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Jon Gluyas responds to Gas and CO2 shortages
DEI Director Prof Jon Gluyas asked to comment by the media on the UK Gas and CO2 supply crisis.
On 21st September the CO2 and Gas supply crisis being faced by the UK was all over the news media outlets.
DEI Executive Director Professor Jon Gluyas, was asked to comment on a variety of media outlets including BBC, Reuters, the Chronicle, and Science Media Centre.
Below you can find a round-up of some of the interviews and articles quoting Jon.
Jon Gluyas interviewed on BBC Radio 4 You and Yours about CO2 Shortages:
You can hear the interview at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000zsnz
The discussion on CO2 shortages starts at 20:50 minutes into the programme and you can hear Jon Gluyas speak at 25 minutes in.
Reuters: UK gas supply issue bubbling under surface for last decade, says expert
The United Kingdom's gas supply issue has been "bubbling under the surface" for at least a decade, said a British expert in geoenergy and carbon on Tuesday (September 21).
European consumers are facing the prospect of soaring winter heating bills due to a confluence of global factors that have raised questions about how vulnerable Europe remains to swings in global energy prices.
The record prices have strained the British energy sector, destroying the business model of smaller energy traders and sending shockwaves through the chemical and fertiliser markets, leading to a shortage of carbon dioxide.
Jon Gluyas, a professor geoenergy, carbon capture and storage at Durham University said the supply issues in the UK stemmed from it's reliance on 60 percent of gas used being imported.
"Europe is essentially controlled by gas supply in both the medium term and long term from Russia, where it's abundant and it's those sorts of potential games that are being played around some of the politics which can cause and demonstrably causing pinches at the moment,"Gluyas told Reuters.
"With gas generated from coal and then with North Sea gas, we've had it good for a long time and we've never had really to be concerned about energy security. Things are changing."
A jump in gas prices has forced several domestic energy suppliers out of business and has shut fertiliser plants that also make CO2 as a by-product of their production process.
The CO2 gas is used to stun animals before slaughter, in the vacuum packing of food products to extend their shelf life, and to put the fizz into beer, cider and soft drinks. CO2's solid form is dry ice, which is used in food deliveries.
But there are alternatives to using CO2 in food production, such as nitrogen, Gluyas said.
Greener alternatives to heating homes with gas should also be explored, he said, such as using warm water flooded into former coal fields which lie under existing houses.
"We can improve our energy security as well as make heating, particularly domestic heating and other heating, sustainable and low carbon, which is a little bit of innovation and thought rather than sticking with the old stuff," Gluyas said.
Wired.co.uk: The UK’s CO2 shortage was entirely predictable
Earlier this week, the UK government announced it was offering £200m to businesses to help them reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. At the same time, the government gave an unspecified figure totalling “tens of millions” to a fertiliser manufacturer so it can produce huge volumes of CO2 as soon as possible. So while encouraging us all to cut CO2 emissions, the government has also been desperately worried about exhausting supplies of the gas altogether.
The article goes on to quote Jon:
In the future, the UK might get its CO2 from a diverse range of sources – but what are they? Jon Gluyas, executive director of the Durham Energy Institute, suggests carbon capture technology fitted to CO2-emitting infrastructure, such as fossil fuel power plants, might yield a steady supply of the gas going forward. It would have to be purified for use in food products but this should be achievable at a reasonable cost, he says.
Read the full article at The UK’s CO2 shortage was entirely predictable | WIRED UK
UK may aid energy firms as gas price spike hits
[Published September 21, 2021 UK may aid energy firms as gas price spike hits (yahoo.com)]
Soaring gas prices are stoking fears of crisis in the UK.
A series of energy providers have already gone bust, limited by law in their ability to pass on the higher prices to customers.
Experts say many more could follow into bankruptcy.
The UK government said Tuesday (September 21) that it might step in with loans to providers, if they have to take on customers from failed rivals.
It all has consumers worried how much it will cost to heat their homes during winter.
But the impact could go far wider.
The rising prices, up around 250% since January, have halted some output of fertiliser, an energy-intensive product.
That in turn cuts off supplies of carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the industry.
Durham University energy expert Jon Gluyas says that could mean empty shelves in supermarkets:
"The food industry requires high grade carbon dioxide, essentially pure carbon dioxide, and it uses it in a number of ways. It uses in packaging of goods for food goods to lengthen the shelf life. Similarly, it's used in the slaughtering industry to stun animals before they're slaughtered."
