The Role of Gas Engineers in Modern Energy Systems: Linking to Sustainability and Innovation

1. Introduction

There is now clear agreement on the need for more sustainable energy systems and on the need to innovate in order to achieve this sustainability. At the heart of this energy innovation and system management is a series of technology-based systems. This paper focuses on gas engineers and how they sit at the heart of bringing about change in our energy systems. It examines the stages of engineering, regulation, and innovation in order to understand where current challenges are in relative novelty and how these might be overcome. The turbines and engines of the future are linked to significant use of bio-derived and sustainable gases, which have severe impacts on component life, regulation, and system health, with significant impact on climate change.

Gas engineering is a discipline several centuries old, yet it is evolving rapidly as we seek to work with the properties, security, steering, and infrastructure at every level of the modern energy mix. Gas has to change its production, cooling, and sources, convert into power, comfort, light, and heat, and have fast and appropriate controls in a tariffs and financially bound overall structure. The world surrounding gas is changing so rapidly that we can no longer rest on an established local or national business model but, instead, must understand the challenges and set of levers to push and guide in order to make sure gas contributes to one of the new designs. How are we as gas engineers able to lead and adapt to the fundamental changes required from the community level up to the Commission, young or old, private or public, personal or shared? Here, we explain how changes in market design and price signals allow clear traction for fine-grained real questions and projects, and the evolution of gas as the basis of a sustainable and innovative overall energy system.

2. Historical Development of Gas Engineering

Gas engineers are the kind of engineers that specialize in any kind of equipment or vehicle using gases, such as gas pipelines, gas fire heating, cars with gas motors, gas turbines, etc. The knowledge required comes from engineering domains such as hydraulic mechanics, thermal mechanics, and alternate energy systems. Depending on the region’s environment and type of industrialization, several careers can fall into this category: engineers involved with natural gas, biogas, or syngas.

Gas engineering has been historically important and widely acknowledged in many countries. In the historical development of energy systems, coal gas was produced from coal in gas works from as early as the 1820s. Oil gas was historically produced from the destructive distillation of a variety of oil feedstocks, such as kerosene. Works producing oil gas appear to have been established as early as 1850. In England, this gas was described as "artificial gas," a term subsequently applied to all gases produced from hydrocarbons in gas works. Gas works arose as a by-product of the tar refining and coke producing needs of the nineteenth-century metallurgical industry. (Iulianelli & Drioli, 2020)

Gas engineers have played a major role in the siting and setting up of gas works, having been concerned with the machinery, fittings, and administration of gas production facilities. By the 1850s, engineers could specialize in all aspects of the design and construction of gas works; many actively promoted gas for lighting purposes while also providing advice on the use of gas in buildings. Inquiries into gas works conducted by local authorities frequently highlighted inadequate gas pressure due to poor control of bypass valves and poor design of gas holders. (Li et al., 2020)(Kassem et al., 2020)

Gas engineers initially controlled gas works through contracts guaranteeing the quantity and quality of gas supplied to local authorities. As chartered engineers, they were regularly called on to provide expert reports on gas production processes, equipment, accidents, and machinery breakdowns. They benefited from a high degree of monopoly protection from chartered engineers who continued to control gas production in the towns through their contracts regarding gas quality and quantity. The development of gas analytics largely lay in the hands of gas engineers and a few instrument manufacturers. This was both a blessing and a curse. (Guoxin et al., 2020)

The leveling of monopoly protection, together with the roadside ubiquity of gas analysis instruments, transformed the status of the profession, whose members became tradesmen subject to surveyor control. Having sat at the high table of the gas works for almost a century, gas engineers were now placed in the humiliating position of being akin to working men employed to maintain relatively simple machines.

