Managing innovation in oil and gas companies: A proposed framework for the management of innovation at Ecopetrol S.A.

Actually, the term innovation seems to be one of the most used in any kind of business practices. However, in order to get value from it, companies need to define a systematic and structured way to manage innovation. This process can be difficult and very risky since it is associated with the development of firm´s capabilities which involves human and technical challenges according to the context of a firm. Additionally, it seems not to exist a magic formula to manage innovation and what may work in a company may not work in another, even though in the same type of industry. In this sense, the purpose of this research is to identify how the oil and gas companies can manage innovation and what are the main elements, their interrelations and structure, required for managing innovation effectively in this critical sector for the world economy. The study follows a holistic single case study in a National Oil Company (NOC) of a developing country to explore how innovation performs in the industry, what are the main elements regarding innovation management and their interactions according to the nature of the industry. Contributory literature and qualitative data from the case study company (with the use of non-standardized interviews) is collected and analyzed. The research confirms the relevance and importance of the definition and implementation of an innovation framework in order to ensure the generation of value and organize as well as guide the efforts in innovation done by a firm. In this way based on the theoretical background, research´s findings, and in the company´s innovation environment and conditions, a framework for managing innovation at the case study company is suggested. This study is one of the few, if not only one, that has reviewed the way as oil and gas companies manage innovation and its practical implementation in a company from a developing country. Both researchers and practitioners will get a photograph of understanding innovation management in the oil and gas industry and its growing necessity in the business world. Some issues have been highlighted, so that future study can be focused in those directions. In fact, even though research on innovation management has significantly grown, there are still many issues that need to be addressed to get insight about managing innovation in various contexts and industries. Studies are mostly performed in the context of large firms and in developed countries, so then research in the context of developing countries is still almost an untouched area, especially in the oil and gas industry. Finally, from the research it seems crucial to explore the effect of some innovation-related variables such as: open innovation in third world economies and in state-own companies; the impact of mergers and acquisitions in innovation performance in oil and gas companies; value measurement in the first stages of the innovation process; and, development of innovation capabilities in companies from developing nations.

Power to Gas - sähköenergiasta luonnonkaasua, liiketoimintamahdollisuudet Suomessa

Uusiutuvan sähköntuotannon osuuden kasvaessa kasvaa tarve tasata sähköntuotannon ja kulutuksen vaihteluita varastoimalla sähköä. Power to Gas (PtG) - sähköenergiasta luonnonkaasua tarjoaa yhden mahdollisuuden varastoida sähköä. Sähköä käytetään veden elektrolyysiin, jossa syntynyt vety käytetään metanoinissa yhdessä hiilidioksidin kanssa muodostamaan korvaavaa luonnonkaasua. Näin syntynyttä korvaava luonnonkaasua sähköstä kutsutaan e-SNG-kaasuksi. Tässä työssä tutkitaan PtG-laitoksen investointi, käyttö- ja kunnossapitokuluja. Työssä luodaan laskentamalli, jolla lasketaan PtG-laitoksen neljälle käyttötapaukselle kannattavuuslaskelma. Käyttötapauksille lasketaan myös herkkyystarkasteluja. Kannattavuuslaskelmien perusteella päätellään PtG-laitoksen liiketoimintamahdollisuudet Suomessa. Työssä laskettujen kannattavuuslaskelmien perusteella PtG-laitoksen perustapausten liiketoimintamahdollisuudet ovat huonot. Laskettujen herkkyystarkastelujen perusteella havaittiin, että investointikulut, laitoksen ajoaika ja lisätulot hapesta ja lämmöstä ovat kannattavuuden kannalta kriittisimmät menestystekijät.

