Professor Paul Younger, Rankine Chair of Engineering, Professor of Energy Engineering, University of...

Fuelling the future: is there a legitimate role for

onshore unconventional gas

in the UK?

Prof. Paul L Younger FREng, FRSE

Rankine Chair of Engineering

University of Glasgow

Overview

Where I am coming from

Context: why gas is not going away any time

soon

Importing gas versus indigenous production

Making the most of gas: maximise efficiency

while we search for viable alternatives

Most of what I do …

My main research

focus is on alternative

heating systems that

minimise fossil fuel use

while avoiding a fuel

poverty penalty

Geothermal / heat-pump

district heating systems

More efficient use of

gas:

District CHP

‘ThermaPump’

How I got drawn into the

unconventional gas furore

http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/69554/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/95518/

http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/69554/




How I got mired in it …

Take-home message: the UK

government’s hastily introduced

regulations on fracking-induced seismicity

are, in effect, 40,000 times stricter than

the long-standing rules on vibration due

to, e.g., quarrying

Take-home message: we have abundant

evidence from longwall mining that far

greater fracturing, far closer to overlying

aquifers, never caused hydraulic inter-

connection; fracking is puny compared to

what we have already dealt with.

http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/115618/ http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/96201/





But who cares ..?

“I think

people in this

country have

had enough

of experts”

Michael Gove MP Thurs June 2nd 2016

16th May 2016

Meanwhile, we carry on

calmly researching – but

not on UK sites …

SHale gas Exploration and Exploitation induced Risks: SHEER

European Union ‘Horizon2020’ project for Understanding, preventing and mitigating the potential environmental impacts and risks of Shale Gas Exploration and Exploitation AMRA - Analisi e Monitoraggio del Rischio Ambientale, Naples, Italy, in collaboration with: University of Glasgow RSKW Ltd, Stirling Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw Geoforschungszentrum Potsdam, Germany KNMI - Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, De Bilt, Utrecht, The Netherlands University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA Keele University www.sheerproject.eu

http://www.sheerproject.eu/

Shale gas drilling at

Wysin, Poland, 2015

Vertical stratigraphic proving borehole, Spring 2015

Drilling two production

wells with 1km horizontal

laterals at ~ 2km depth,

Autumn 2015

Groundwater fieldwork at

Wysin, Poland, Dec 2015

Installation of four ground water monitoring

wells in a prolific sand-and-gravel aquifer that

is used nearby for public water supplies:

GW1: 68 m deep

GW2: 28 m deep

GW3: 60 m deep

GW4: 60 m deep

Each well has 3 m screened section with a silt

trap below.

Overview



soon




Gas – best of a bad bunch

(Source: WNA 2011)

Natural gas is the lowest

carbon fossil fuel

The shift from coal- and oil-fired power stations to gas-

fired power stations over the last two decades resulted

in a marked decline in the carbon-intensity of electricity

generation in much of North America and Europe

For instance, the recent shale gas revolution in the USA

led to the country’s overall greenhouse gas emissions

falling by 11% - back to mid-1990s levels

So although natural gas is still a fossil fuel, where it

displaces coal- and oil-fired generation it makes a

genuine contribution to large scale decarbonisation

If fitted with carbon capture and storage, emissions from

gas could approach those of solar PV …

Abated fossil fuels

Average emissions

intensity with CCS (Sources: WNA 2011; Laczay 2009)

Uses of gas …

In the UK in 2016, natural gas accounts for …

about 80% of heating

about 30% of electricity production

and the bulk of electricity produced on demand

(‘dispatchable’) (e.g. when weather conditions mean

renewables are unavailable)

Numerous crucial industrial feedstocks, from

fertilisers to pharmaceuticals

Source: www.ukoog.org.uk/onshore-extraction/uses

http://www.ukoog.org.uk/onshore-extraction/uses



The BIG use of gas …

Energy use in Scotland

Peterhead Combined Cycle Gas

Turbine (CCGT) Power Station

Current capacity: 0.4 GW baseload;

dispatchable (only on demand by National Grid) 0.7 GW

Photo courtesy of SSE

Fluctuating power demand

Typical daily electricity demand profiles (all UK)

Dispatchable power (increasingly from gas) copes with the diurnal

peaks of demand

Meeting demand

Gas is not just for energy …

Grangemouth Refinery – Natural Gas and Syngas feedstocks

North Sea

Oil and Gas

fields

Scotland: mainly oil

England: mainly gas

(Source: BGS)

UK Gas production

(source: DECC (2014) UK Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Production Projections) Published by the TUC at: http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2014/11/uk-shale-gas-the-manufacturers-view/

http://touchstoneblog.org.uk/2014/11/uk-shale-gas-the-manufacturers-view/












Solutions to N Sea decline?

Wean ourselves off gas

Further scope for improved insulation

but subject to diminishing returns without fundamentally replacing about two-

thirds of the UK’s existing housing stock

Cut domestic gas use: but this cannot be done with existing

technology without a massive increase in fuel poverty

e.g. the figures for Scotland show that ‘only’ about 1-in-4 of homes connected to

the gas grid are in fuel poverty; for homes with no mains gas, the figure is 3-in-4

Use gas far more efficiently – e.g. ThermaPump project

Import gas from elsewhere

Increase indigenous gas production (onshore, alternatives)

Overview



soon




Gas: the growing UK import

requirement

… and LNG / long

distance pipeline

imports incur

nearly a doubling

of GHG emissions

Gas: the growing UK import

requirement

The (il)logical conclusion …

How about increasing

indigenous gas production?

Indigenous gas in Scotland?

Conventional (North Sea / W of Sheltand etc):

Can at best slow the decline …

Unconventional gas:

Biogas (and biomass gasification)

Syngas from coal

Coalbed methane

Shale gas

Biogas

Produced by bacterial

fermentation (‘anaerobic

digestion’) of organic

matter

e.g. sewage, farm

waste

Biogas typically has just

over half the energy

content of the same

volume of natural gas,

so handling is dearer

Feedstock limitations

Northumbrian Water Bran Sands AD plant –

using sewage sludge from a works serving a

population equivalent of 1.2M people.

Gas yield supports power generation of 4.3

MWE – which is sufficient to supply up to

70% of the electricity demand of the sewage

works (NB: it makes no contribution to

the power demand of the 1.2M people)

Overview



soon




Therma-Pump Project

Multi-disciplinary project: Thermodynamics, heat transfer, combustion, etc.

EPSRC, £713K, 2016-2019

Led by Glasgow University, in collaboration with Queen Mary University

Micro ORC + Heat Pump leading to higher energy efficiency

Efficiencies:

(i) Gas boilers

(ii) Electric heater

(iii) Electrically powered HP

(iv) Gas driven

absorption/adsorption HP

(v) Therma-Pump

Fuel-to-heat efficiencies of different heating methods

ThermaPump concept for

domestic CHP

ORC Power cycle Heat pump cycle

• Upgrade heat via

multi-stages

• Higher COP and

energy efficiency

• Free of frost

accumulation

• Compact (micro-

channel heat

exchangers)

• Novel coupling

technology

• Clean and efficient

combustion

• Compatible to the

UK’s infrastructure

Thank you

Source: Private Eye

Professor Paul Younger, Rankine Chair of Engineering, Professor of Energy Engineering, University of...

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