

Low pressure

High pressure















Y ∆Y

Y∆

YY∆

∆Y∆

























AUTHORS














Time

Baseline shift

dP

a b c

Backwash


Preferential flow

Com

plet

ely

cont

amin

ated

filte

r can

dle

t = 0 t = e














dP (

bar)

Date and time

045040035030025020015010005

012-Aug1200

12-Aug1100

12-Aug1000

12-Aug0900

12-Aug0800

12-Aug0700

12-Aug0600

Top view


Feed in

Filtrate out



















Vacuumtower




Biocide (batch)





















Capital e

xpen

diture

(

)

Conventional Novel

100908070605040302010

0


Phyto

pla

nk

ton b

iom

ass

Phyt

opla

nkto

n 10ndash5

0-μ

m c

ell (

num

ber

ml)

10000000

100000

10000

1000

100

10

1

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0


a b
















Condensatetank

Buffertank


Self-cleaning

filter

To clean

Cleaning water

Backwash truck

Cleaning truck

Wastewater











Clean water tank

Wastewater tank


Recycle pump

Feed pump


REFERENCE

AUTHORS






















EMERGING POWER






















Type ServiceUnit

capacity (MWe)

Power supply (kV)

Maximum steam

rate (th)Pressure

(barg)Temperature

(degC)Water




Parat Halvorsen


Precision Boilers



(DC) lt66 (AC)14 100





(DC) 66 (AC)20 100

(maximum)


proven technology)

Steam















High-voltage supply

Pressure control


Pressure safety

Throttle valve

Level safety

Blowdown

Processedfeed water

Level control

Steam outlet

Conductivitycontrol

Circulation pump






Drainblowdown








AUTHOR



































EMERGING POWER





































AUTHORS











EMERGING POWER














a

b










a

b









100 degF

95 degF

90 degF

85 degF

80 degF

75 degF

70 degF

65 degF












16 Jul 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 17 Jul

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()

sonnen charging


PV production

sonnen discharging

Heat pump intervals












21 Aug 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 22 Aug

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()



to meet load









Wind farm


Hydropower plant


Rooftop solar

Control centre










AUTHORS




(27 August 2019)

REFERENCES













EMERGING POWER












Pric

e ($

MW

h) 4540353025

200 250 300150500 100Time

State

of

charg

e (

) 100

80

60

40

20

0200 250 300150500 100

Time

Ass

et p

ower

(kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

200 250 300150500 100Time

a

b

c

BatteryLoad bank






Generator set

Load bank

Photovoltaics

Battery

Time (interval)

Change

to p

ow

er (

kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

ndash300

ndash400

ndash500

Asset power (kW)200 250 300150500 100

200 250 300150500 100




a

b




















Solar array

Tesla battery

Load bank




Solar

Battery



Grid

Mar

ket p

rice

expo

sure










AUTHORS




XTERNAL CONNECT








Xternal ConneCt


Shell TechXplorer D

igest - 2020




Foreword


INTRODUCTION








EXECUTIVE EDITORS


BOARD OF ADVISORS












Core Upstream

Leading Transition

Emerging Power

DEEP WATER

INTEGRATED GAS

ELECTRIFICATION

CHEMICALS

SHALES

OIL PRODUCTS













3

6

85

REGULARFEATURES

CONTENTSFOREWORD




CORE UPSTREAM

11

16

49





22

28







LEADING TRAN-SITION

34

39

44

54

59

65

73

81

69





EMERGING POWER

PATENTLY SPEAKING






















30

25

20

15

10

05

0400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Am

ounts

(m

ol)

Temperature (degC)






























REFERENCE


BIOGRAPHIES












CORE UPSTREAM










800 900

Observed dropin ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate160 bblh


Loss rate120 bblh

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500


1600 1700

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time





2000 2100

ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate120 bblh

Loss rate70 bblh

Loss rate40 bblh

Loss rate90 bblh

Loss rate58 bblh


2200 2300 000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time














800

Loss rate150 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate80 bblh

Loss rate95 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

1000 1200 1400


ECD

1600 220020001800 000

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time










000


Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate140 bblh

200 400 600

Well total depth

Step-ratetest

ECD

800 1600140012001000 1800

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time


1200


Drill passedFault L

(no loss)






ECD

2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200

125

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time












AUTHORS






REFERENCES









CORE UPSTREAM


Cost

eff

ectiv

enes

s (euro

t)

400

300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200



13 25



Climatedebate




Society


35 MtCO2 reduction


34 MtCO2 reduction


73 MtCO2 reduction











Ann

ual p

rodu

ctio

n

Year2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029 2031 2033 2035 2037 2039 2041 2043 2045





AWG-1production

platform

AME-1land location

























ndash20 0

Hydrate region

Plant


Phase envelope

Large ΔT

Large ΔP

Liquid

Gas

Pres

sure

(bar

a)

80 100 120 140 160

Supercritical

Platform

Reservoir

Wellhead

Bottomhole

SnoslashhvitGorgon

Peterhead

Northern Lights

Porthos

Sleipner

50

100

150

200
















Den Helder


LoCal



Char

py V

-not

ch e

nerg

y (J

)


250

200

150

100

50

010 15 20 25 30

FailPass






AUTHORS












CORE UPSTREAM



























Collect data
























Vegetation surveys

Wildlife monitoring

Shoreline surveys

Flood simulation

Sheen detection

Fin fans

Flare tips

Electrical lines

Transformers

Pipeline headers

Pipe racks

Cable trays

Jetty inspection


Solar panels


Flood simulation

Standing water

Drains

Seal inspection

Corrosion and holes

Ground slumping

Berm elevation

Tank bulging

Vegetation

CO2

Emissiondetection

Tank farminspection

Environmental

Dog monitoring

Routine patrol

Barrier intrusion


Social distancing

Temperature checks

Site security

Material monitoring

Logistics


Turnaround planning

Social distancing

Temperature checks

Project planning


Pond inspection


People finding

Oil spill response



Fire monitoring

Training record

Emergencycommand

Roof inspection


Sprinkler system


Road inspection


Real estate












a

b

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40












AUTHORS




















CORE UPSTREAM



Main flow channel
























a b c d












Slug flow

Parallel flow

Parallel flow

1E-05 1E-04 1E-03 1E-02 1E-01

15

12

09


Salin

ity (

sod

ium

chlo

rid

e)