The time series convergence of dispersion in financial analysts' forecasts

Finansanalytiker har en stor betydelse för finansmarknaderna, speciellt igenom att förmedla information genom resultatprognoser. Typiskt är att analytiker i viss grad är oeniga i sina resultatprognoser, och det är just denna oenighet analytiker emellan som denna avhandling studerar. Då ett företag rapporterar förluster tenderar oenigheten gällande ett företags framtid att öka. På ett intuitivt plan är det lätt att tolka detta som ökad osäkerhet. Det är även detta man finner då man studerar analytikerrapporter - analytiker ser ut att bli mer osäkra då företag börjar gå med förlust, och det är precis då som även oenigheten mellan analytikerna ökar. De matematisk-teoretiska modeller som beskriver analytikers beslutsprocesser har däremot en motsatt konsekvens - en ökad oenighet analytiker emellan kan endast uppkomma ifall analytikerna blir säkrare på ett individuellt plan, där den drivande kraften är asymmetrisk information. Denna avhandling löser motsägelsen mellan ökad säkerhet/osäkerhet som drivkraft bakom spridningen i analytikerprognoser. Genom att beakta mängden publik information som blir tillgänglig via resultatrapporter är det inte möjligt för modellerna för analytikers beslutsprocesser att ge upphov till de nivåer av prognosspridning som kan observeras i data. Slutsatsen blir därmed att de underliggande teoretiska modellerna för prognosspridning är delvis bristande och att spridning i prognoser istället mer troligt följer av en ökad osäkerhet bland analytikerna, i enlighet med vad analytiker de facto nämner i sina rapporter. Resultaten är viktiga eftersom en förståelse av osäkerhet runt t.ex. resultatrapportering bidrar till en allmän förståelse för resultatrapporteringsmiljön som i sin tur är av ytterst stor betydelse för prisbildning på finansmarknader. Vidare används typiskt ökad prognosspridning som en indikation på ökad informationsasymmetri i redovisningsforskning, ett fenomen som denna avhandling därmed ifrågasätter.

Potential for Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions by Using Biomethane as a Road Transportation Fuel

The aim of this thesis is to study whether the use of biomethane as a transportation fuel is reasonable from climate change perspective. In order to identify potentials and challenges for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this dissertation focuses on GHG emission comparisons, on feasibility studies and on the effects of various calculation methodologies. The GHG emissions calculations are carried out by using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodologies. The aim of these LCA studies is to figure out the key parameters affecting the GHG emission saving potential of biomethane production and use and to give recommendations related to methodological choices. The feasibility studies are also carried out from the life cycle perspective by dividing the biomethane production chain for various operators along the life cycle of biomethane in order to recognize economic bottlenecks. Biomethane use in the transportation sector leads to GHG emission reductions compared to fossil transportation fuels in most cases. In addition, electricity and heat production from landfill gas, biogas or biomethane leads to GHG reductions as well. Electricity production for electric vehicles is also a potential route to direct biogas or biomethane energy to transportation sector. However, various factors along the life cycle of biomethane affect the GHG reduction potentials. Furthermore, the methodological selections have significant effects on the results. From economic perspective, there are factors related to different operators along the life cycle of biomethane, which are not encouraging biomethane use in the transportation sector. To minimize the greenhouse gas emissions from the life cycle of biomethane, waste feedstock should be preferred. In addition, energy consumption, methane leakages, digestate utilization and the current use of feedstock or biogas are also key factors. To increase the use of biomethane in the transportation sector, political steering is needed to improve the feasibility for the operators. From methodological perspective, it is important to recognize the aim of the life cycle assessment study. The life cycle assessment studies can be divided into two categories: 1.) To produce average GHG information of biomethane to evaluate the acceptability of biomethane use compared to fossil transportation fuels. 2.) To produce GHG information of biomethane related to actual decision-making situations. This helps to figure out the actual GHG emission changes in cases when feedstock, biogas or biomethane are already in other use. For example directing biogas from electricity production to transportation use does not necessarily lead to additional GHG emission reductions. The use of biomethane seems to have a lot of potential for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as a transportation fuel. However, there are various aspects related to production processes, to the current use of feedstock or biogas and to the feasibility that have to be taken into account.

