A partir da leitura do PEMAT 2022, referência sobre a expansão da malha dutoviária no Brasil, constata-se que não há previsão de novos gasodutos no médio prazo, fato que prejudica os planos do governo Federal de aumentar a participação do gás natural no mix energético nacional, atualmente responsável por 12,9% da oferta interna de energia. Nesse sentido, surge a possibilidade da indústria do gás natural e de seus consumidores se beneficiarem da infraestrutura existente das ferrovias, a partir do transporte de GNL (gás natural liquefeito) em pequena escala, através de vagões-tanque e contêineres criogênicos. A viabilidade no contexto brasileiro é justificada pelo cenário atual de limitado alcance da rede de gasodutos, grandes distâncias percorridas e potencial oferta de gás natural de fontes energéticas não-convencionais, como os campos do pré-sal e as bacias sedimentares com gás de folhelho. Ainda que a temática seja incipiente no setor do gás natural internacional, experiências bem-sucedidas como as do Japão, dos EUA e da Suécia trazem boas perspectivas de adoção do modal ferroviário para a distribuição do GNL para regiões não atendidas pelas redes de gasodutos. Nos três casos, foram descritos a conjuntura energética, a matriz de transportes e os condicionantes operacionais, no sentido de detectar possíveis similaridades e trazê-las para o Brasil. No caso brasileiro, os mesmos parâmetros foram analisados, além de identificadas algumas das possíveis demandas como, por exemplo, uma maior participação no setor agropecuário e a substituição do diesel utilizado nas locomotivas por GNL. O Brasil reúne as condições mínimas para o funcionamento do modal ferroviário como distribuidor de GN pelo país, porém depende do desenvolvimento destes parâmetros para amadurecimento do mercado de gás natural. / Regarding the PEMAT 2022, Brazils pipeline network expansion reference, it is shown that new pipelines are not foreseen in the medium term, which could impair the Federal governments plans to increase natural gas share in the national energy mix, currently responsible for 12,9% of the total primary energy supply. In this sense, it is possible for the natural gas industry and its consumers to benefit from the existing railroad infrastructure, to haul LNG (liquefied natural gas) on a small-scale, through tank wagons and cryogenic containers. The Brazilian contexts viability is justified by the current scenario of limited gas pipelines range, large distances traveled and potential natural gas supply from unconventional energy sources, such as pre-salt fields and sediment basins with shale gas. Although the topic is incipient in the international natural gas sector, successful experiences such as those in Japan, the USA and Sweden have good prospects for adopting the rail modal for the distribution of LNG to regions not served by pipeline networks. In all three cases, the energy scenario, the transport matrix and the operational constraints were described, in order to detect possible similarities and bring them to Brazil. In the Brazilian case, the same parameters were analyzed, in addition to identified demands, such as a greater participation in the agricultural sector and the replacement of diesel used in locomotives for LNG. Brazil meets the minimum conditions for the operation of the railway modal as natural gas distributor among the country but depends on the development of these parameters for the development of the natural gas market.

