Florence Tan

SINGAPORE, (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (LON) announced Tuesday that it will build a pyrolysis engine upgrader in order to convert plastic waste to chemical feedstock at the petrochemical plant in Singapore. This is part of its transition from oil and natural gas to low-carbon and renewable energy.

Shell has five remaining chemical and energy parks worldwide, and the company may also consider building a regional carbon capture and storage hub (CCS), and a 550,000-tonne per year (tpy), biofuels facility at its Pulau Bukom site.

Huibert Vigeveno, Shell Downstream Director, said that the projects were part of Shell Singapore’s efforts to lower its overall emissions by 50% by 2030. This is a significant reduction from 2016.

He said that the company had already reduced by half its crude oil processing capacity this year. This is consistent with Shell’s international targets for reducing emissions.

Investors, activists, and governments are putting pressure on energy companies to move away from fossil fuels. They also want rapid investment in renewables.

Shell pledged to reduce global emissions by half by 2030 and net carbon footprint by at least 45% by 2035.

According to the company, in 2023, the Singapore pyrolysis oils upgrader will be producing 50,000 tonnes (tpy), of treated pyrolysis petroleum oil. This unit marks Shell’s debut globally. The investment amount for the Singapore project was not disclosed by Shell.

Although pyrolysis is not a commercially viable process, it can transform plastic waste into products like pyrolysis oils, which can then be used as raw material to make plastics.

Shell also plans to build two chemical conversion units in Asia to convert waste plastics into pyrolysis oil for the Shell Energy and Chemical Park Singapore at Bukom and Jurong Island, similar to units in the Netherlands with joint venture partner BlueAlp which will be operational in 2023.

A hub for carbon capture and storage (CCS), to help reduce emissions, is another project that’s being developed in Singapore.

Vigeveno stated that Shell is considering investing in 550,000 tonnes of biofuels per year to meet its global goal of making around 2,000,000 tonnes sustainable aviation fuel each year by 2025.

Shell previously stated that it would test hydrogen fuel cells on ships in Singapore. Shell is also exploring the possibility of developing a solar farm near Bukom.