Application and development of numerical methods for the modelling of innovative gas cooled fission reactors

Innovative gas cooled reactors, such as the pebble bed reactor (PBR) and the gas cooled fast reactor (GFR) offer higher efficiency and new application areas for nuclear energy. Numerical methods were applied and developed to analyse the specific features of these reactor types with fully three dimensional calculation models. In the first part of this thesis, discrete element method (DEM) was used for a physically realistic modelling of the packing of fuel pebbles in PBR geometries and methods were developed for utilising the DEM results in subsequent reactor physics and thermal-hydraulics calculations. In the second part, the flow and heat transfer for a single gas cooled fuel rod of a GFR were investigated with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. An in-house DEM implementation was validated and used for packing simulations, in which the effect of several parameters on the resulting average packing density was investigated. The restitution coefficient was found out to have the most significant effect. The results can be utilised in further work to obtain a pebble bed with a specific packing density. The packing structures of selected pebble beds were also analysed in detail and local variations in the packing density were observed, which should be taken into account especially in the reactor core thermal-hydraulic analyses. Two open source DEM codes were used to produce stochastic pebble bed configurations to add realism and improve the accuracy of criticality calculations performed with the Monte Carlo reactor physics code Serpent. Russian ASTRA criticality experiments were calculated. Pebble beds corresponding to the experimental specifications within measurement uncertainties were produced in DEM simulations and successfully exported into the subsequent reactor physics analysis. With the developed approach, two typical issues in Monte Carlo reactor physics calculations of pebble bed geometries were avoided. A novel method was developed and implemented as a MATLAB code to calculate porosities in the cells of a CFD calculation mesh constructed over a pebble bed obtained from DEM simulations. The code was further developed to distribute power and temperature data accurately between discrete based reactor physics and continuum based thermal-hydraulics models to enable coupled reactor core calculations. The developed method was also found useful for analysing sphere packings in general. CFD calculations were performed to investigate the pressure losses and heat transfer in three dimensional air cooled smooth and rib roughened rod geometries, housed inside a hexagonal flow channel representing a sub-channel of a single fuel rod of a GFR. The CFD geometry represented the test section of the L-STAR experimental facility at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the calculation results were compared to the corresponding experimental results. Knowledge was gained of the adequacy of various turbulence models and of the modelling requirements and issues related to the specific application. The obtained pressure loss results were in a relatively good agreement with the experimental data. Heat transfer in the smooth rod geometry was somewhat under predicted, which can partly be explained by unaccounted heat losses and uncertainties. In the rib roughened geometry heat transfer was severely under predicted by the used realisable k − epsilon turbulence model. An additional calculation with a v2 − f turbulence model showed significant improvement in the heat transfer results, which is most likely due to the better performance of the model in separated flow problems. Further investigations are suggested before using CFD to make conclusions of the heat transfer performance of rib roughened GFR fuel rod geometries. It is suggested that the viewpoints of numerical modelling are included in the planning of experiments to ease the challenging model construction and simulations and to avoid introducing additional sources of uncertainties. To facilitate the use of advanced calculation approaches, multi-physical aspects in experiments should also be considered and documented in a reasonable detail.

Thermal reactions of the major hydrocarbon components of biomass gasification gas

