The Hot-Seat

A message from our Chairperson, Gary Bowerbank.

"Within Shell we recently had our 2021 Safety Day, where we announced we would be adopting a series of 9 Industry Life Saving Rules. We had already been using our own Life Saving Rules for many years, but this move to an industry standard will help us all speak the same language. The other key message behind the refreshed approach is that they adopt a learner mindset, and moving to intent based rules rather than a series of "Does" & "Don’ts".

This learning mindset that resonates within GPA Europe, we want to help our members learn from each other by sharing their successes as well as their failures. We all have the opportunities to share these experiences at the various events throughout the year, so if you have any ideas please do share with [email protected].

Speaking of events, we have announced the next virtual event a Biogas Webinar that will take place on 21 October. See our website for more details.”

Join us online in 2021

Thursday 21 October 2021
Biogas Webinar

In conjunction with our Future Energy Biogas Team, we are delighted to bring you a morning of high-quality presentations from industry experts directly to you, for free in the comfort of your home or office. Our Biogas Webinar will start at 09:30am BST, 10:30am CET.

Registration is open! gpaeurope.com/event/gpa-europe-biogas-webinar-2021

We will continue to update you via our website, www.gpaeurope.com, and on our social media platforms as our plans take shape, so stay tuned on our LinkedIn page for further announcements.

Thursday 18 November 2021
Technical Conference & AGM

In November we will be bringing you a morning technical session, with the company’s AGM. With a range of speakers, our Technical Conference is the place to discuss strategy, build networks and collectively shape the future of the gas processing industry.

To ensure the well-being and safety of our attendees, we will be delivering our Conference & AGM as a digital event. We are finalising the programme and will share this with you shortly.

Registration will be going live next week. We will be sending invitations emails, but also stay tuned on our LinkedIn page for further announcements.

Don't forget to connect with us on LinkedIn, follow us on Twitter and join us on Facebook.

GPA Europe in 2022

As always, we want to hear from you, our GPA Europe members. If you have topics of interest or would like to be involved in our events in 2022, please do get in touch with us at

In Brief

Check out our latest issue of In Brief! This issue reports on the GPA Europe Technical Meeting & AGM held in November 2020 and our Virtual Event Series which ran from September 2020 - April 2021.

We have our regular 'View from the Top' by our Chairperson Gary Bowerbank, discussing 'A Virtual World'.

The lead article has been contributed by Nan Liu, Licensing Technology Manager Gasification and Blue Hydrogen, Shell Catalysts & Technologies. The article is titled 'Affordable Blue Hydrogen Production'.

We also have an update from our Future Energy KSI Groups.

If you would like to contribute towards our November 2021 issue, we have an opportunity to get involved. A chance to promote your name through the industry.

Please contact the GPA E Team for more information - [email protected]

Get Involved

Paper of the Month

This month we are looking back to one of our Biogas Papers from Oliver Carter and Samantha Nicolson, Fluor Ltd. Presented at our Virtual Conference, May 2021.

"Scale-up options for Decarbonisation of the Gas grid - can Biogas be part of the answer?"

"Currently UK annual production of biogas based on anaerobic digestion (AD) approaches 12 TWh, supplied by nearly 700 different plants, mostly for heat and power. The potential for biogas production has been estimated as 36 TWh based on current AD technology. This compares to UK natural gas annual demand of approximately 900 TWh.

While AD plays a key role in the agricultural, food and water industries and shows some promise for expansion, scaleup for gas applications is hindered by the diffuse availability of feedstocks, large reactor residence times and digestate volumes, and the economics of gas upgrading and injection. In order to significantly defossilise the natural gas grid, thermal processes offer larger scale feasible plant capacity and feedstock flexibility. Synthesis gas routes to renewable natural gas also offer the ability to achieve net negative CO2 emissions by use of CCS and/or green hydrogen.

Gasification of biomass and wastes presents challenges which can be addressed by careful selection of gasifier type. Commercial processes developed for methanation are also discussed along with overall plant configurations and advantages and disadvantages of different optimisation options. Demonstration projects and related processes currently in operation for thermal conversion of biomass to renewable natural gas are presented."

Download the Paper

Sponsorship and Exhibition Opportunities

We provide a direct marketing channel to Directors and Process Engineers within the natural Gas Processing Industry.

We have multiple sponsorship opportunities at our events, as well as advertising within In Brief and our Newsletter - contact us for more information.

Highlight Your Institution

A Message from GPA Europe Members, Parker Hannifin

Parker are delighted to announce the first ever Parker-hosted online conference and exhibition for the oil and gas industry. The conference - "O&G to Energy: Flexibility in a Changing World" - runs October 6 to 7, 2021, and takes place as the oil and gas world is changing fast.

Participants at the event will be able to attend free seminars on these key challenges, learn tips and tricks to boost efficiency and safety, and network with industry peers. They can also explore our comprehensive range of solutions, which range from fluid and climate control technologies to filtration, instrumentation, hoses, fittings, valves, electronics, sealing, pumps, motors, and more. Companies are working hard to diversify, reduce emissions and embrace digitalization. But vital challenges remain, such as maintaining safety, increasing efficiency and securing cost controls.

A full program and registration form are available here .

If you have news you would like to share with our members, please email us at [email protected]