Page 29 - Port Of Hamburg Magazine 04.2019

INNOVATIVE INDUSTRY ■
SHELL CONDUCTS RESEARCH INTO FUELS AND LUBRICANTS AT ITS CUTTING-EDGE LABORATORIES IN WILHELMSBURG
Shell in Hamburg – Power for research, production and Formula 1
Shell in Germany has been closely associated with Hamburg and the port for over a century. With its German headquarters near the airport, its tank farm in Harburg, the adjacent Shell Technology Centre (STCHa) and lubricants plant in Grasbrook, Shell combines production, marketing, research and administration in the Hanseatic City.
Within the worldwide Shell Group, the Shell Technol- ogy Centre on Hoher Schaar in Wilhelmsburg is seen as the centre of expertise for fuel and lubricant re- search. Almost 300 scientists work there on sustain- able energy solutions for the future. They aim to make fossil fuels such as diesel and petrol cleaner, and are developing alternative fuels. For instance, Shell is active in researching and developing the pro- duction of synthetic fuels using wind and solar ener- gy. Its researchers work closely with vehicle manu- facturers on that.
MADE IN HAMBURG – SYNTHETIC FUELS
The Shell Technology Centre in Hamburg-Wilhelms- burg also active in Formula 1. Experts there are linked by a direct land line with Scuderia Ferrari in Monza, Italy. These Hamburgians blend the fuel for Ferrari’s Formula 1 pilots for every weekend of racing, taking it to the relevant venues by air, rail or truck.
MORE THAN 700 PRODUCTS ENSURE EXCELLENT LUBRICATION
Just 200 metres away as the crow flies from Shell Technology Centre’s laboratory, Grasbrook Lubri- cants Centre – GLC – covers an area of 28 hectares. GLC is the worldwide Shell Group’s second largest lubricants plant. With a history stretching back to 1888, it is one of Shell’s earliest sites. On its west side, it offers waterside loading on Reiherstieg. In- land tankers berth here daily, while seagoing ones feed the plant with crude/basic oils.
Some of the tank vessels arrive direct from Qatar, where Shell Offshore Gas drills, with base oils being among the local products from its gas. Produced from gas, such base oils burn considerably more cleanly than those derived from crude oil. The base oils delivered in Hamburg are stored, then enriched in the blending plant with special additives made with formulas known only to Shell. The plant supplies a to-
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