3. Gas Engineers in Modern Energy Systems

The energy sector is currently undergoing a transformative change driven by the quest for a more sustainable and innovative future. The energy systems are evolving to accommodate renewable resources, smart grids, decarbonization, and harmonization of energy production and consumption. As a result, both energy producers and consumers have to adapt to new opportunities and requirements. In this context, the role of the gas sector is examined, and the growing need for gas engineers to ensure security, competitiveness, and harmonization of gas supply, use, and trade across Europe is identified. (Hafezi et al., 2020)

The energy system is undergoing a transformational change towards a more sustainable and innovative future. The transformation of energy systems is already taking place in many countries where energy systems are changing drastically in response to concerns about the environment and climate change. The change involves the introduction of large amounts of renewable resources in energy systems where energy production, distribution, storage, transportation, and consumption are linked tightly together. Energy systems will be developed to operate efficiently and reliably as a whole, no matter how energy is produced or consumed. This change has a considerable impact on both energy system owners and consumers of energy. Energy producers and consumers need to adopt new technologies, business models, and ways to act. (Linnér & Wibeck, 2020)

Gas is currently the cleanest fossil energy source with respect to CO2 emissions when provided from a natural resource through gas chains. Gas offers a more diversified resource base and flexibility at the energy production side. Gas has clear benefits when used with regard to the production of heat, power, and fuels. Gas systems currently exist and are in use in many parts of the world, with studies and developments in many more. Therefore, there is great potential for gas to play a key role in future energy systems. The gas demand is expected to grow significantly compared to any other fossil energy source. However, the gas sector, in particular, its use with respect to environmental and climate impacts, should be further improved. These improvements can be ensured by gas engineers. (Karmaker et al.2020)

Gas engineers’ background in engineering physics, chemistry, or similar provides them with a thorough understanding of energy systems with a wide scope. Their experimental skills related to laboratory work and knowledge of modeling skills and capabilities to master complex systems enable gas engineers to link gas engineering to energy systems. There is a great need for gas engineers to ensure that gas supply, gas use, and gas trade will operate competitively. At the same time, gas engineers are needed to guarantee that gas will be safely and innovatively used. On the transient paths towards a more sustainable energy system, gas engineers are needed to actively participate in the management of unexpected situations and to jointly develop and evaluate novel solutions from many different points of view, such as both technical and non-technical aspects. (Riemersma et al., 2020)

Gas engineers can participate in and influence decision-making, and thereby act as a go-between between gas and other energy carriers and energy sectors. In addition, gas engineers will have to ensure that gas is provided, conducted, and consumed safely and with minimum risk for human beings, property, and the environment. In wide-scale gas trade situations, there will also be a need for professional interpretation of contracts and legal issues.

3.1. Technological Innovations

The emphasis on gradual transitions characterizes natural gas as a "bridge" fuel and energy technology that enables a gradual transition towards sustainability. Over the last decades, it has assumed a highly prominent role in transforming energy systems towards new energy architectures based on cleaner and more flexible fuels. Natural gas has benefited from "technological innovations," and the word "gas" usually goes hand in hand with "innovation" in most reports on gas. Although innovations are by no means solely restricted to gas, they feature prominently in narratives, scientific discourses, and policy documents, which made gas a bet for energy transitions. What is this cluster of innovations that link to gas and coalesce to bolster the common vision of a gas future? More than twenty areas of technology development are scrutinized here for their links to natural gas. The most obvious ones, of course, concern the extraction and commercialization of gas reserves. But others go far and wide: from industrial applications and hydrogen production to energy storage and carbon capture, there are numerous areas where technological innovations can be identified that link to natural gas in one way or another. This technological spectrum is also tightly intertwined with public and industrial interests. While the prospects for gas and renewables may differ, they nevertheless offer a whole range of opportunities for technology development. What, however, unites gas and innovations in technologies spans the full technical spectrum - new approaches to production, commercialization, and consumption of gas, as well as the promotion of new gas-based energy systems - is the common promise of economic viability. These innovations have set the stage to realize grand visions of natural gas as "a transition fuel" and "the fuel of power." Gas, however, is not alone in receiving technological patronage. The entire energy space is undergoing tremendous changes, with substantial investments and technological developments targeted to reposition oil, coal, nuclear, hydrogen, biomass, wind, and solar. Whatever their different projections of the future, both simultaneously cluster around a gas future, investing in complementary technologies and vying for economic, political, and discursive dominance. (Gürsan & de Gooyert, 2021)(Kemfert et al., 2022)

