Besides a whole series of events and visits, the institution’s portfolio gained 16 new projects, all of which focusing on carbon capture and storage (CCS).
An extensive line-up of activities marked the year 2017 at the FAPESP-Shell Research Centre for Gas Innovation (RCGI). Besides inserting new projects to its portfolio, the RCGI organized workshops, visits, presentations, and other events. Its researchers published in scientific magazines, took part in conferences, and filed for three patents, which are already in the final stages of the process – as a direct result of the research performed by the Centre’s scientists.
Throughout the year, six workshops were organized, the highlight being the “Workshop on technologies for capturing, storing and using CO2 in different formations”, held in the auditorium of USP’s Energy and Environment Institute (IEE/USP), in November. The presentations dealt with such subjects as the storage of CO2 in non-conventional reservoirs in Brazil; economic and political issues of storing CO2; computational nanotechnology applied to the petroleum and natural gas industry; and CO2 injection in coal layers for producing methane.
The RCGI also welcomed visits by representatives of research institutions and governments from other countries at its headquarters, including the Ambassador of The Netherlands to Brazil, Han Peters, and the Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Brazil, Vijay Rangarajan, both of whom visited in December.
In conjunction with the Sustainable Gas Institute (SGI) – a sister institution of the RCGI headquartered in the Imperial College London – the Sustainable Gas Research & Innovation Conference 2017 was held in September. The conference was attended by more than a dozen foreign researchers, as well as the entire RCGI team, plus representatives from government, companies, development agencies, and various research institutions.
Throughout the year, RCGI’s researchers also took part in large-scale international events, such as the International Gas Union Research Conference (IGRC), which took place in May, in Rio de Janeiro.
New Projects – In 2017, the RCGI added 16 new projects to its portfolio in a new programme focusing on CO2 abatement. “With this new program, another one hundred researchers joined the current 150, including professors, post-doctoral, Ph.D., and Masters candidates, as well as undergraduate science students,” stated Julio Meneghini, RCGI’s Scientific Director. He stressed the importance of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) for the world to be able to achieve the carbon emissions reduction goals established in 2015 in Paris, at COP 21. “Petroleum, natural gas, and coal make up, respectively, 31.1%, 21.4%, and 28.9% world’s energy matrix. Even if we were to quintuple the use of biofuels, that would not be enough to meet the climate goals that were agreed upon. That is the reason that the CCS technologies are so important.”
Publications and Media – Since RCGI’s founding, approximately 48 articles have been published in various scientific periodicals. The RCGI has also been gaining more space in the media. It has been the focus of more than one hundred news items in the press, which is the fruit of the dissemination work done with all of the projects of the three existing programs up through last year.