There's no one reason for the rising prices, a global phenomenon.
Demand has jumped as the world emerges from lockdown.
Supplies from Russia have been lower than usual.
Some nuclear plants are shut for maintenance, and calm weather has cut wind output.
Speaking in parliament on Monday (September 20), business minister Kwasi Kwarteng tried to sound reassuring:
"There is absolutely no question, Mr. Speaker, of the lights going out or people being unable to heat their homes."
Industry is responding, with Norway promising to boost gas supplies.
Even so, many consumers will wonder if there's a cold and expensive winter ahead.
The Chronicle: CO2 shortage means UK soft drink production may halt in a matter of days
[21 September: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/uk-news/co2-shortage-means-uk-soft-21627702 ]
Soft drink manufacturers are warning that they will have to stop producing some fizzy drinks in a matter of days due to the carbon dioxide (CO2) shortage.
The British Soft Drinks Association, which represents pop producers in the UK, says some manufacturers "only have a few days of CO2 supply left" and there is uncertainty about their next deliveries.
The article goes on to quote Jon Gluyas:
Professor Jon Gluyas, Executive Director of Durham Energy Institute based at Durham University said the UK should look for more sources of CO2 instead of relying on the fertiliser industry to produce it as a byproduct.
He said: "The UK currently emits around 350 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, paltry when compared with global emissions of around 36 billion tonnes.
"Nonetheless, we have run short of what can be called food grade carbon dioxide, commonly a byproduct of fertiliser production. Leaving aside the point that the food processing industry could use other sources of cheap, relatively inert compressed gas in their processes (such as nitrogen) we can also ensure there are other sources of food grade carbon dioxide."
Prof Jon Gluyas, Executive Director of the Durham Energy Institute, expert reaction published by the Science Media Centre.
[https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-uk-gas-supply-and-co2-shortage/]
On gas supply:
“The current concerns over supply of natural gas in the UK is a growing problem that has been ignored for at least a decade since the UK ceased to produce sufficient gas from UK offshore gas fields in about 2004. We have very little gas storage capacity and that has reduced in recent years with the shut down of the offshore Rough storage site. The quantities vary but we get the gas we need from UK fields (about 40%), through a single pipeline from Norway (about 40%), 15% as LNG (mostly from Qatar) and the 5% balance via the Interconnector from Europe at a time when European gas supply is increasingly controlled by Russia. In the absence of significant storage, we may on a cold winter’s day have only a 1% margin of supply over demand. It would not take much of a dip in supply from Europe to cause a shortage. Increasing supply from our own fields is rarely easy as they reach end of life and there is little limited flexibility in supply from Norway. We could buy more LNG but the response time is slow because it is shipped in.
Whilst we need to solve the immediate problems of gas supply it will only be a sticking plaster on a big wound – that of profligate use of our own gas in decades past with the so called ‘dash for gas’. Nonetheless the current crisis gives us a fantastic opportunity to develop ultra-low carbon, sustainable heating sources such as the use of mine water heat as being pioneered in NE England.”
On CO2 shortages:
“The news that a shortage of carbon dioxide is causing acute problems to the pig and poultry slaughtering, food processing and packaging industries is superficially bizarre as we race towards COP26, the Conference of the Parties in Glasgow in November when nations will again debate how to cut global emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases – the agents of climate change. The UK currently emits around 350 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, paltry when compared with global emissions of around 36 billion tonnes. Nonetheless we have run short of what can be called food grade carbon dioxide, commonly a biproduct of fertiliser production. Leaving aside the point that the food processing industry could use other source of cheap, relatively inert compressed gas in their processes (such as nitrogen) we can also ensure there are other sources of food grade carbon dioxide.
"The UK’s gas fired power stations emit about 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every GWh or electricity generated. For a 1 GW (medium sized) power station that equates to a little over 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide produced annually. Such power plants do not produce food grade carbon dioxide but adapting them to do so is not a significant challenge and would provide capacity to meet pinch points in the market like that we are currently experiencing. Moreover, the surplus of captured CO2 could then be stored, safe, deep beneath the North Sea, rather than released to the atmosphere – a bonus offering towards what COP26 is trying to achieve.”