Ove

ropt

imum

Und

erop

timum

Interface



n-Decane n-Decane


a b c



Surfactantsolution

Oil

200 μm 100 μm

Glass chip

12 cm40 μm










Diameter = 4 mm

Inlet

Field ofview

4 mm

2 mm

20 m

m

4 mm

a c

b 1 mm

Dry scan

Clay

Quartz

0 10 20 30


40 45 46

Scan 2

Scan 2

48 4947 60 80

1

08

06

04

02

0

Time (min)

Oil

satu

ration

45 46 47 48 49

019 048 076 133

tfrac12 = 022 min

αt500 min

19 247040

035

030

025

020

015

Time (min)


Oil

satu

ration

Scan 4

Scan 4

Scan 6

Scan 6

Flow direction

a










a

07 mm

1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

b

449 451 458Time (min)

c

AE B

C

A


B

C

Flow direction

A B

C

4 mm

Scan 4 (451 min)

4 mm1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

a

b


AUTHORS





REFERENCES





















a bOne spare

Loads


Two spare

Loads
















Battery pack

DC sytem

AC sytem




inverter

CANbus

∆Y

GridEnergy

managementsystem

PLCSCADA

RTUControl

Batterymanagement

system












0 s

fmin



Typically5ndash10 s

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)

Time (s)


25ndash1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

505

50

495

49

485

48

475

47

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)


30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Act

ive

pow

er (

MW

)

Time (s)

5ndash1

10110009909809709609509409309209109

Voltage

per

unit

Time (s)5ndash1 1 2 3 401 2 3 40

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Rea

ctiv

e pow

er (

MVA

r)

Time (s)

a b

c d

















094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

voltage

(kV

)

Time (s)

094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

curr

ent

(A)

Time (s)








AUTHORS







Electrolyte


Cathode (+)

Lithium metalcarbon


Lithium ion










NO

x (g

kW

h)


6705

5364

160920

001 0

1

001

3

013

4

025

35

50

70

02680027

04

002


Euro V 2008

Euro IV 2005

EPA 2004

EPA 1998

EPA 1994

Euro III 2000


Sulphur

10 ppmEPA 2015


































Fuel

dilu

tion

()

12

10

8

6

4

2

0


B20 B30 B40 B50 B60 B70 B80 B90 B100

FAM

E (

)

Fuel dilution ()

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

05 10 15 20 25 30 35














20better

66better




24better


78better




36better

70better





51better








AUTHORS





Pistonnumber

1

Finding and comment






Quest



Shell equity



Teesside

1 2

3

8

6 7

5 4


















Segment



Receiving terminal
















OffshoreCO2 storage

CO2 storage


Ship transport





















AUTHORS





REFERENCE



ad VENTURE







































































CompressorTurbine

Boilers


78Motor965

VSD98

Transformer99


99Transmission


965

Condenser



~60

~80

Low pressure

High pressure















Y ∆Y

Y∆

YY∆

∆Y∆

























AUTHORS














Time

Baseline shift

dP

a b c

Backwash


Preferential flow

Com

plet

ely

cont

amin

ated

filte

r can

dle

t = 0 t = e














dP (

bar)

Date and time

045040035030025020015010005

012-Aug1200

12-Aug1100

12-Aug1000

12-Aug0900

12-Aug0800

12-Aug0700

12-Aug0600

Top view


Feed in

Filtrate out



















Vacuumtower




Biocide (batch)





















Capital e

xpen

diture

(

)

Conventional Novel

100908070605040302010

0


Phyto

pla

nk

ton b

iom

ass

Phyt

opla

nkto

n 10ndash5

0-μ

m c

ell (

num

ber

ml)

10000000

100000

10000

1000

100

10

1

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0


a b
















Condensatetank

Buffertank


Self-cleaning

filter

To clean

Cleaning water

Backwash truck

Cleaning truck

Wastewater











Clean water tank

Wastewater tank


Recycle pump

Feed pump


REFERENCE

AUTHORS






















EMERGING POWER






















Type ServiceUnit

capacity (MWe)

Power supply (kV)

Maximum steam

rate (th)Pressure

(barg)Temperature

(degC)Water




Parat Halvorsen


Precision Boilers



(DC) lt66 (AC)14 100





(DC) 66 (AC)20 100

(maximum)


proven technology)

Steam















High-voltage supply

Pressure control


Pressure safety

Throttle valve

Level safety

Blowdown

Processedfeed water

Level control

Steam outlet

Conductivitycontrol

Circulation pump






Drainblowdown








AUTHOR



































EMERGING POWER





































AUTHORS











EMERGING POWER














a

b










a

b









100 degF

95 degF

90 degF

85 degF

80 degF

75 degF

70 degF

65 degF












16 Jul 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 17 Jul

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()

sonnen charging


PV production

sonnen discharging

Heat pump intervals












21 Aug 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 22 Aug

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()



to meet load









Wind farm


Hydropower plant


Rooftop solar

Control centre










AUTHORS




(27 August 2019)

REFERENCES













EMERGING POWER












Pric

e ($

MW

h) 4540353025

200 250 300150500 100Time

State

of

charg

e (

) 100

80

60

40

20

0200 250 300150500 100

Time

Ass

et p

ower

(kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

200 250 300150500 100Time

a

b

c

BatteryLoad bank






Generator set

Load bank

Photovoltaics

Battery

Time (interval)