Gasification of biomass is an efficient method process to produce liquid fuels, heat and electricity. It is interesting especially for the Nordic countries, where raw material for the processes is readily available. The thermal reactions of light hydrocarbons are a major challenge for industrial applications. At elevated temperatures, light hydrocarbons react spontaneously to form higher molecular weight compounds. In this thesis, this phenomenon was studied by literature survey, experimental work and modeling effort. The literature survey revealed that the change in tar composition is likely caused by the kinetic entropy. The role of the surface material is deemed to be an important factor in the reactivity of the system. The experimental results were in accordance with previous publications on the subject. The novelty of the experimental work lies in the used time interval for measurements combined with an industrially relevant temperature interval. The aspects which are covered in the modeling include screening of possible numerical approaches, testing of optimization methods and kinetic modelling. No significant numerical issues were observed, so the used calculation routines are adequate for the task. Evolutionary algorithms gave a better performance combined with better fit than the conventional iterative methods such as Simplex and Levenberg-Marquardt methods. Three models were fitted on experimental data. The LLNL model was used as a reference model to which two other models were compared. A compact model which included all the observed species was developed. The parameter estimation performed on that model gave slightly impaired fit to experimental data than LLNL model, but the difference was barely significant. The third tested model concentrated on the decomposition of hydrocarbons and included a theoretical description of the formation of carbon layer on the reactor walls. The fit to experimental data was extremely good. Based on the simulation results and literature findings, it is likely that the surface coverage of carbonaceous deposits is a major factor in thermal reactions.

Puuperäiset polymeerit synteettisten sideaineiden korvaajina

Tämän kandidaatintyön aiheena oli löytää biojalostamon näkökulmasta käyttökelpoisia tuotantoreittejä puuperäisistä materiaaleista bioperäisiin kemikaaleihin, joilla olisi mahdollista korvata synteettisiä sideaineita. Tällä hetkellä suurin osa sideaineista ja päällystemateriaaleista tuotetaan uusiutumattomista luonnonvaroista, kuten maakaasusta ja öljystä. Lopputuotteiden kierrätettävyyden ja vihreyden ohella yksi metsäteollisuuden tulevaisuuden trendejä on pyrkiä irti öljy- ja maakaasuriippuvuudesta. Muutoksella voidaan säästää sekä ympäristöä, että rahaa. Biopohjaisilla drop-in kemikaaleilla ja muilla biopohjaisilla vaihtoehdoilla tämä on mahdollista Tässä työssä tutkittiin ja havainnollistettiin mahdollisin tuotantoreitein useiden tällä hetkellä käytössä olevien sideaineiden korvaamista biopohjaisilla versioilla. Työ tehtiin kirjallisuustutkielmana, eikä siihen kuulunut laboratoriokokeita. Työn ensimmäisessä osassa painopiste on biojalostamossa ja dispersiopäällystyksessä. Toisessa osassa esitellään tällä hetkellä käytettyjä sideaineita ja niiden mahdollisia biopohjaisia korvaajia tuotantoreitteineen. Työn toissijainen tarkoitus oli selvittää lyhyesti mitä muita puuperäisiä komponentteja voidaan käyttää suoraan paperin ja kartongin päällystämiseen. Viimeiseksi on esitelty vielä lyhyesti kaupallisesti käytössä olevia biomuoveja ja päällysteitä.

A geological and topographical sketch map of the New York and Westmoreland Gas Coal Company's lands, at Manor Sta., Westm'd Co., Pa.

Kartta kuuluu A. E. Nordenskiöldin kokoelmaan

The Possibility of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Ethiopian Cement Industry

Cement industry significantly associated with high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Considering the environmental impact, particularly global warming potential, it is important to reduce these emissions to air. The aim of the study is to investigate the mitigation possibility of GHG emissions in Ethiopian cement industry. Life cycle assessment (LCA) method used to identify and quantify GHG emissions during one ton of ordinary portland cement (OPC) production. Three mitigation scenarios: alternative fuel use, clinker substitution and thermal energy efficiency were applied on a representative gate-to-gate flow model developed with GaBi 6 software. The results of the study indicate that clinker substitution and alternative fuel use play a great role for GHG emissions mitigation with affordable cost. Applying most energy efficient kiln technology, which in turn reduces the amount of thermal energy use, has the least GHG emissions reduction intensity and high implementation cost comparing to the other scenarios. It was found that the cumulative GHG emissions mitigation potential along with other selected mitigation scenarios can be at least 48.9% per ton of cement production.

