Shell Collaborates With BASF For Green Hydrogen Purification

Germany’s largest chemical company, BASF (Baden Aniline and Soda Factory) has announced that it has forged a partnership with Shell to evaluate and de-risk BASF’s Puristar R0-20 and Sorbead Adsorption Technology for use in green hydrogen production.

The official statement by BASF holds that the two technologies will serve the purpose of purifying and dehydrating the product hydrogen stream from water electrolysis process. This can then be further used for liquification and transportation purposes. This will make possible the employment of green hydrogen as an energy source or chemical feedstock.

The oil company has added Puristar and Sorbead technologies to its portfolio for use in global green hydrogen projects of Shell.

BASF has informed that the hydrogen product stream from water electrolysis contains impurities in the form of water and remnant oxygen. These need to be eliminated before downstream processing or prior to the utilization of hydrogen. The Puristar R0-20 catalyst works by first removing the oxygen at the DeOxo Unit, where it is converted into water. This is followed by the dehydration of hydrogen through Sorbead Adsorption Technology.

Once purified, this hydrogen can be a source of energy or chemical feedstock.  Furthermore, to facilitate the optimization of DeOxo units operating downstream of an electrolyzer, BASF has come up with a new DeOxo design tool making the design of smaller DeOxo vessels possible. This provides CapEx and OpEx benefits to the project.

Operating at low temperatures and with minimal precious metal content in the catalyst, Puristar R0-20 catalyst boasts of high standards of efficiency.  The BASF Sorbead Adsorption, at the same time, has its own share of benefits for green hydrogen applications, including a minimal energy footprint compared to alternative materials, reliability, simple operation, high capacity for water, and lower regeneration temperatures compared to activated alumina or molecular sieves.

Detlef Ruff, Senior Vice President, Process Catalysts at BASF, says, “BASF shares the ambition of Shell to work towards net-zero emissions in the future. Green hydrogen is a major component in achieving this goal and the de-risking of Puristar R0-20 and Sorbead Adsorption Technology for Shell’s projects will support us on our way.”

The company has shared that customers stand to gain from long life, operational turndown flexibility and immediate on-spec gas at startup.

It may be noted that Shell has been undertaking investigation operation for quite some time now and has tasted success in the area. To enumerate, it lent participation by becoming a founding member of the H2A consortium that facilitated the mass market rollout of hydrogen trucks in Europe. In 2021 Shell, MaierKorduletsch and Paul Nutzfahrzeuge, pioneered a first medium-duty fuel cell truck to establish the hydrogen market. The same year witnessed Shell’s Energy and Chemicals Park Rheinland kicking off operations to produce green hydrogen through Europe’s largest PEM hydrogen electrolyser.