麻豆传媒

Jagdish Rao is a Technical Service Engineer at Shell Catalysts & Technologies based at Shell Technology Centre, Bangalore. He has worked at Shell for about 15 years in different countries, including The Netherlands, Singapore and India.

In this interview on 鈥�How I Make Every Molecule Matter鈥�, Jagdish discusses the challenges of the energy transition across the world and how catalysts can play a key part in providing solutions to support the energy transition. Jagdish focusses on Ethylene-Oxide (EO) catalysts and technologies that are essential in the production of EO, an intermediate chemical, used to manufacture several products that touch our lives daily such as polyester fibers, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, soaps/detergents and even hand sanitizers. Catalysts are essential in helping customers achieve continuous improvement in product yields, energy efficiency and the carbon dioxide (CO₂) footprint of the products manufactured. Catalysts can be tailored to cope with different feeds enabling customers to transition from fossil based to renewable feed sources.

1. You鈥檝e been able to work in several different regions of the world. What does the energy transition mean to each of these regions?

Different regions of the world are in various stages of their energy transition. Each has different challenges, but they are all looking towards the future with a sense of optimism.

In India, where I currently work, the  is in the initial stages. Governments and leaders have set out ambitious targets with the eventual goal to achieve net zero.  Overall, the industry has yet to adjust to this change as only a few large companies in the energy sector have taken up this challenge by outlining bold business plans with commitments for investments. This creates uncertainty regarding how the energy transition will impact current business plans as consumer demand for energy and chemical products continues to grow. Companies want to invest in more energy efficient technologies and products, but not at the cost of current business. This means having a secure supply of energy, fuels and chemicals is prioritized with energy transition ambitions not fully realized.

Comparatively, Europe is in a much more advanced stage. It started with strong public support for energy transition initiatives and the government has responded accordingly. Governments have provided more support for the industry to enable the transition such as subsidies and tax incentives.

In Singapore, the government is clear on their plan to handle the energy transition. There is significant government support, with innovative measures such as targeting imports of liquefied natural gas(LNG)/natural gas from producers with the lowest carbon footprint. There is also a keen focus on hydrogen with both the government and industry looking to establish Singapore as a future hub for hydrogen similar to its current status as a hub for LNG markets in the region 

2. How does your current work support energy transition initiatives?

I work as a technical service engineer, supporting and enabling sales of Ethylene Oxide (EO) catalysts and technologies. I work closely with the Research & Development organization, EO/glycols Centre of Expertise (COE) and the regional sales manager to develop differentiated solutions for customers in India and the region.

For instance, we collaborated with an EO catalyst customer, supporting their energy transition journey. Instead of using traditional fossil-based feedstock, this customer produces ethylene from ethanol. The ethanol itself is produced from renewable sources. A key pain point for this customer is that they see a high amount of sulphur in their ethylene feed as a result of its production from ethanol. Shell Catalysts & Technologies supported the customer by customizing the EO catalyst so that it could work just as well with the higher sulphur feed allowing the customer to achieve high product yields 鈥� key to establishing a profitable process. Now, the customer can produce high-quality EO and Monoethylene Glycol (MEG) from renewable feeds, which attracts a premium from the market during favorable market conditions.

Discover: Working towards India鈥檚 energy transformation

3. You were part of a MEG expansion project at Shell Jurong Island in Singapore in your last assignment. Can you share more insights into that project?

It was my most rewarding experience. It enabled me to work across the Shell organization and experience the full project lifecycle 鈥� from concept development to design, execution and start up.

The project was to expand the MEG production capacity at Shell鈥檚 Jurong Island site. This is a world-scale MEG production facility based on the award winning Shell OMEGA process. The process is used for producing MEG from ethylene in a two-stage, fully catalytic process.

Additionally, the project was a brownfield project. This means that we didn鈥檛 build a new asset, but instead expanded on the existing asset.

During the execution phase of the project, we faced a challenge that would significantly expand the scope of the project. It was necessary to cope with a process safeguarding case. In simpler terms, several additional relief devices were needed with expanded capacity, leading to potential major changes in plant layout and possibly even structural design implications. This would make the project less attractive to pursue. To mitigate this, the project team adopted a Minimum Technical Solution (MTS) approach, where the scope was broken down into the essential steps necessary for the safety and reliability of the project, while other items were assessed based on the incremental value generation evaluated against the capital expenditure (CAPEX) expansion.

To model the safeguarding case, a dynamic simulation was developed with support from engineers to assess credible scenarios and design accordingly. With this approach, we were able to optimize the scope, lowering the CAPEX while not compromising on safety and reliability. This improved the attractiveness of the project and played an important part in making it a success.

Read more: The challenges of leadership: Maintaining innovation in ethylene oxide production

4. What is the most interesting thing you have learned through your years of experience?

The most interesting thing I have learned is how to be customer-centric. I know that is sometimes used as a buzzword, but I鈥檝e learned that adopting this approach is critical for our success as an organization. We must work hard to match customer needs with the right products and solutions. Not only that, but we must be highly competitive as well. So, applying this mantra in my work has been highly rewarding and interesting.

5. What are you looking forward to most regarding the energy transition?

I hope to see more energy transition solutions that can stand up independently, meaning they do not need government support or incentives. I also expect those solutions to be more economically attractive, so that they can effectively compete and win over the current solutions. I think this will come through collaboration with partners, governments and customers in ways that enable us to push ourselves to innovate and deliver. I鈥檓 looking to contribute towards developing solutions that make sense both commercially and socially as this will ensure that the change is sustainable.