Change

to p

ow

er (

kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

ndash300

ndash400

ndash500

Asset power (kW)200 250 300150500 100

200 250 300150500 100




a

b




















Solar array

Tesla battery

Load bank




Solar

Battery



Grid

Mar

ket p

rice

expo

sure










AUTHORS




XTERNAL CONNECT








Xternal ConneCt


Shell TechXplorer D

igest - 2020




3

6

85

REGULARFEATURES

CONTENTSFOREWORD




CORE UPSTREAM

11

16

49





22

28







LEADING TRAN-SITION

34

39

44

54

59

65

73

81

69





EMERGING POWER

PATENTLY SPEAKING






















30

25

20

15

10

05

0400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Am

ounts

(m

ol)

Temperature (degC)






























REFERENCE


BIOGRAPHIES












CORE UPSTREAM










800 900

Observed dropin ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate160 bblh


Loss rate120 bblh

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500


1600 1700

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time





2000 2100

ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate120 bblh

Loss rate70 bblh

Loss rate40 bblh

Loss rate90 bblh

Loss rate58 bblh


2200 2300 000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time














800

Loss rate150 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate80 bblh

Loss rate95 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

1000 1200 1400


ECD

1600 220020001800 000

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time










000


Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate140 bblh

200 400 600

Well total depth

Step-ratetest

ECD

800 1600140012001000 1800

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time


1200


Drill passedFault L

(no loss)






ECD

2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200

125

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time












AUTHORS






REFERENCES









CORE UPSTREAM


Cost

eff

ectiv

enes

s (euro

t)

400

300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200



13 25



Climatedebate




Society


35 MtCO2 reduction


34 MtCO2 reduction


73 MtCO2 reduction











Ann

ual p

rodu

ctio

n

Year2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029 2031 2033 2035 2037 2039 2041 2043 2045





AWG-1production

platform

AME-1land location

























ndash20 0

Hydrate region

Plant


Phase envelope

Large ΔT

Large ΔP

Liquid

Gas

Pres

sure

(bar

a)

80 100 120 140 160

Supercritical

Platform

Reservoir

Wellhead

Bottomhole

SnoslashhvitGorgon

Peterhead

Northern Lights

Porthos

Sleipner

50

100

150

200
















Den Helder


LoCal



Char

py V

-not

ch e

nerg

y (J

)


250

200

150

100

50

010 15 20 25 30

FailPass






AUTHORS












CORE UPSTREAM



























Collect data
























Vegetation surveys

Wildlife monitoring

Shoreline surveys

Flood simulation

Sheen detection

Fin fans

Flare tips

Electrical lines

Transformers

Pipeline headers

Pipe racks

Cable trays

Jetty inspection


Solar panels


Flood simulation

Standing water

Drains

Seal inspection

Corrosion and holes

Ground slumping

Berm elevation

Tank bulging

Vegetation

CO2

Emissiondetection

Tank farminspection

Environmental

Dog monitoring

Routine patrol

Barrier intrusion


Social distancing

Temperature checks

Site security

Material monitoring

Logistics


Turnaround planning

Social distancing

Temperature checks

Project planning


Pond inspection


People finding

Oil spill response



Fire monitoring

Training record

Emergencycommand

Roof inspection


Sprinkler system


Road inspection


Real estate












a

b

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40












AUTHORS




















CORE UPSTREAM



Main flow channel
























a b c d












Slug flow

Parallel flow

Parallel flow

1E-05 1E-04 1E-03 1E-02 1E-01

15

12

09


Salin

ity (

sod

ium

chlo

rid

e)

Ove

ropt

imum

Und

erop

timum

Interface



n-Decane n-Decane


a b c



Surfactantsolution

Oil

200 μm 100 μm

Glass chip

12 cm40 μm










Diameter = 4 mm

Inlet

Field ofview

4 mm

2 mm

20 m

m

4 mm

a c

b 1 mm

Dry scan

Clay

Quartz

0 10 20 30


40 45 46

Scan 2

Scan 2

48 4947 60 80

1

08

06

04

02

0

Time (min)

Oil

satu

ration

45 46 47 48 49

019 048 076 133

tfrac12 = 022 min

αt500 min

19 247040

035

030

025

020

015

Time (min)


Oil

satu

ration

Scan 4

Scan 4

Scan 6

Scan 6

Flow direction

a










a

07 mm

1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

b

449 451 458Time (min)

c

AE B

C

A


B

C

Flow direction

A B

C

4 mm

Scan 4 (451 min)

4 mm1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

a

b


AUTHORS





REFERENCES





















a bOne spare

Loads


Two spare

Loads
















Battery pack

DC sytem

AC sytem




inverter

CANbus

∆Y

GridEnergy

managementsystem

PLCSCADA

RTUControl

Batterymanagement

system












0 s

fmin



Typically5ndash10 s

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)

Time (s)


25ndash1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

505

50

495

49

485

48

475

47

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)


30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Act

ive

pow

er (

MW

)

Time (s)

5ndash1

10110009909809709609509409309209109

Voltage

per

unit

Time (s)5ndash1 1 2 3 401 2 3 40

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Rea

ctiv

e pow

er (

MVA

r)

Time (s)

a b

c d

















094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

voltage

(kV

)

Time (s)

094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

curr

ent

(A)

Time (s)








AUTHORS







Electrolyte


Cathode (+)

Lithium metalcarbon


Lithium ion










NO

x (g

kW

h)


6705

5364

160920

001 0

1

001

3

013

4

025

35

50

70

02680027

04

002


Euro V 2008

Euro IV 2005

EPA 2004

EPA 1998

EPA 1994

Euro III 2000


Sulphur

10 ppmEPA 2015


































Fuel

dilu

tion

()

12

10

8

6

4

2

0


B20 B30 B40 B50 B60 B70 B80 B90 B100

FAM

E (

)

Fuel dilution ()