Modeling Front End Electronics for a Gas Electron Multiplier Detector

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) will have a Long Shutdown sometime during 2017 or 2018. During this time there will be maintenance and a possibility to install new detectors. After the shutdown the LHC will have a higher luminosity. A promising new type of detector for this high luminosity phase is a Triple-GEM detector. During the shutdown these detectors will be installed at the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment. The Triple-GEM detectors are now being developed at CERN and alongside also a readout ASIC chip for the detector. In this thesis a simulation model was developed for the ASICs analog front end. The model will help to carry out more extensive simulations and also simulate the whole chip before the whole design is finished. The proper functioning of the model was tested with simulations, which are also presented in the thesis.

Potential for synthetic gas in Finnish industry

Finland, other Nordic countries and European Union aim to decarbonize their energy production by 2050. Decarbonization requires large scale implementation of non-emission energy sources, i.e. renewable energy and nuclear power. Stochastic renewable energy sources present a challenge to balance the supply and demand for energy. Energy storages, non-emissions fuels in mobility and industrial processes are required whenever electrification is not possible. Neo-Carbon project studies the decarbonizing the energy production and the role of synthetic gas in it. This thesis studies the industrial processes in steel production, oil refining, cement manufacturing and glass manufacturing, where natural gas is already used or fuel switch to SNG is possible. The technical potential for fuel switching is assessed, and economic potential is necessary after this. All studied processes have potential for fuel switching, but total decarbonization of steel production, oil refining requires implementation of other zero-emission technologies.

Integrated energy storage tank for large scale power-to-gas applications

The global interest towards renewable energy production such as wind and solar energy is increasing, which in turn calls for new energy storage concepts due to the larger share of intermittent energy production. Power-to-gas solutions can be utilized to convert surplus electricity to chemical energy which can be stored for extended periods of time. The energy storage concept explored in this thesis is an integrated energy storage tank connected to an oxy-fuel combustion plant. Using this approach, flue gases from the plant could be fed directly into the storage tank and later converted into synthetic natural gas by utilizing electrolysis-methanation route. This work utilizes computational fluid dynamics to model the desublimation of carbon dioxide inside a storage tank containing cryogenic liquid, such as liquefied natural gas. Numerical modelling enables the evaluation of the transient flow patterns caused by the desublimation, as well as general fluid behaviour inside the tank. Based on simulations the stability of the cryogenic storage and the magnitude of the key parameters can be evaluated.

Weld joint characteristics by nano-materials addition

The need for industries to remain competitive in the welding business, has created necessity to develop innovative processes that can exceed customer’s demand. Significant development in improving weld efficiency, during the past decades, still have their drawbacks, specifically in the weld strength properties. The recent innovative technologies have created smallest possible solid material known as nanomaterial and their introduction in welding production has improved the weld strength properties and to overcome unstable microstructures in the weld. This study utilizes a qualitative research method, to elaborate the methods of introducing nanomaterial to the weldments and the characteristic of the welds produced by different welding processes. The study mainly focuses on changes in the microstructural formation and strength properties on the welded joint and also discusses those factors influencing such improvements, due to the addition of nanomaterials. The effect of nanomaterial addition in welding process modifies the physics of joining region, thereby, resulting in significant improvement in the strength properties, with stable microstructure in the weld. The addition of nanomaterials in the welding processes are, through coating on base metal, addition in filler metal and utilizing nanostructured base metal. However, due to its insignificant size, the addition of nanomaterials directly to the weld, would poses complications. The factors having major influence on the joint integrity are dispersion of nanomaterials, characteristics of the nanomaterials, quantity of nanomaterials and selection of nanomaterials. The addition of nanomaterials does not affect the fundamental properties and characteristics of base metals and the filler metal. However, in some cases, the addition of nanomaterials lead to the deterioration of the joint properties by unstable microstructural formations. Still research are ongoing to achieve high joint integrity, in various materials through different welding processes and also on other factors that influence the joint strength.

