A CLEAN
PATH FORWARD 
Cellana represents Shell’s ongoing effort to develop a new generation of biofuels using sustainable, non-food raw materials
CELLANA:
THE SHELL / HR BIOPETROLUEM JOINT VENTURE
Royal Dutch Shell plc and HR BioPetroleum have established a joint venture, called Cellana, to build a pilot facility in Hawaii to grow marine algae and produce vegetable oil for conversion into biofuel.
Cellana is a further step in Shell’s ongoing effort to develop a new generation of biofuels using sustainable, non-food raw materials. Algae hold great promise because they grow very rapidly, are rich in vegetable oil and can be cultivated in ponds of seawater or brackish water, thereby minimizing the use of arable land and fresh water.
Construction of a demonstration facility has begun on the Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. The site, leased from the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), is near existing commercial algae enterprises, primarily serving the pharmaceutical and nutrition industries.
Shell plans to expand the 2.5-hectare (269,000 square foot) pilot project to a 1,000-hectare facility after two years and later to a full-scale commercial 20,000-hectare plant. (1)
The facility will grow only non-modified, marine microalgae species in open-air ponds using proprietary technology. Algae strains used will be indigenous to Hawaii or approved by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture. Protection of the local environment and marine ecosystem has been central to facility design. Once the algae are harvested, the vegetable oil will be extracted. The facility’s small production volumes will be used for testing.
Shell plans to target the European Union market once production comes on stream in two years' time. The EU has a goal of 5.75 percent biofuel in all fuel used for transportation by 2010 and 10 percent by 2020. Currently biofuels account for less than 1 percent of EU fuel consumption. (1)
Biodiesel constitutes 80 percent of EU biofuels, according to research company Frost & Sullivan Inc. Shell believes Cellana provides the opportunity in due course to meet the volume required in the EU. (1)
With the ever increasing fuel-versus-food debate, oils from algae will become an increasingly attractive alternative to oils from soybeans or ethanol from corn. Shell expects that microalgae will produce conservatively 60 tons of oil per hectare, compared with an average of 4 tons of oil per hectare for jatropha. (1)
Algae can be used as a feedstock to produce a very high grade diesel fuel. According to Shell, transport-fuel demand will rise 45 percent from 2006 levels to more than 60 million barrels a day by 2030, with the share of biofuels expanding from 1 percent to 7 percent. (1)
Algae Research
An academic research program will support the Kona Demonstration Facility program, screening natural microalgae species to determine which ones produce the highest yields and the most vegetable oil. The program will include scientists from the Universities of Hawaii, Southern Mississippi and Dalhousie, in Nova Scotia, Canada.
An advantage of algae is their rapid growth. They can double their mass several times a day and produce at least 15 times more oil per hectare than alternatives such as rape, palm soya or jatropha. Moreover, facilities can be built on coastal land unsuitable for conventional agriculture. Over the long term, algae cultivation facilities also have the potential to absorb or ‘capture’ waste CO2 directly from industrial facilities such as power plants. The Cellana demonstration facility will use bottled CO2 to explore this potential.
Royal Dutch Shell plc, which owns a majority share in the joint venture, is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 130 countries, with businesses including: oil and gas exploration; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals; and renewable energy projects including wind, solar and biofuels.
(1) Shell, BioPetroleum to Build Algae Plant to Make Fuel, Dec. 11, 2007, Bloomberg