SHV Energy Open Innovation Competition Winners

November 8, 2021

Congratulations to all the winners in the Open Innovation Challenge towards advancing bioLPG with SHV Energy

The sustainable fuels team at SHV Energy set up an open innovation challenge. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K0dUNu5KU8&t=69s

The challenge was :

Seeking pathways to produce C3/C4 saturated hydrocarbons (LPG) from sustainable feedstocks with high yields.

140 people participated in the open innovation webinar which led to 27 proposals from around the world and we ate Drochaid are very proud to be one of th e5 proposals to be funded to carry out the research outlined in the proposal.

SHV

“BioLPG is currently a by-product in the production of renewable diesel. SHV Energy wants to expand available feedstock use and prioritise the production of bioLPG as a primary fuel. To realise that and develop commercially viable and scalable facilities and processes, a wide range of sustainable feedstock including wastes and residues needs to be considered.

SHV Energy has the bold ambition for all energy products it supplies to be from sustainable and renewable sources by 2040. As a leading global distributor of LPG and LNG, they invest in research and development to find novel ways to produce sustainable fuels such as bioLPG, bioLNG, rDME, hydrogen and other sustainable ‘future’ fuels. Innovation is considered essential to realise these goals. This first Open Innovation challenge for bioLPG has shown a large global interest in this topic.

The winners’ research proposals focus on feedstocks like seaweed, starch, agricultural wastes and CO2. They all include novel and different catalysts and processes that will increase yields.

Rebecca Groen, SHV Energy Director Sustainable Fuels explains “We want to increase the impact we can have and help our customers in defossilising their energy use. To realise that, we are constantly on the lookout for partnerships with organisations and individuals globally that can help us to develop the knowledge and technologies that are required. This Open Innovation challenge has delivered new and innovative partners beyond our initial expectations.”

Dr Keith Simons, SHV Energy Principal Scientist, echoes this and is delighted with the response received. “The quality of the proposals was very high, many different and creative solutions that sparked excellent discussions with the participants. The evaluation panel had a tough job trying to find a winner, so much so that we ended up with five winners instead of one!”
Winners receive € 50.000 in financial investment in their research project and most importantly, a partnership with SHV Energy to leverage the knowledge, networks and infrastructure of both organisations for mutual benefit.

Dr Jianke liu is looking forward to presenting Drochaid Research Services proposal at the webinar on the 23rd on November (SHV Energy 2021 Sustainable Fuels Open Innovation Challenge winners webinar https://lnkd.in/d7E3eT74).