Seven Shell personnel were at the Centre’s headquarters on a visit that also included representatives from FAPESP, FUSP, and USP’s Research Provost’s Office
A team of representatives from Shell’s research and technology area was at the FAPESP Shell Research Centre for Gas Innovation (RCGI), last October 10, on a visit to the Centre’s headquarters, in the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (Poli-USP), and to some of the laboratories used by its researchers. The group – composed of Yuri Sebregts, Executive Vice President of Technology; Christian George, Vice President of Wells, Deep Waters, and Surface Engineering Technologies; Jane Zhang, General Manager of Technology for Brazil; Camila Brandão, Deputy Director of Shell Brazil at the RCGI; Alexandre Breda and Pauline Boeira, Technical-Scientific Coordinators for Shell at the RCGI; and Giancarlo Ciola, Regional Manager of External Research – spent the entire morning at USP and left at nearly noon.
The guests were welcomed by nine RCGI members, which included Scientific Director Julio Meneghini; Kazuo Nishimoto, Director of the CO2 Abatement Program; and Reinaldo Giudici, Director of the Physical Chemistry Program and also Deputy Director of USP’s Polytechnic School. Also taking part in the visit were Luiz Nunes Oliveira, representative of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP); Sylvio Roberto Accioly Canuto, USP’s Research Provost; and Antonio Figueira, CEO of the University of São Paulo Foundation (FUSP).
“The objective of the visit was to present the RCGI and show both our physical and managerial infrastructure. They saw our facilities and the Numerical Test Tank (TPN), one of the fifteen laboratories where the RCGI carries out its projects,” Meneghini explained, remarking that Yuri Sebregts visited the site for the first time.
The agenda began with the presentations of Meneghini, Oliveira, Canuto, and Nishimoto. “We gave an overview of the progress of the studies, which the visitors were pleased to see, including the organization into structuring projects, which are those that have various other ones linked to them, like the salt cavern project for separating and storing CH4 and CO2, for example.” Meneghini said that the group talked at length with project coordinators and researchers, and was impressed with the level of the studies.
On the visit to the TPN, the guests were accompanied by Nishimoto and Meneghini. The visit ended with a brunch at the RCGI headquarters. The Centre’s Scientific Director explained that there is also an agenda of visits by the team of Rob Littel, who is Shell’s General Manager of Gas Separation, and those visits will be maintained, twice a year, to the RCGI. “They will come again at the end of November, then in May or June of 2019.”
Future – With the inclusion of a new project in the RCGI portfolio, regarding inverse problem solving, coordinated by Professor Bruno Carmo, the Centre will have more than 360 researchers in the coming months. Meneghini sees a lot of upcoming work.
“We will make a difference in terms of developing new technologies in the area of natural gas and the like. The climate issue is one more reason, but the question of natural gas is very important from an economic point of view. The Federal Government’s Gas for Growth program, for giving incentive to the Brazilian natural gas market, must continue, because of its importance to Brazil.”
He reminds that FAPESP and USP have given the RCGI enormous support. “We have a lot of work and everyone is motivated. Directing this Centre has been an exceptional experience for me.”