SHELL and ITM Power have announced a plan to build the world’s largest hydrogen electrolysis plant at Shell’s Rheinland refinery in Wesseling, Germany.
The 17m t/y refinery uses around 180,000 t/y of hydrogen obtained through steam-reforming natural gas, to process and upgrade the refinery’s products. The new electrolysis plant, called ‘Refhyne’, will produce 1,300 t/y of hydrogen, and will be fully integrated into the refinery’s processes. As well as providing some of the refinery’s hydrogen, it will enable Shell and ITM Power to test the technology and explore applications in other sectors.
Refhyne will use a polymer electrolyte membrane technology process and will have a peak capacity of 10 MW. ITM’s electrolysis technology uses a stack of electrolysis cells with proton exchange membranes to split the water.
“This new unit at Rheinland enables hydrogen to be made from electricity rather than natural gas. A unit of this kind brings a flexibility that can help the stability of the power grid, thereby facilitating more use of renewable electricity,” said Lori Ryerkerk, executive vice president of Shell Manufacturing. “In addition, if powered by renewable electricity, the green hydrogen will help reduce the carbon intensity of the site – a key goal for us.”
The project partners, which as well as Shell and ITM include SINTEF, thinkstep and Element Energy, have received €10m (US$12.2m) in funding from the EU’s Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, a public-private partnership to support research and technical development of fuel cell and hydrogen technology. The total investment in the project is around €20m.
The partners will now begin the detailed technical planning and process. Refhyne is expected to start up in 2020. If successful, Shell plans to expand the facility.
“The Rhineland 10 MW system will be the largest PEM electrolyser in the world. It represents the maturing of PEM technology for large scale, industrial applications. We are honoured to be working with Shell and the project team to deploy this plant at one of Europe’s flagship refineries,” said Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power.
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: 
MORE DETAILS:
A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