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

05 10 15 20 25 30 35














20better

66better




24better


78better




36better

70better





51better








AUTHORS





Pistonnumber

1

Finding and comment






Quest



Shell equity



Teesside

1 2

3

8

6 7

5 4


















Segment



Receiving terminal
















OffshoreCO2 storage

CO2 storage


Ship transport





















AUTHORS





REFERENCE



ad VENTURE







































































CompressorTurbine

Boilers


78Motor965

VSD98

Transformer99


99Transmission


965

Condenser



~60

~80

Low pressure

High pressure















Y ∆Y

Y∆

YY∆

∆Y∆

























AUTHORS














Time

Baseline shift

dP

a b c

Backwash


Preferential flow

Com

plet

ely

cont

amin

ated

filte

r can

dle

t = 0 t = e














dP (

bar)

Date and time

045040035030025020015010005

012-Aug1200

12-Aug1100

12-Aug1000

12-Aug0900

12-Aug0800

12-Aug0700

12-Aug0600

Top view


Feed in

Filtrate out



















Vacuumtower




Biocide (batch)





















Capital e

xpen

diture

(

)

Conventional Novel

100908070605040302010

0


Phyto

pla

nk

ton b

iom

ass

Phyt

opla

nkto

n 10ndash5

0-μ

m c

ell (

num

ber

ml)

10000000

100000

10000

1000

100

10

1

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0


a b
















Condensatetank

Buffertank


Self-cleaning

filter

To clean

Cleaning water

Backwash truck

Cleaning truck

Wastewater











Clean water tank

Wastewater tank


Recycle pump

Feed pump


REFERENCE

AUTHORS






















EMERGING POWER






















Type ServiceUnit

capacity (MWe)

Power supply (kV)

Maximum steam

rate (th)Pressure

(barg)Temperature

(degC)Water




Parat Halvorsen


Precision Boilers



(DC) lt66 (AC)14 100





(DC) 66 (AC)20 100

(maximum)


proven technology)

Steam















High-voltage supply

Pressure control


Pressure safety

Throttle valve

Level safety

Blowdown

Processedfeed water

Level control

Steam outlet

Conductivitycontrol

Circulation pump






Drainblowdown








AUTHOR



































EMERGING POWER





































AUTHORS











EMERGING POWER














a

b










a

b









100 degF

95 degF

90 degF

85 degF

80 degF

75 degF

70 degF

65 degF












16 Jul 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 17 Jul

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()

sonnen charging


PV production

sonnen discharging

Heat pump intervals












21 Aug 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 22 Aug

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()



to meet load









Wind farm


Hydropower plant


Rooftop solar

Control centre










AUTHORS




(27 August 2019)

REFERENCES













EMERGING POWER












Pric

e ($

MW

h) 4540353025

200 250 300150500 100Time

State

of

charg

e (

) 100

80

60

40

20

0200 250 300150500 100

Time

Ass

et p

ower

(kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

200 250 300150500 100Time

a

b

c

BatteryLoad bank






Generator set

Load bank

Photovoltaics

Battery

Time (interval)

Change

to p

ow

er (

kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

ndash300

ndash400

ndash500

Asset power (kW)200 250 300150500 100

200 250 300150500 100




a

b




















Solar array

Tesla battery

Load bank




Solar

Battery



Grid

Mar

ket p

rice

expo

sure










AUTHORS




XTERNAL CONNECT








Xternal ConneCt


Shell TechXplorer D

igest - 2020









LEADING TRAN-SITION

34

39

44

54

59

65

73

81

69





EMERGING POWER

PATENTLY SPEAKING






















30

25

20

15

10

05

0400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Am

ounts

(m

ol)

Temperature (degC)






























REFERENCE


BIOGRAPHIES












CORE UPSTREAM










800 900

Observed dropin ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate160 bblh


Loss rate120 bblh

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500


1600 1700

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time





2000 2100

ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate120 bblh

Loss rate70 bblh

Loss rate40 bblh

Loss rate90 bblh

Loss rate58 bblh


2200 2300 000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time














800

Loss rate150 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate80 bblh

Loss rate95 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

1000 1200 1400


ECD

1600 220020001800 000

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time










000


Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate140 bblh

200 400 600

Well total depth

Step-ratetest

ECD

800 1600140012001000 1800

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time


1200


Drill passedFault L

(no loss)






ECD

2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200

125

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time












AUTHORS






REFERENCES









CORE UPSTREAM


Cost

eff

ectiv

enes

s (euro

t)

400

300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200



13 25



Climatedebate




Society


35 MtCO2 reduction


34 MtCO2 reduction


73 MtCO2 reduction











Ann

ual p

rodu

ctio

n

Year2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029 2031 2033 2035 2037 2039 2041 2043 2045





AWG-1production

platform

AME-1land location

























ndash20 0

Hydrate region

Plant


Phase envelope

Large ΔT

Large ΔP

Liquid

Gas

Pres

sure

(bar

a)

80 100 120 140 160

Supercritical

Platform

Reservoir

Wellhead

Bottomhole

SnoslashhvitGorgon

Peterhead

Northern Lights

Porthos

Sleipner

50

100

150

200
















Den Helder


LoCal



Char

py V

-not

ch e

nerg

y (J

)


250

200

150

100

50

010 15 20 25 30

FailPass






AUTHORS












CORE UPSTREAM



























Collect data
























Vegetation surveys

Wildlife monitoring

Shoreline surveys

Flood simulation

Sheen detection

Fin fans

Flare tips

Electrical lines

Transformers

Pipeline headers

Pipe racks

Cable trays

Jetty inspection


Solar panels


Flood simulation

Standing water

Drains

Seal inspection

Corrosion and holes

Ground slumping

Berm elevation

Tank bulging

Vegetation

CO2

Emissiondetection

Tank farminspection

Environmental

Dog monitoring

Routine patrol

Barrier intrusion


Social distancing

Temperature checks

Site security

Material monitoring

Logistics


Turnaround planning

Social distancing

Temperature checks

Project planning


Pond inspection


People finding

Oil spill response



Fire monitoring

Training record

Emergencycommand

Roof inspection


Sprinkler system


Road inspection


Real estate












a

b

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40












AUTHORS




















CORE UPSTREAM



Main flow channel
























a b c d












Slug flow

Parallel flow

Parallel flow

1E-05 1E-04 1E-03 1E-02 1E-01

15

12

09


Salin

ity (

sod

ium

chlo

rid

e)

