Exploring Power-to-liquid line-ups and evaluating novel HPS catalyst benefits towards Shell’s Energy Transition strategy

The concept of hybrid GTL-PTL (Gas-to-Liquid, Power-to-Liquid) has been focused on exploring the potential benefit of processing natural gas alongside renewable power and renewable hydrogen, where the intermittent use of natural gas is aimed at addressing the problem of renewable energy irregular availability while at the same time bringing production costs down. Another relevant point of study is to develop an understanding on what would be needed for revamping a hybrid GTL-PTL facility starting with a relatively low PTL component to a high PTL component over the asset lifetime. Adapting GTL technology towards full PTL viability is one of the future key enablers for Shell to achieve the Energy Transition Strategy towards net-zero emissions of its activities.
The aim of the project is to explore ways of optimizing integration and operation making use of the most advanced GTL catalysts and to evaluate PTL line-ups around the potential of flexible daily operations and the benefit of natural gas assisted PTL. A complementary analysis on when these various PTL concepts would become economically attractive from an operation cost perspective is also within scope of the project, considering feedstock costs and product outputs.
This work continues previous Shell projects in which different simulation environments were developed with the aim of better understanding GTL-PTL asset integration. A merger between the Daily Optimizer and Lifetime Optimizer environments allows for the consideration of factors like reactor downtime or catalyst activity loss overtime within the reactors for a more complete perspective on the behavior of the process and a more accurate economic assessment of its viability.