3.2. Sustainability Practices

Sustainability has grown in importance for modern energy industries, especially with the rise of regulatory and public pressure to address environmental concerns. The gas industry must adapt to regulations focused on emissions monitoring and management, and new technologies are being adopted across sectors to reduce climate impacts. The gas market stands to benefit from its low-carbon fuels and mature infrastructure, while also exploring renewable sources. Gas engineers are essential in developing infrastructure and monitoring technology, utilizing technologies like the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence for data collection and management. However, the adoption of new technologies raises questions about upskilling the workforce, ensuring engineering competence for future developments. Legislation and regulators cannot keep up with technological evolution, leading to a widening gap between regulatory compliance and innovation, particularly with the rise of knowledge automation technologies. Gas engineers have a proactive role in developing sustainability measures, either independently or in partnership with businesses, as climate champions or innovation drivers. They must employ new technologies to their advantage while protecting engineering integrity. A proactive approach informs industry players about the potential benefits and limits of new technologies. With the support of professional engineering institutions and industry bodies, a foundation for sustainability can be introduced, adapting existing frameworks for sustainable chemical engineering process design. Sustainability frameworks have also been developed at the professional institution level for civil, electrical, electronic, land, and mining engineers. (Berglund et al.2020)

4. Challenges and Opportunities

There are several embedded opportunities that gas engineers can take advantage of in the transition toward cleaner energy systems. First, there is a growing need for energy-efficient gas heating and cooling technologies to mitigate peak demand, especially with the increasing installation of electric heat pumps. Second, integrated modeling tools can be developed to optimize the local architecture of flexible gas technologies that make good use of the cross-vector interaction of gas with other energy vectors, taking into account regulatory constraints and incentives. Third, there are opportunities for innovation in gas technologies, such as small-scale methane pyrolysis, solid oxide electrolysis cells, and ammonia synthesis as direct or indirect routes to convert renewable electricity into hydrogen and transportable fuels at high efficiency. Fourth, gas engineers can also contribute to installing and fueling renewable alternatives to fossil gaseous fuels that meet the requirements of existing infrastructures and hardware, such as biomethane and synthetic natural gas. Finally, there is potential in hybrid technologies that can combine users' hardware extensions to allow operation on both renewable gaseous fuels and fossil ones, which may be politically acceptable and have large markets in the near future. (Gürsan & de Gooyert, 2021)

However, there are also several challenges for gas engineers to embrace if they want to tap into new opportunities while keeping a foot in the existing market. Internally, gas engineers may need to overcome departmental boundaries that embrace redundant traditions in research and education and step beyond their comfort zone. Externally, gas engineers may face resistance from pioneering industries and companies, as existing gas-intensive applications will only tolerate a decrease in their energy input prices. In the meantime, less gas-driven industries will pursue their own decarbonization pathways, which may differ from the routes that gas engineers tend to promote. Finally, there will probably be competing actors from other backgrounds and industries trying to seize new opportunities simultaneously.

There are challenges and opportunities involved in the embedded quality of current gas energy systems contributing to the foreseeable decarbonization transition. Gas engineers may be willing to embrace these challenges and opportunities to contribute to the broader decarbonization transition and further prestige for the gas engineering profession. Gas engineers are encouraged to reflect critically on their footsteps, share this reflection, and act proactively by taking the necessary steps now. There are challenges and opportunities that may arise for the gas, coal, or oil energy industries in Europe or across the globe. (Arent et al.2022)

5. Future Recommendations and Studies

The analysis in Section 4 sheds light on the potential trajectories of future developments, role changes, and consequent new areas of expertise for gas engineers. The adoption of bio-waste-derived biogas technology is anticipated in both residential and industrial energy applications in the coming years. In a sub-decade, these developments may prompt the incorporation of biogas technology into district heating networks and district heating and electricity co-generation plants. Engineers and technical experts in gas engineering are expected to advance these biogas capabilities, paving the way for the next core of expertise in gas engineering, encompassing gas engineering education and training.