Ove

ropt

imum

Und

erop

timum

Interface



n-Decane n-Decane


a b c



Surfactantsolution

Oil

200 μm 100 μm

Glass chip

12 cm40 μm










Diameter = 4 mm

Inlet

Field ofview

4 mm

2 mm

20 m

m

4 mm

a c

b 1 mm

Dry scan

Clay

Quartz

0 10 20 30


40 45 46

Scan 2

Scan 2

48 4947 60 80

1

08

06

04

02

0

Time (min)

Oil

satu

ration

45 46 47 48 49

019 048 076 133

tfrac12 = 022 min

αt500 min

19 247040

035

030

025

020

015

Time (min)


Oil

satu

ration

Scan 4

Scan 4

Scan 6

Scan 6

Flow direction

a










a

07 mm

1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

b

449 451 458Time (min)

c

AE B

C

A


B

C

Flow direction

A B

C

4 mm

Scan 4 (451 min)

4 mm1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

a

b


AUTHORS





REFERENCES





















a bOne spare

Loads


Two spare

Loads
















Battery pack

DC sytem

AC sytem




inverter

CANbus

∆Y

GridEnergy

managementsystem

PLCSCADA

RTUControl

Batterymanagement

system












0 s

fmin



Typically5ndash10 s

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)

Time (s)


25ndash1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

505

50

495

49

485

48

475

47

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)


30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Act

ive

pow

er (

MW

)

Time (s)

5ndash1

10110009909809709609509409309209109

Voltage

per

unit

Time (s)5ndash1 1 2 3 401 2 3 40

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Rea

ctiv

e pow

er (

MVA

r)

Time (s)

a b

c d

















094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

voltage

(kV

)

Time (s)

094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

curr

ent

(A)

Time (s)








AUTHORS







Electrolyte


Cathode (+)

Lithium metalcarbon


Lithium ion










NO

x (g

kW

h)


6705

5364

160920

001 0

1

001

3

013

4

025

35

50

70

02680027

04

002


Euro V 2008

Euro IV 2005

EPA 2004

EPA 1998

EPA 1994

Euro III 2000


Sulphur

10 ppmEPA 2015


































Fuel

dilu

tion

()

12

10

8

6

4

2

0


B20 B30 B40 B50 B60 B70 B80 B90 B100

FAM

E (

)

Fuel dilution ()

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

05 10 15 20 25 30 35














20better

66better




24better


78better




36better

70better





51better








AUTHORS





Pistonnumber

1

Finding and comment






Quest



Shell equity



Teesside

1 2

3

8

6 7

5 4


















Segment



Receiving terminal
















OffshoreCO2 storage

CO2 storage


Ship transport





















AUTHORS





REFERENCE



ad VENTURE







































































CompressorTurbine

Boilers


78Motor965

VSD98

Transformer99


99Transmission


965

Condenser



~60

~80

Low pressure

High pressure















Y ∆Y

Y∆

YY∆

∆Y∆

























AUTHORS














Time

Baseline shift

dP

a b c

Backwash


Preferential flow

Com

plet

ely

cont

amin

ated

filte

r can

dle

t = 0 t = e














dP (

bar)

Date and time

045040035030025020015010005

012-Aug1200

12-Aug1100

12-Aug1000

12-Aug0900

12-Aug0800

12-Aug0700

12-Aug0600

Top view


Feed in

Filtrate out



















Vacuumtower




Biocide (batch)





















Capital e

xpen

diture

(

)

Conventional Novel

100908070605040302010

0


Phyto

pla

nk

ton b

iom

ass

Phyt

opla

nkto

n 10ndash5

0-μ

m c

ell (

num

ber

ml)

10000000

100000

10000

1000

100

10

1

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0


a b
















Condensatetank

Buffertank


Self-cleaning

filter

To clean

Cleaning water

Backwash truck

Cleaning truck

Wastewater











Clean water tank

Wastewater tank


Recycle pump

Feed pump


REFERENCE

AUTHORS






















EMERGING POWER






















Type ServiceUnit

capacity (MWe)

Power supply (kV)

Maximum steam

rate (th)Pressure

(barg)Temperature

(degC)Water




Parat Halvorsen


Precision Boilers



(DC) lt66 (AC)14 100





(DC) 66 (AC)20 100

(maximum)


proven technology)

Steam















High-voltage supply

Pressure control


Pressure safety

Throttle valve

Level safety

Blowdown

Processedfeed water

Level control

Steam outlet

Conductivitycontrol

Circulation pump






Drainblowdown








AUTHOR



































EMERGING POWER





































AUTHORS











EMERGING POWER














a

b










a

b









100 degF

95 degF

90 degF

85 degF

80 degF

75 degF

70 degF

65 degF












16 Jul 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 17 Jul

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()

sonnen charging


PV production

sonnen discharging

Heat pump intervals












21 Aug 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 22 Aug

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()



to meet load









Wind farm


Hydropower plant


Rooftop solar

Control centre










AUTHORS




(27 August 2019)

REFERENCES













EMERGING POWER












Pric

e ($

MW

h) 4540353025

200 250 300150500 100Time

State

of

charg

e (

) 100

80

60

40

20

0200 250 300150500 100

Time

Ass

et p

ower

(kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

200 250 300150500 100Time

a

b

c

BatteryLoad bank






Generator set

Load bank

Photovoltaics

Battery

Time (interval)

Change

to p

ow

er (

kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

ndash300

ndash400

ndash500

Asset power (kW)200 250 300150500 100

200 250 300150500 100




a

b




















Solar array

Tesla battery

Load bank




Solar

Battery



Grid

Mar

ket p

rice

expo

sure










AUTHORS




XTERNAL CONNECT








Xternal ConneCt


Shell TechXplorer D

igest - 2020



PATENTLY SPEAKING






















30

25

20

15

10

05

0400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Am

ounts

(m

ol)