O presente trabalho analisa o papel que a avaliação da conformidade de produtos, pessoas, serviços e instalações apresenta dentro do processo da construção de infraestrutura predial para a distribuição e uso dos gases combustíveis. Analisam-se as condições obrigatórias para a garantia de segurança ao consumidor final na expansão desse mercado nos países em desenvolvimento como o Brasil. Discute-se a necessidade do controle de um conjunto de objetos (elementos e agentes) diretamente vinculados a essa infraestrutura e a sua correlação com os aspectos de qualidade e segurança no setor. Parte-se do levantamento dos conceitos de avaliação da conformidade e das metodologias e critérios de seleção, aplicáveis a cenários específicos para determinação dos sistemas ideais a serem utilizados. Esse aparato conceitual é aplicado ao estudo de caso dos sistemas de avaliação da conformidade existentes no segmento do gás em países representantes dos principais blocos econômicos internacionais. Realiza-se uma análise comparativa entre os diversos cenários pesquisados, apresentando um exercício de reflexão a respeito da situação de integração dos sistemas de avaliação da conformidade para o setor do gás. O trabalho desenvolve uma análise crítica do cenário brasileiro, a partir do estabelecimento de um modelo ideal de sistema integrado de avaliação da conformidade, contemplando os principais objetos vinculados à infraestrutura para distribuição e uso do gás no segmento residencial. Avaliam-se detalhes da situação de conformidade de materiais, mão de obra, empresas instaladoras e instalações no Brasil, em contraponto ao modelo ideal e a realidade internacional. A observação da situação dos sistemas de avaliação da conformidade no cenário internacional indica a necessidade de sistemas integrados e aplicáveis aos objetos (materiais, mão de obra, serviços e instalações prediais) vinculados à infraestrutura predial para distribuição e uso residencial de gases combustíveis. Igualmente, relaciona a existência desses sistemas com a diminuição de acidentes e o aumento da segurança no setor. A análise crítica sobre a situação brasileira, em comparação com os sistemas de avaliação da conformidade ideais e a realidade internacional, revela fragilidades e dificuldades nacionais que precisam ser superadas. / This paper examines the role that the conformity assessment of products, persons, services and installations presents within the process of building infrastructure construction for gas distribution and use. Analyze the conditions required for the security guarantee to the consumer in the expansion of this market in developing countries like Brazil. It discusses the need for control of a set of objects (elements and agents) directly linked to this infrastructure and its correlation with quality and safety aspects in the industry. Part of the survey of conformity assessment concepts and methodologies and selection criteria, which apply to specific scenarios for determination of ideal systems to be used. This conceptual framework is applied to the case study of conformity assessment systems existing in the segment of the gas in countries representatives of major international economic blocs. Performs a comparative analysis between the various scenarios surveyed, showing an exercise of reflection on the situation of conformity assessment integrated systems for the gas sector. The work develops a critical analysis of the Brazilian scenario, from the establishment of an ideal model of conformity assessment integrated system, covering key subjects related to the infrastructure for distribution and use of gas in the residential segment. Assesses compliance situation details of materials, labor, installation companies and facilities in Brazil, in contrast to the ideal model and international reality. The observation of the conformity assessment systems situation in the international scenario indicates the need for integrated systems and applicable to objects (material, labor, services and facilities) related to building infrastructure for distribution and residential use of gas. Also, relates the existence of these systems with the decrease of accidents and increased security in the industry. Critical analysis on the situation in Brazil, compared with the ideals conformity assessment systems and international reality, reveals weaknesses and national problems that must to be overcome.

[pt] Para que ocorra o fluxo de fluidos em um sistema de produção é necessário que a energia dos fluidos no reservatório seja capaz de superar as perdas de carga nos diversos componentes do sistema. Os fluidos têm que escoar do reservatório aos separadores na superfície, passando pelas tubulações de produção dos poços, pelos equipamentos de cabeça de poço e pelas linhas de surgência. O projeto de um sistema de produção não deve ser executado considerando independentemente o desempenho do reservatório e o cálculo do fluxo nas tubulações de produção e nas linhas e equipamentos de superfície. A avaliação do desempenho de um sistema de produção de gás requer a aplicação de um método de análise total que considere simultaneamente o escoamento nos diversos segmentos do sistema. A análise total de um sistema de produção, pode ser efetuada por um método gráfico - analítico a ser empregado no desenho de completação de poços de gás e petróleo com ou sem levantamento artificial. Em termos de conceito de análise total, um sistema de produção é constituído basicamente pelos elementos: reservatório, tubo de produção vertical, linhas de fluxo horizontal e separador, incluindo válvulas de fundo de poço e choke superficiais, onde ocorrem uma certa perda de pressão relacionada com a vazão. O comportamento de fluxo de cada elemento do sistema total de produção é representado por uma equação que relaciona a pressão num nó selecionado e a vazão de produção. O cálculo seqüencial das pressões nos diferentes nós dos diversos elementos do sistema permite que a vazão de produção do poço seja determinada. Para calcular a relação da vazão com as mudanças de pressão que ocorrem durante o transporte do fluido à superfície e conseqüente variação das propriedades físicas do fluido, efetuou-se uma revisão dos conceitos de engenharia de reservatório, correlações de fluxo em tubulações verticais, horizontais e restrições. Finalmente, realizou-se uma análise de sensibilidade da metodologia ao emprego das diferentes relações de performance de fluxo e dos métodos de cálculo de fluxo em poços e linhas. / [en] For the flow of fluids to occur in a production system, the fluids energy in the reservoir must be capable of overcoming load losses along various system components. Fluids must flow from the reservoir to the surface separators through the wells tubing, wellhead equipment and flowing lines. The production system design must not be executed by considering separately the performance of the reservoir and the flow calculation across the tubing, surface equipment and lines. The evaluation of a gas production system performance requires applying a total analysis method that considers the drainage at various system segments simultaneously. The total analysis of a production system can be effected through a graphical- analytical method to be used for the completion design of oil and gas wells with or without artificial lift. In terms of total analysis concept, a production system is basically comprised of the following components: reservoir, vertical tubing, horizontal flow lines and separator, including bottom-hole valves and surface choke, where some pressure loss occurs in relation to the flow rate. The flow behavior of each component in a total production system is represented by an equation that relates the pressure at one selected node and the production flow rate. The sequential pressure calculation at the different nodes of various system components allows determining the well s production flow rate. In order to calculate the relationship between the flow rate and the pressure changes that occur during fluid transportation to the surface, with the resulting variation of the fluid s engineering, flow correlations in vertical and horizontal tubing, and restrictions. Finally, we proceeded to analyze the methodology s sensitivity to the use of different flow performance relations and flow calculation methods in wells and lines.