Nevertheless, this study only explored the anticipated upcoming development and capabilities from a Finnish context perspective. Consequently, the focus of future research is on gas engineering developments and role expansion within different national energy contexts. Moreover, this study sheds light on the anticipatory future changes for gas engineers in academia, under research, and in quality standardization. There do not seem to be widely adopted common approaches for gas engineering education either among or within countries due to both cultural and language diversity, and balancing expert area specializations with a common understanding of gas applications. Thus, another anticipated perspective for future studies is to review the competitiveness of the various widely adopted approaches and ensuing roles of gas engineering experts in academia and research under various national energy contexts. (Chen et al., 2021)

As a final point, the techno-economic venture of biogas technology for calming one of modern energy real-time price flexibility services with solid biofuel co-firing topology of small-scale heat and electricity combined generation plants would be a fair basis for a concise case planning and techno-economic assessment. The outcome of this endeavor would bring needed new knowledge concerning the price-service flexibility of biogas CO2-neutral technology, and maybe also domestic biogas research and innovations to a challenging Finnish state-of-the-art bioenergy application context.

References:

Iulianelli, A. & Drioli, E., 2020. Membrane engineering: Latest advancements in gas separation and pre-treatment processes, petrochemical industry and refinery, and future perspectives in …. Fuel processing technology. [HTML]

Li, Y., Zhou, D. H., Wang, W. H., Jiang, T. X., & Xue, Z. J., 2020. Development of unconventional gas and technologies adopted in China. Energy Geoscience. sciencedirect.com

Kassem, M. A., Khoiry, M. A., & Hamzah, N., 2020. Using relative importance index method for developing risk map in oil and gas construction projects. Jurnal Kejuruteraan. researchgate.net

Guoxin, L., Kai, L., & Deqin, S., 2020. … , engineering management and important suggestions of shale oil/gas development: Case study of a Duvernay shale project in western Canada sedimentary basin. Petroleum Exploration and Development. sciencedirect.com

Hafezi, R., Wood, D. A., Akhavan, A. N., & Pakseresht, S., 2020. Iran in the emerging global natural gas market: A scenario-based competitive analysis and policy assessment. Resources Policy. [HTML]

Linnér, B. O. & Wibeck, V., 2020. Conceptualising variations in societal transformations towards sustainability. Environmental Science & Policy. sciencedirect.com

Karmaker, A.K., Rahman, M.M., Hossain, M.A. and Ahmed, M.R., 2020. Exploration and corrective measures of greenhouse gas emission from fossil fuel power stations for Bangladesh. Journal of Cleaner Production, 244, p.118645. researchgate.net

Riemersma, B., Correljé, A. F., & Künneke, R. W., 2020. Historical developments in Dutch gas systems: Unravelling safety concerns in gas provision. Safety science. sciencedirect.com

Gürsan, C. & de Gooyert, V., 2021. The systemic impact of a transition fuel: Does natural gas help or hinder the energy transition?. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. sciencedirect.com

Kemfert, C., Präger, F., Braunger, I., Hoffart, F. M., & Brauers, H., 2022. The expansion of natural gas infrastructure puts energy transitions at risk. Nature Energy. nature.com

Berglund, E.Z., Monroe, J.G., Ahmed, I., Noghabaei, M., Do, J., Pesantez, J.E., Khaksar Fasaee, M.A., Bardaka, E., Han, K., Proestos, G.T. and Levis, J., 2020. Smart infrastructure: a vision for the role of the civil engineering profession in smart cities. Journal of Infrastructure Systems, 26(2), p.03120001. [HTML]

Arent, D.J., Green, P., Abdullah, Z., Barnes, T., Bauer, S., Bernstein, A., Berry, D., Berry, J., Burrell, T., Carpenter, B. and Cochran, J., 2022. Challenges and opportunities in decarbonizing the US energy system. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 169, p.112939. sciencedirect.com

Chen, C., Li, C., Reniers, G., & Yang, F., 2021. Safety and security of oil and gas pipeline transportation: A systematic analysis of research trends and future needs using WoS. Journal of Cleaner Production. sciencedirect.com