Temperature (degC)






























REFERENCE


BIOGRAPHIES












CORE UPSTREAM










800 900

Observed dropin ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate160 bblh


Loss rate120 bblh

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500


1600 1700

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time





2000 2100

ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate120 bblh

Loss rate70 bblh

Loss rate40 bblh

Loss rate90 bblh

Loss rate58 bblh


2200 2300 000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time














800

Loss rate150 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate80 bblh

Loss rate95 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

1000 1200 1400


ECD

1600 220020001800 000

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time










000


Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate140 bblh

200 400 600

Well total depth

Step-ratetest

ECD

800 1600140012001000 1800

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time


1200


Drill passedFault L

(no loss)






ECD

2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200

125

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time












AUTHORS






REFERENCES









CORE UPSTREAM


Cost

eff

ectiv

enes

s (euro

t)

400

300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200



13 25



Climatedebate




Society


35 MtCO2 reduction


34 MtCO2 reduction


73 MtCO2 reduction











Ann

ual p

rodu

ctio

n

Year2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029 2031 2033 2035 2037 2039 2041 2043 2045





AWG-1production

platform

AME-1land location

























ndash20 0

Hydrate region

Plant


Phase envelope

Large ΔT

Large ΔP

Liquid

Gas

Pres

sure

(bar

a)

80 100 120 140 160

Supercritical

Platform

Reservoir

Wellhead

Bottomhole

SnoslashhvitGorgon

Peterhead

Northern Lights

Porthos

Sleipner

50

100

150

200
















Den Helder


LoCal



Char

py V

-not

ch e

nerg

y (J

)


250

200

150

100

50

010 15 20 25 30

FailPass






AUTHORS












CORE UPSTREAM



























Collect data
























Vegetation surveys

Wildlife monitoring

Shoreline surveys

Flood simulation

Sheen detection

Fin fans

Flare tips

Electrical lines

Transformers

Pipeline headers

Pipe racks

Cable trays

Jetty inspection


Solar panels


Flood simulation

Standing water

Drains

Seal inspection

Corrosion and holes

Ground slumping

Berm elevation

Tank bulging

Vegetation

CO2

Emissiondetection

Tank farminspection

Environmental

Dog monitoring

Routine patrol

Barrier intrusion


Social distancing

Temperature checks

Site security

Material monitoring

Logistics


Turnaround planning

Social distancing

Temperature checks

Project planning


Pond inspection


People finding

Oil spill response



Fire monitoring

Training record

Emergencycommand

Roof inspection


Sprinkler system


Road inspection


Real estate












a

b

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40












AUTHORS




















CORE UPSTREAM



Main flow channel
























a b c d












Slug flow

Parallel flow

Parallel flow

1E-05 1E-04 1E-03 1E-02 1E-01

15

12

09


Salin

ity (

sod

ium

chlo

rid

e)

Ove

ropt

imum

Und

erop

timum

Interface



n-Decane n-Decane


a b c



Surfactantsolution

Oil

200 μm 100 μm

Glass chip

12 cm40 μm










Diameter = 4 mm

Inlet

Field ofview

4 mm

2 mm

20 m

m

4 mm

a c

b 1 mm

Dry scan

Clay

Quartz

0 10 20 30


40 45 46

Scan 2

Scan 2

48 4947 60 80

1

08

06

04

02

0

Time (min)

Oil

satu

ration

45 46 47 48 49

019 048 076 133

tfrac12 = 022 min

αt500 min

19 247040

035

030

025

020

015

Time (min)


Oil

satu

ration

Scan 4

Scan 4

Scan 6

Scan 6

Flow direction

a










a

07 mm

1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

b

449 451 458Time (min)

c

AE B

C

A


B

C

Flow direction

A B

C

4 mm

Scan 4 (451 min)

4 mm1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

a

b


AUTHORS





REFERENCES





















a bOne spare

Loads


Two spare

Loads
















Battery pack

DC sytem

AC sytem




inverter

CANbus

∆Y

GridEnergy

managementsystem

PLCSCADA

RTUControl

Batterymanagement

system












0 s

fmin



Typically5ndash10 s

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)

Time (s)


25ndash1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

505

50

495

49

485

48

475

47

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)


30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Act

ive

pow

er (

MW

)

Time (s)

5ndash1

10110009909809709609509409309209109

Voltage

per

unit

Time (s)5ndash1 1 2 3 401 2 3 40

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Rea

ctiv

e pow

er (

MVA

r)

Time (s)

a b

c d

















094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

voltage

(kV

)

Time (s)

094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

curr

ent

(A)

Time (s)








AUTHORS







Electrolyte


Cathode (+)

Lithium metalcarbon


Lithium ion










NO

x (g

kW

h)


6705

5364

160920

001 0

1

001

3

013

4

025

35

50

70

02680027

04

002


Euro V 2008

Euro IV 2005

EPA 2004

EPA 1998

EPA 1994

Euro III 2000


Sulphur

10 ppmEPA 2015


































Fuel

dilu

tion

()

12

10

8

6

4

2

0


B20 B30 B40 B50 B60 B70 B80 B90 B100

FAM

E (

)

Fuel dilution ()

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

05 10 15 20 25 30 35














20better

66better




24better


78better




36better

70better





51better








AUTHORS





Pistonnumber

1

Finding and comment






Quest



Shell equity



Teesside

1 2

3

8

6 7

5 4


















Segment



Receiving terminal
















OffshoreCO2 storage

CO2 storage


Ship transport





















AUTHORS





REFERENCE



ad VENTURE







































































CompressorTurbine

Boilers


78Motor965

VSD98

Transformer99


99Transmission


965

Condenser



~60

~80

Low pressure

High pressure















Y ∆Y

Y∆

YY∆

∆Y∆

























AUTHORS














Time

Baseline shift

dP

a b c

Backwash


Preferential flow

Com

plet

ely

cont

amin

ated

filte

r can

dle

t = 0 t = e














dP (

bar)