Recently, carbon dioxide injection into deep sea sediments has become one of the carbon dioxide mitigation methods since carbon dioxide hydrates are stable at the prevailing pressure and temperature conditions. The Black Sea, which is one of the major identified natural methane hydrate regions of the world, can be a good candidate for carbon dioxide storage in hydrate form. Injected carbon dioxide under the methane hydrate stability region will be in contact with methane hydrate which should be analyzed thoroughly in order to increase our understanding on the gaseous carbon dioxide and methane hydrate interaction. For the storage of huge amounts of CO2, geological structure must contain an impermeable barrier. In general such a barrier may consist of clay or salt. In this study, sealing efficiency of methane hydrate and long term fate of the CO2 disposal under the methane hydrate zone is investigated. In order to determine the interaction of CO2 and CH4 hydrate and the sealing efficiency of CH4 hydrate, experimental setup is prepared and various tests are performed including the CH4 hydrate formation in both bulk conditions and within sand particles, measurement of the permeability of unconsolidated sand particles that includes 30% and 50% methane hydrate saturations and injection of CO2 into the CH4 hydrate. Results of the experiments indicate that, presence of hydrate sharply decreases the permeability of the unconsolidated sand system and systems with hydrate saturations greater than 50% may act as an impermeable layer. Also, CO2-CH4 swap within the hydrate cages is observed at different experimental conditions. As a result of this study, it can be concluded that methane hydrate stability region in deep sea sediments would be a good alternative for the safe storage of CO2. Therefore, methane hydrate stability region in the Black Sea sediments can be considered for the disposal of CO2.

This thesis examines the bilateral relations of European Union and Russia in terms of energy trade. The main question of this thesis is whether European Union could realize its energy strategies of supply security and supply diversification in its natural gas trade with Russia. The main argument of this thesis is / Russia has been undermining the EU&rsquo / s energy strategy, by using the contradictions between the EU&rsquo / s energy strategy priorities of supply security and supply diversification. Emphasizing the significance of supply security for the European Union, Russia undermines the EU-sponsored projects of supply diversification. The fact that, Russia will be the principal supplier of natural gas to Europe, is likely remain as the key actor in energy market of EU. However, Russia is also dependent on EU for its hydrocarbon exports. Consequently Russia&rsquo / s role as EU&rsquo / s primary supplier in natural gas , and EU&rsquo / s role as Russia&rsquo / s main hydrocarbon importer, are likely to be the main factor that will continue to shape the thereon energy security in the foreseeable future.

Robust industrially relevant membranes for CO₂ removal from aggressive natural gas feed streams were developed and characterized. Asymmetric hollow fiber membranes with defect-free selective skin layers on an optimized porous support substructure were successfully spun and subsequently stabilized by covalent crosslinking within the economical membrane formation process. Thermal treatment conditions, which promote sufficient crosslinking without introducing defects or undesired substructure resistance, were identified. It was found that crosslinking improves membrane efficiency and plasticization resistance as well as mechanical strength of fibers. The capability to maintain attractive separation performance under realistic operating conditions and durability against deleterious impurities suggests that the crosslinked fibers have great potential for use in diverse aggressive applications, even beyond the CO₂/CH₄ example explored in this work.

