By Ed Crooks
Published: December 12 2007 02:00 | Last updated: December 12 2007 02:00
Royal Dutch Shell hopes to build a commercial plant producing biodiesel from algae in two years’ time, following the launch yesterday of a joint venture to develop a research project in Hawaii.
The joint venture, with Hawaii-based HR Biopetroleum, will initially build a small research plant but hopes to move to a full-scale commercial plant of 20,000 hectares. Shell said it expected yields of about 60 tonnes of oil per hectare a year, meaning a full-scale plant would produce 1.2m tonnes of oil a year.
The two companies did not reveal the size of the investment, but Shell will have a majority stake in the company, called Cellana.
Shell has held back from production of first-generation biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel from vegetable oil, focusing on second-generation fuels that can be produced from non-food plants or plant waste. It has argued that government support for biofuels ought to give greater incentives to second-generation products on the grounds they are likely to have much better environmental performance, particularly in cutting carbon dioxide emissions.
Graeme Sweeney, Shell’s head of future fuels, suggested that biodiesel from algae would need such support to be viable. He said: “The issue for us is that we are here investing in providing sustainable routes to biofuel with a low-carbon footprint.”
As a biofuel product, algae has advantages over traditional crops. It uses less space and can been grown in salt water, relieving pressure on agricultural land and fresh water, among the biggest problems associated with first-generation biofuels. It also has higher yields.
Shell said its “conservative” estimate of an annual oil yield of 60 tonnes per hectare was 15 times the four tonnes a year possible with jatropha, a biofuel crop being pioneered by D1 Oils in partnership with BP.
But Mr Sweeney admitted there was a long way to go to prove the commercial viability of the process.
Separately, Shell confirmed that it had sold its rural solar businesses in India and Sri Lanka and was selling the equivalent business in the Philippines.
However, it said it had not given up on solar power, and was investing in a pilot project in Germany in a joint venture with Saint-Gobain.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