Date and time

045040035030025020015010005

012-Aug1200

12-Aug1100

12-Aug1000

12-Aug0900

12-Aug0800

12-Aug0700

12-Aug0600

Top view


Feed in

Filtrate out



















Vacuumtower




Biocide (batch)





















Capital e

xpen

diture

(

)

Conventional Novel

100908070605040302010

0


Phyto

pla

nk

ton b

iom

ass

Phyt

opla

nkto

n 10ndash5

0-μ

m c

ell (

num

ber

ml)

10000000

100000

10000

1000

100

10

1

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0


a b
















Condensatetank

Buffertank


Self-cleaning

filter

To clean

Cleaning water

Backwash truck

Cleaning truck

Wastewater











Clean water tank

Wastewater tank


Recycle pump

Feed pump


REFERENCE

AUTHORS






















EMERGING POWER






















Type ServiceUnit

capacity (MWe)

Power supply (kV)

Maximum steam

rate (th)Pressure

(barg)Temperature

(degC)Water




Parat Halvorsen


Precision Boilers



(DC) lt66 (AC)14 100





(DC) 66 (AC)20 100

(maximum)


proven technology)

Steam















High-voltage supply

Pressure control


Pressure safety

Throttle valve

Level safety

Blowdown

Processedfeed water

Level control

Steam outlet

Conductivitycontrol

Circulation pump






Drainblowdown








AUTHOR



































EMERGING POWER





































AUTHORS











EMERGING POWER














a

b










a

b









100 degF

95 degF

90 degF

85 degF

80 degF

75 degF

70 degF

65 degF












16 Jul 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 17 Jul

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()

sonnen charging


PV production

sonnen discharging

Heat pump intervals












21 Aug 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 22 Aug

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()



to meet load









Wind farm


Hydropower plant


Rooftop solar

Control centre










AUTHORS




(27 August 2019)

REFERENCES













EMERGING POWER












Pric

e ($

MW

h) 4540353025

200 250 300150500 100Time

State

of

charg

e (

) 100

80

60

40

20

0200 250 300150500 100

Time

Ass

et p

ower

(kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

200 250 300150500 100Time

a

b

c

BatteryLoad bank






Generator set

Load bank

Photovoltaics

Battery

Time (interval)

Change

to p

ow

er (

kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

ndash300

ndash400

ndash500

Asset power (kW)200 250 300150500 100

200 250 300150500 100




a

b




















Solar array

Tesla battery

Load bank




Solar

Battery



Grid

Mar

ket p

rice

expo

sure










AUTHORS




XTERNAL CONNECT








Xternal ConneCt


Shell TechXplorer D

igest - 2020
















30

25

20

15

10

05

0400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Am

ounts

(m

ol)

Temperature (degC)






























REFERENCE


BIOGRAPHIES












CORE UPSTREAM










800 900

Observed dropin ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate160 bblh


Loss rate120 bblh

1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500


1600 1700

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time





2000 2100

ECD

Loss rate200 bblh

Loss rate120 bblh

Loss rate70 bblh

Loss rate40 bblh

Loss rate90 bblh

Loss rate58 bblh


2200 2300 000 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time














800

Loss rate150 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate80 bblh

Loss rate95 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

1000 1200 1400


ECD

1600 220020001800 000

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time










000


Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate60 bblh

Loss rate140 bblh

200 400 600

Well total depth

Step-ratetest

ECD

800 1600140012001000 1800

125

12

115

11

105

10

95

ECD

(p

pg)

Time


1200


Drill passedFault L

(no loss)






ECD

2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200 2000 400 1200

125

12

115

11

105

10

ECD

(p

pg)

Time












AUTHORS






REFERENCES









CORE UPSTREAM


Cost

eff

ectiv

enes

s (euro

t)

400

300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200



13 25



Climatedebate




Society


35 MtCO2 reduction


34 MtCO2 reduction


73 MtCO2 reduction











Ann

ual p

rodu

ctio

n

Year2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 2029 2031 2033 2035 2037 2039 2041 2043 2045





AWG-1production

platform

AME-1land location

























ndash20 0

Hydrate region

Plant


Phase envelope

Large ΔT

Large ΔP

Liquid

Gas

Pres

sure

(bar

a)

80 100 120 140 160

Supercritical

Platform

Reservoir

Wellhead

Bottomhole

SnoslashhvitGorgon

Peterhead

Northern Lights

Porthos

Sleipner

50

100

150

200
















Den Helder


LoCal



Char

py V

-not

ch e

nerg

y (J

)


250

200

150

100

50

010 15 20 25 30

FailPass






AUTHORS












CORE UPSTREAM



























Collect data
























Vegetation surveys

Wildlife monitoring

Shoreline surveys

Flood simulation

Sheen detection

Fin fans

Flare tips

Electrical lines

Transformers

Pipeline headers

Pipe racks

Cable trays

Jetty inspection


Solar panels


Flood simulation

Standing water

Drains

Seal inspection

Corrosion and holes

Ground slumping

Berm elevation

Tank bulging

Vegetation

CO2

Emissiondetection

Tank farminspection

Environmental

Dog monitoring

Routine patrol

Barrier intrusion


Social distancing

Temperature checks

Site security

Material monitoring

Logistics


Turnaround planning

Social distancing

Temperature checks

Project planning


Pond inspection


People finding

Oil spill response



Fire monitoring

Training record

Emergencycommand

Roof inspection


Sprinkler system


Road inspection


Real estate












a

b

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40

Metres0 5 10 20 30 40












AUTHORS




















CORE UPSTREAM



Main flow channel
























a b c d












Slug flow

Parallel flow

Parallel flow

1E-05 1E-04 1E-03 1E-02 1E-01

15

12

09


Salin

ity (

sod

ium

chlo

rid

e)