Graduation date: 1992

Energy storage technology is needed for the storage of surplus baseload generation and the storage of intermittent wind power, because it can increase the flexibility of power grid operations. Underground storage of hydrogen with natural gas (UHNG) is proposed as a new energy storage technology, to be considered for utility-scale energy storage applications. UHNG is a composite technology: using electrolyzers to convert electrical energy to chemical energy in the form of hydrogen. The latter is then injected along with natural gas into existing gas distribution and storage facilities. The energy stored as hydrogen is recovered as needed; as hydrogen for industrial and transportation applications, as electricity to serve power demand, or as hydrogen-enriched natural gas to serve gas demand. The storage of electrical energy in gaseous form is also termed “Power to Gas”. Such large scale electrical energy storage is desirable to baseload generators operators, renewable energy-based generator operators, independent system operators, and natural gas distribution utilities. Due to the low density of hydrogen, the hydrogen-natural gas mixture thus formed has lower volumetric energy content than conventional natural gas. But, compared to the combustion of conventional natural gas, to provide the same amount of energy, the hydrogen-enriched mixture emits less carbon dioxide. This thesis investigates the dynamic behaviour, financial and environmental performance of UHNG through scenario-based simulation. A proposed energy hub embodying the UHNG principle, located in Southwestern Ontario, is modeled in the MATLAB/Simulink environment. Then, the performance of UHNG for four different scenarios are assessed: injection of hydrogen for long term energy storage, surplus baseload generation load shifting, wind power integration and supplying large hydrogen demand. For each scenario, the configuration of the energy hub, its scale of operation and operating strategy are selected to match the application involved. All four scenarios are compared to the base case scenario, which simulates the operations of a conventional underground gas storage facility. For all scenarios in which hydrogen production and storage is not prioritized, the concentration of hydrogen in the storage reservoir is shown to remain lower than 7% for the first three years of operation. The simulation results also suggest that, of the five scenarios, hydrogen injection followed by recovery of hydrogen-enriched natural gas is the most likely energy recovery pathway in the near future. For this particular scenario, it was also found that it is not profitable to sell the hydrogen-enriched natural gas at the same price as regular natural gas. For the range of scenarios evaluated, a list of benchmark parameters has been established for the UHNG technology. With a roundtrip efficiency of 39%, rated capacity ranging from 25,000 MWh to 582,000 MWh and rated power from 1 to 100 MW, UHNG is an energy storage technology suitable for large storage capacity, low to medium power rating storage applications.

Current membrane technology, based on polymeric materials, is subject to a limiting tradeoff between productivity (permeability) and efficiency (selectivity). Other materials with better gas separation performance exist, such as zeolites and carbon molecular sieves, but the physical characteristics of these materials inhibit industrial scale membrane preparation. This research focuses on the application of hybrid membrane technology, which has shown the ability to combine the advantageous properties of these materials, to a system comprised of carbon molecular sieves dispersed in the upper bound polymer 6FDA-6FpDA. Hybrid membranes require effective mass transfer across the interface between the two phases. This work shows the sensitivity of the component materials to processing conditions and the importance of consistency in gas separation membrane production. In particular, milling the sieves to reduce the size and using chemical linkage agents to bond to the polymer have potential to alter the separation performance of the respective materials. Analysis of multiple factors in this work provides important information regarding the source of unexpected properties in the hybrid membranes. Hybrid membrane testing in this work shows a need for active control of particle agglomerates within the dope prior to casting for effective membrane production. Continual sonication during the preparation of the casting dope was able to prevent the excessive agglomerates present in earlier trials. Further reduction of stresses generated during the casting process was also necessary to produce membranes with enhanced selectivity. Annealing the hybrid films above the polymer Tg appears to repair the interfacial morphology and produce effective membranes. The application of this process to enhance the gas separation performance of 6FDA-6FpDA represents the first known report of successful selectivity improvement in an upper bound polymer using the hybrid membrane approach.

Mixed matrix nanocomposite membranes composed of a crosslinkable polyimide matrix and high-silica molecular sieve particles were developed for purifying natural gas. It was shown that ideal mixed matrix effects were not possible without sieve surface modification. A previously developed Grignard procedure was utilized to deposit magnesium hydroxide nanostructures on the sieve surface in order to enhance polymer adhesion. Analyses of Grignard-treated sieves pointed to the formation of non-selective voids within the surface deposited layer. These voids were suspected to lead to lower-than-expected membrane performance. In order to improve membrane transport, a reactive sizing procedure was developed to fill these voids with polyimide-miscible material. In a serendipitous discovery, as-received sieves--when treated with this reactive sizing procedure--resulted in nearly identical membrane performance as reactive-sized, Grignard-treated sieves. This observation lead to the speculation of a non-ideal transport mechanism in mixed matrix membranes.