Shell moves to hit biofuel barriers for six

London - Royal Dutch Shell plc has signed six biofuels research agreements with academic institutions (full list below) in the UK, Brazil, China and the US, as part of a programme designed to accelerate Shell’s own research and development in the area of raw materials and biofuels production processes.

The agreements, which will last between two and five years, will complement Shell’s biofuels research and technology team, which works out of centres in Thornton in Chester, UK; Westhollow in Houston, US; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Bangalore, India. The research tie ups will also complement Shell’s partnerships with five companies working on commercial application of new biofuels technologies.

"We know that adding to our knowledge through genuine and nimble partnerships with top experts worldwide will be critical to speed and success in the fast-moving area of biofuels," said Dr. Graeme Sweeney, Shell executive vice president future fuels and CO2. "We have been working with some partners for a good while already but are delighted to announce these six collaborations.”

Commenting on the collaboration, Professor Nick Turner, director of CoEBio3 added: “White biotechnology has traditionally been the preserve of the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries but is poised to expand dramatically over the next few years. CoEBio3 is extremely excited at the prospect of working with Shell in this innovative programme to further existing techniques in the field and develop new, ground-breaking technology.”

Shell's new research agreements are with:

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Massachusetts, US; the University of Campinas (Unicamp), Sao Paulo, Brazil; the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMCAS), Beijing, China; the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (QIBEBT), Qingdao, China; the Centre of Excellence for Biocatalysis, Biotransformations and Biocatalytic Manufacture (CoEBio3) based at Manchester University, UK; and the School of BioSciences Exeter University, UK.