Ove

ropt

imum

Und

erop

timum

Interface



n-Decane n-Decane


a b c



Surfactantsolution

Oil

200 μm 100 μm

Glass chip

12 cm40 μm










Diameter = 4 mm

Inlet

Field ofview

4 mm

2 mm

20 m

m

4 mm

a c

b 1 mm

Dry scan

Clay

Quartz

0 10 20 30


40 45 46

Scan 2

Scan 2

48 4947 60 80

1

08

06

04

02

0

Time (min)

Oil

satu

ration

45 46 47 48 49

019 048 076 133

tfrac12 = 022 min

αt500 min

19 247040

035

030

025

020

015

Time (min)


Oil

satu

ration

Scan 4

Scan 4

Scan 6

Scan 6

Flow direction

a










a

07 mm

1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

b

449 451 458Time (min)

c

AE B

C

A


B

C

Flow direction

A B

C

4 mm

Scan 4 (451 min)

4 mm1

0

Oil

satu

rati

on

a

b


AUTHORS





REFERENCES





















a bOne spare

Loads


Two spare

Loads
















Battery pack

DC sytem

AC sytem




inverter

CANbus

∆Y

GridEnergy

managementsystem

PLCSCADA

RTUControl

Batterymanagement

system












0 s

fmin



Typically5ndash10 s

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)

Time (s)


25ndash1 0 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23

505

50

495

49

485

48

475

47

Freq

uen

cy (

Hz)


30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Act

ive

pow

er (

MW

)

Time (s)

5ndash1

10110009909809709609509409309209109

Voltage

per

unit

Time (s)5ndash1 1 2 3 401 2 3 40

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Rea

ctiv

e pow

er (

MVA

r)

Time (s)

a b

c d

















094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

voltage

(kV

)

Time (s)

094 104102100098096

400

200

0

ndash200

ndash400Transi

ent

curr

ent

(A)

Time (s)








AUTHORS







Electrolyte


Cathode (+)

Lithium metalcarbon


Lithium ion










NO

x (g

kW

h)


6705

5364

160920

001 0

1

001

3

013

4

025

35

50

70

02680027

04

002


Euro V 2008

Euro IV 2005

EPA 2004

EPA 1998

EPA 1994

Euro III 2000


Sulphur

10 ppmEPA 2015


































Fuel

dilu

tion

()

12

10

8

6

4

2

0


B20 B30 B40 B50 B60 B70 B80 B90 B100

FAM

E (

)

Fuel dilution ()

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

05 10 15 20 25 30 35














20better

66better




24better


78better




36better

70better





51better








AUTHORS





Pistonnumber

1

Finding and comment






Quest



Shell equity



Teesside

1 2

3

8

6 7

5 4


















Segment



Receiving terminal
















OffshoreCO2 storage

CO2 storage


Ship transport





















AUTHORS





REFERENCE



ad VENTURE







































































CompressorTurbine

Boilers


78Motor965

VSD98

Transformer99


99Transmission


965

Condenser



~60

~80

Low pressure

High pressure















Y ∆Y

Y∆

YY∆

∆Y∆

























AUTHORS














Time

Baseline shift

dP

a b c

Backwash


Preferential flow

Com

plet

ely

cont

amin

ated

filte

r can

dle

t = 0 t = e














dP (

bar)

Date and time

045040035030025020015010005

012-Aug1200

12-Aug1100

12-Aug1000

12-Aug0900

12-Aug0800

12-Aug0700

12-Aug0600

Top view


Feed in

Filtrate out



















Vacuumtower




Biocide (batch)





















Capital e

xpen

diture

(

)

Conventional Novel

100908070605040302010

0


Phyto

pla

nk

ton b

iom

ass

Phyt

opla

nkto

n 10ndash5

0-μ

m c

ell (

num

ber

ml)

10000000

100000

10000

1000

100

10

1

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

0


a b
















Condensatetank

Buffertank


Self-cleaning

filter

To clean

Cleaning water

Backwash truck

Cleaning truck

Wastewater











Clean water tank

Wastewater tank


Recycle pump

Feed pump


REFERENCE

AUTHORS






















EMERGING POWER






















Type ServiceUnit

capacity (MWe)

Power supply (kV)

Maximum steam

rate (th)Pressure

(barg)Temperature

(degC)Water




Parat Halvorsen


Precision Boilers



(DC) lt66 (AC)14 100





(DC) 66 (AC)20 100

(maximum)


proven technology)

Steam















High-voltage supply

Pressure control


Pressure safety

Throttle valve

Level safety

Blowdown

Processedfeed water

Level control

Steam outlet

Conductivitycontrol

Circulation pump






Drainblowdown








AUTHOR



































EMERGING POWER





































AUTHORS











EMERGING POWER














a

b










a

b









100 degF

95 degF

90 degF

85 degF

80 degF

75 degF

70 degF

65 degF












16 Jul 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 17 Jul

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()

sonnen charging


PV production

sonnen discharging

Heat pump intervals












21 Aug 0200 0400 0600 0800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 22 Aug

75007000650060005500500045004000350030002500200015001000

5000

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Time

Pow

er (W

)

State of charge ()



to meet load









Wind farm


Hydropower plant


Rooftop solar

Control centre










AUTHORS




(27 August 2019)

REFERENCES













EMERGING POWER












Pric

e ($

MW

h) 4540353025

200 250 300150500 100Time

State

of

charg

e (

) 100

80

60

40

20

0200 250 300150500 100

Time

Ass

et p

ower

(kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

200 250 300150500 100Time

a

b

c

BatteryLoad bank






Generator set

Load bank

Photovoltaics

Battery

Time (interval)

Change

to p

ow

er (

kW

) 300

200

100

0

ndash100

ndash200

ndash300

ndash400

ndash500

Asset power (kW)200 250 300150500 100

200 250 300150500 100




a

b




















Solar array

Tesla battery

Load bank




Solar

Battery



Grid

Mar

ket p

rice

expo

sure










AUTHORS




XTERNAL CONNECT








Xternal ConneCt


Shell TechXplorer D

igest - 2020



technology for now and the future - shell global · 4 shell techxplorer digest 22 3 6 85 regular...

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