{"id":1953,"date":"2016-10-25T11:58:08","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T10:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sustainablegasinstitute.org\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2016-10-25T11:58:08","modified_gmt":"2016-10-25T10:58:08","slug":"sgri-2016-conference-my-reflections-on-natural-gas-innovation-and-sustainability-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/sustainable-gas-institute\/2016\/10\/25\/sgri-2016-conference-my-reflections-on-natural-gas-innovation-and-sustainability-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"SGRI 2016 Conference: My reflections on natural gas innovation and sustainability in Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Julia Sachs, a Research Associate at the Sustainable Gas Institute shares some insights from this year\u2019s Sustainable Gas Research and Innovation 2016 conference.\"Conference<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Last month, I had the opportunity to attend the first annual conference in natural gas sustainability and innovation, which took place in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil. One of the main aims of the conference, co-organised by the Sustainable Gas Institute (SGI)<\/a> and\u00a0Research Centre for Gas Innovation (RCGI)<\/a>, was to bring together international stakeholders from academia and industry, and to explore the role of natural gas in the global energy landscape and a low carbon world.<\/p>\n

\"university-of-sao-paulo-flotation-2\"<\/a>
Deep offshore wave generator tank<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

S\u00e3o Paulo was an excellent location for the conference as it\u2019s a key industrial hub in Brazil, and also responsible for 10.7% of Brazilian GDP.<\/p>\n

Before the conference, we had the opportunity to tour around the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) campus (where RCGI is based) and find out more about the research taking place at our sister institute, in the Laboratories of the Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering departments.<\/p>\n

It was really impressive to see the numerous experimental setups and how theoretical research was directly brought into practice. The highlight for me was the virtual reality simulator used for guiding boats into ports and also the deep offshore wave generator tank which serves as model for testing the durability of design for ships, renewable energy devices and offshore structures.<\/p>\n

For the Olympics, the tank had even been programmed to generate an image of the Brazilian flag. You can see the video in this tweet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The two day conference started with the directors from the co-hosting organisations, Prof \u00a0Nigel Brandon (SGI)<\/a> and Prof Julio Meneghini\u00a0(RCGI) introducing the keynote speakers, Dr Rob Littel (General Manager Gas Separation from Royal Dutch Shell)<\/a> and Prof. Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz (Scientific Director from FAPESP, the S\u00e3o Paulo Research Foundation).<\/a><\/p>\n

\"RCGI<\/a>
Dr Rob littel from Royal Dutch Shell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dr Rob Littel emphasised the current challenges faced by the industry; CO2 <\/sub>regulations, a lower oil price, and rising energy demand which will require a diverse energy landscape and a combination of fossil fuels and renewables as well as new innovations. Dr Littel described two promising separation technologies; the next-generation post combustion capture of CO2<\/sub>\u00a0potentially using solid sorbents and carbon molecular sieve membranes for natural gas separation to achieve a reduction of the amount of\u00a0space required and up to 60% cost savings.<\/p>\n

He also emphasised the need for a strong collaboration between universities and industry to successfully face these challenges, and that the role universities such as Imperial College and University of \u00a0S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) will play in identifying the most promising technology pathways.<\/p>\n

\"RCGI<\/a>
Prof Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz from FAPESP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second keynote was Prof. Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz, who emphasised the role of Brazil in meeting these challenges, in particular\u00a0S\u00e3o Paulo as an unique city\/state with significant economic, research and academic importance.<\/p>\n

In Brazil, nearly half (47%) of power is from renewables such as biofuels. He also mentioned how Brazil is the world’s second largest producer of ethanol fuel which uses an exclusive blend of ethanol and gasoline to run light vehicles. The question is\u00a0how to integrate renewables with natural gas.<\/p>\n

While travelling around S\u00e3o Paulo, we were aware of one of the major problems facing the city. Huge\u00a0traffic<\/em>\u00a0jam build ups to 100km long are common. Prof. Carlos Henrique de Brito Cruz mentioned this congestion issue, and the resulting high CO2<\/sub> emissions which requires technological innovations.<\/p>\n

The core of the conference consisted of a series of talks about ongoing projects of the RCGI and SGI covering a wide range of topics in areas such as engineering, physics, chemistry, modelling, economics, policy, and energy efficiency all under the linked to drive the wider research field of sustainable gas innovations.<\/p>\n

In total, RCGI<\/a> has 29 projects in different phases of a technology’s life cycle.<\/p>\n

As a member of the Energy System Modelling team, it was of particular interest to me to identify how energy models that could be applied to the different projects.<\/p>\n

In particular, Energy Systems Models such as those being developed at SGI (MUSE) will play an increasingly influential role to identify\u00a0trends in the energy market, the effects of policy regulations and the requirements needed and necessary actions to meet different environmental and economic objectives.<\/p>\n

\"muse-2\"<\/a>
A diagram of the MUSE model<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MUSE<\/a> is designed to generate plausible transitions of energy systems towards a low carbon economy with a specific focus on the role of gas in delivering a more sustainable future.<\/p>\n

One of the highlights of the conference was the panel discussion \u201cAn international perspective: Innovation in natural gas\u201d.<\/a> The list of speakers included global experts from academia, government and industry to discuss the opportunities and challenges with natural gas as well as to give a perspective about the innovation technologies that might be required.<\/p>\n

\"RCGI<\/a>
Dr Jim Watson and the panel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some key points were highlighted during the discussion:<\/p>\n