Development and characterization of thin printed films for gas sensing applications

The monitoring and control of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) level is of great interest for a wide range of application areas including food quality control, defense and antiterrorist applications and air quality monitoring e.g. in mines. H2S is a very poisonous and flammable gas. Exposure to low concentrations of H2S can result in eye irritation, a sore throat and cough, shortness of breath, and fluid retention in the lungs. These symptoms usually disappear in a few weeks. Long-term, low-level exposure may result in fatigue, loss of appetite, headache, irritability, poor memory, and dizziness. Higher concentrations of 700 - 800 ppm tend to be fatal. H2S has a characteristic smell of rotten egg. However, because of temporary paralysis of olfactory nerves, the smelling capability at concentrations higher than 100 ppm is severely compromised. In addition, volatile H2S is one of the main products during the spoilage of poultry meat in anaerobic conditions. Currently, no commercial H2S sensor is available which can operate under anaerobic conditions and can be easily integrated in the food packaging. This thesis presents a step-wise progress in the development of printed H2S gas sensors. Efforts were made in the formulation, characterization and optimization of functional printable inks and coating pastes based on composites of a polymer and a metal salt as well as a composite of a metal salt and an organic acid. Different processing techniques including inkjet printing, flexographic printing, screen printing and spray coating were utilized in the fabrication of H2S sensors. The dispersions were characterized by measuring turbidity, surface tension, viscosity and particle size. The sensing films were characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and an electrical multimeter. Thin and thick printed or coated films were developed for gas sensing applications with the aim of monitoring the H2S concentrations in real life applications. Initially, a H2S gas sensor based on a composite of polyaniline and metal salt was developed. Both aqueous and solvent-based dispersions were developed and characterized. These dispersions were then utilized in the fabrication of roll-to-roll printed H2S gas sensors. However, the humidity background, long term instability and comparatively lower detection limit made these sensors less favourable for real practical applications. To overcome these problems, copper acetate based sensors were developed for H2S gas sensing. Stable inks with excellent printability were developed by tuning the surface tension, viscosity and particle size. This enabled the formation of inkjet-printed high quality copper acetate films with excellent sensitivity towards H2S. Furthermore, these sensors showed negligible humidity effects and improved selectivity, response time, lower limit of detection and coefficient of variation. The lower limit of detection of copper acetate based sensors was further improved to sub-ppm level by incorporation of catalytic gold nano-particles and subsequent plasma treatment of the sensing film. These sensors were further integrated in an inexpensive wirelessly readable RLC-circuit (where R is resistor, L is inductor and C is capacitor). The performance of these sensors towards biogenic H2S produced during the spoilage of poultry meat in the modified atmosphere package was also demonstrated in this thesis. This serves as a proof of concept that these sensors can be utilized in real life applications.

Carbon sources for Power-to-Gas applications in the Finnish energy system

This thesis is done as a part of the NEOCARBON project. The aim of NEOCARBON project is to study a fully renewable energy system utilizing Power-to-Gas or Power-to-Liquid technology for energy storage. Power-to-Gas consists of two main operations: Hydrogen production via electrolysis and methane production via methanation. Methanation requires carbon dioxide and hydrogen as a raw material. This thesis studies the potential carbon dioxide sources within Finland. The different sources are ranked using the cost and energy penalty of the carbon capture, carbon biogenity and compatibility with Power-to-Gas. It can be concluded that in Finland there exists enough CO2 point sources to provide national PtG system with sufficient amounts of carbon. Pulp and paper industry is single largest producer of biogenic CO2 in Finland. It is possible to obtain single unit capable of grid balancing operations and energy transformations via Power-to-Gas and Gas-to-Power by coupling biogas plants with biomethanation and CHP units.