(Yicai Global) Oct. 23 -- British-Dutch oil firm Royal Dutch Shell aims to popularize more environmentally friendly energy sources, such as hydrogen and biomass fuels, in the Chinese market. The company has alsoset up its first electric vehicle charging points in a gas station in northeastern China's city of Tianjin.

Shell is talking with its Chinese partners to support the application of ethanol gasoline, state-backed The Paper reported Mark Gainsborough, the firm's executive vice president and president of its new energy business, as saying. Gainsborough was interviewed at the 2018 Move to the Future energy festival held from Oct. 19 to Oct. 21 in Xi'an in northwestern Shaanxi province.

Shell North China Petroleum Group, a joint venture between The Hague-based oil firm and Tianjin State Farms Agribusiness Group, announced setting up an electric vehicle charging station in Tianjin in late September while the energy professional hinted that more will come later.

Shell is also exploring hydrogen energy and biomass fuels as it would be a good solution to replace energy-demanding lithium batteries with hydrogen energy in heavy-duty vehicles, according to Gainsborough.

China is one of the most potential global markets for hydrogen battery commercial vehicles, and the demand will increase, Gainsborough suggested. The firm built the first commercial hydrogen station in Shanghai in 2009 and now the base is run by Tongji University.

Shell also has mature technologies in biomass fuels which can convert food, waste paper and plastic waste into diesel and gasoline for internal combustion engine vehicles, and wants to co-develop such solutions with Chinese partners, the businessman said.

The company also finds a great opportunity in the long-distance truck sector for liquified natural gas, Gainsborough said. LNG is an important cleaner energy, and coal-to-gas projects in northern China have produced immediate effects in improving air quality, according to the energy professional who works for China's largest LNG importer.

Editor: Emmi Laine