Catalysis R&D at Shell: from Nanotechnology to Mega Projects

Dr. Carl Mesters

Chief Scientist for Chemistry and Catalysis, The Shell Global Solutions

Date: November 19, 2009

Time: 4:00 p.m.

Location: ESB 1001

Catalysis is the study of understanding and influencing the rate of chemical reactions, of changing substances into another. It aims to increase the reaction rates resulting in the desired products and also to limit the rates leading to undesirable side streams. For an energy company like Shell, this is relevant because almost all the energy we deal with is stored in the form of chemical energy in substances as oil, natural gas and biomass. Starting from crude oil in our refineries and petrochemical manufacturing sites, it takes a lot of change to make suitable products like transportation fuels, lubricants and chemicals (substances suitable as building blocks for other materials). As of recently, we also start from natural gas to make these products. In addition, catalysts, as a product, is a significant business for Shell. Catalysis is an excellent manifestation of nanotechnology, a field of applied science and technology whose unifying theme is the control of matter on the atomic and molecular scale, generally 100 nanometers or smaller, and the fabrication of devices with critical dimensions that lie within that size range. In this seminar, we will link this nanotechnology with a mega-project currently under construction, the Shell Gas-to-Liquids project in Qatar.
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Carl Mesters is a Dutch national; he joined Shell in 1984, where he currently works as Managing Researcher at the Westhollow Technology Center in Houston. In 2005 he was appointed Shell’s Chief Scientist for Chemistry & Catalysis. He is active in catalysis and process R&D across many areas, resulting in more than 50 patents filed. Carl has been Chairman of the Catalysis Society of the Royal Dutch Chemical Association. Currently he is a member of the research committee of NIOK, the Netherlands Institute for Catalysis Research. He holds a degree in Physical and Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands, where he also completed a research Ph.D.