When Eddie Johnston died after a year-long battle with a rare form of cancer in December 2018, leaders of GTI, an independent energy technology organization, knew it would be nearly impossible to replace their much-accomplished senior vice president of research and technology development.

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So, they did the next best thing by hiring two executives—Michael Rutkowski and Dr. Paula Gant—both well-established in the natural gas industry.

Rutkowski joined GTI in April as senior vice president of research and technology development. He had started his career 30 years ago as a field engineer for General Electric Co. and previously was a managing director at with energy consulting firm Navigant Consulting Inc.

Gant joined GTI last February as senior vice president of corporate strategy and innovation. Technology, market and policy solutions were responsibilities she previously held at the U.S. Department of Energy, American Gas Association and Duke Energy Corp.

In this interview with HartEnergy.com, Rutkowski and Gant discuss their careers, their responsibilities, the latest natural gas technologies and the challenges facing the industry. Interestingly, they took different paths into the industry before joining forces with the global energy research leader formerly known as the Gas Technology Institute.

Rutkowski Moves To GTI

“I worked with GTI as a partner on a number of projects over the past 10 years, so I was already familiar with the organization and the people,” Rutkowski said.

“I could tell it was a great company where people are really passionate about their work. What really helped attract me was getting back to my technical roots and being able to work on some of the greatest challenges the industry and the world are facing today—safety, affordability, resiliency and sustainability of our world’s energy system. I also like being at the ‘tip of the spear’ in terms of developing the technologies that will ultimately solve these challenges, and really make a difference.”

That’s also reflective of his career path that led to energy.

“I was always interested in how things work, and had a great learning experience at the University of Illinois in Mechanical Engineering.

“In my senior year, I interviewed with GE Power Systems where they showed me gas turbine generators in various stages of assembly. These were some of the largest and most complex machines in the world, interconnected to an even larger machine—the integrated power and gas grid. I was instantly hooked and pursued an engineering career in the energy sector,” he continued.

“After spending 10 years in the field, I really understood how the physical aspects of the electric and gas industry worked. At the time, there were massive changes over deregulation and how the regulatory and business side of the industry worked. After earning my MBA from Northwestern, I moved into management consulting in the energy industry, and used my knowledge of energy assets and operations to help companies transform their businesses by adopting new technologies and operational improvements.”

Gant Joins GTI

For Gant, the path was driven more by strategic policy than by technology.

“Over the past decade, our country has undergone a sea change in how we think about producing and using energy—and how that relates to our economic, national, and environmental security. Energy systems are in massive transition—driven largely by technological and operational innovation,” Gant said.

“Abundant natural gas supplies have helped reduce U.S. emissions from power generation, revitalize U.S. manufacturing, and radically shift parameters of energy security and geopolitics—while renewable energy sources are increasingly economic. For the next decade, we face the challenge of deep decarbonization economy wide—beyond buildings and transport—and beyond the combustive uses of natural gas and natural gas liquids. The opportunity facing the U.S. and the world is to maximize the value of this natural gas abundance—which involves ensuring we are getting the most out of it while minimizing negative impacts on other natural resources.

“GTI occupies a special place at the intersection of proven practice and technological innovation. We pride ourselves on working closely with our customers to understand operational realities and to develop integrated solutions that work for them. I think this positions GTI uniquely to facilitate the transition of gas systems and infrastructure to deliver low-carbon, low-cost energy systems worldwide. And I am excited to be a part of that.”

R&TD 200 Strong

Rutkowski’s research and technology development group includes about 200 engineers, scientists, and business-development professionals. They are charged with advancing early-stage technologies and concepts through research, development and demonstration to deliver commercial solutions to some of the energy industry’s greatest challenges.

Their work is funded by federal and state governments, utilities and industrial companies such as equipment manufacturers and others. It covers the energy value chain from energy supply, conversion, delivery and end-use, or to be more specific, basically everything from hydraulic fracturing optimization to low-carbon fuel production to pipeline integrity to higher efficiency space- and water-heating systems and other equipment, Rutkowski said.

“I’ve learned just how broad our capability set is and the depth of knowledge that our organization has. We cover virtually every type of emerging energy technology, and our team has decades of experience. We have very low turnover—people tend to love what they do here and stay for most of their careers. This enables us to retain and leverage knowledge across our organization and broaden the work we do across the energy industry,” he said.

Gant is responsible for strategy and planning as well as leading GTI’s efforts to commercialize technology and scientific discoveries needed for natural gas and other clean-energy resources in the transition to a managed-carbon economy in the U.S. and internationally.

“At GTI, innovation is an enterprise-wide effort invested in disruptive advances in technology and processes. We rely on focused creativity to develop solutions that our customers want and need. The focus comes from intimate knowledge of current and looming challenges and opportunities facing our customers. Creativity in this context is expressed by applying our scientific and engineering competencies to those challenges to come up with new and novel solutions.”  

“It has been a treat to get to know GTI scientists and engineers whose creativity and perseverance produce these advances—in 2019 alone they were awarded 17 U.S. and 39 foreign patents. These patents span the entire range of GTI’s research efforts, from carbon capture technologies to clean and efficient natural gas burner designs for your home,” she said.

New Technologies Across The Value Stream

What can we expect to see emerge from GTI’s efforts?

“In the upstream energy supply segment, we’re helping make natural gas production more efficient and environmentally sustainable through our Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site (HFTS) program,” Rutkowski replied. “Here, we’re using data analytics to identify fracturing techniques that will increase well production [and therefore decrease costs and environmental impacts].

“In the energy conversion space, we are producing low-carbon liquid fuels from woody biomass waste through our IH2 technology. We are also advancing high efficiency supercritical CO2 power cycles in our work with Southwest Research Institute and GE.

“We have numerous technologies and applications in the natural gas delivery segment to improve pipeline integrity, such as early warning systems for third-party damage, inspection technologies, and better asset identification, locating and traceability technologies. In the end-use segment, we are advancing technologies for high-efficiency space- and water-heating systems, thermal heat pumps, micro-CHP systems, and commercial cooking equipment,’’ he said.

“At GTI, we are particularly focused on the role that gas molecules will play long-term as we transition to low-cost, low-carbon energy systems economy-wide,” Gant said. “And in that transition, we are interested in how existing natural gas infrastructure, which is proven, reliable and pervasive, can be leveraged. In terms of low-carbon gases and fuels, two of our research thrusts involve converting methane to low-carbon fuels, and renewable gas production.

“Novel processes are in development that convert methane to liquid fuels and chemicals using clean electrons to drive the process along with innovative catalysts. GTI’s Cool GTL process utilizes this approach plus additional CO2 to make liquid fuels with a lower carbon footprint. We are ramping up a DOE-funded project to demonstrate this technology for bio-jet fuel production,” Gant said. “The IH2 process, which converts solid renewable materials directly into gasoline, jet and diesel drop-in transportation fuels, was invented and patented by GTI and licensed to Shell Catalyst and Technologies as GTI’s commercial partner for global deployment.

“There is momentum building in renewable natural gas—pipeline-quality gas produced from bio-waste. GTI’s U-Gas gasification technology effectively converts wood waste into renewable natural gas through a gasification process that uses the growing supply of forest residues. This could be particularly helpful to California in dealing with their pine waste. These here-and-now technologies take feedstocks that would otherwise decompose—emitting CO2 into the atmosphere—and convert them to a fuel that can be transported in existing energy infrastructure, and safely used in appliances and equipment,” Gant said.

Rutkowski said that in addition to efficiency improvements, GTI is directly addressing methane emissions by developing better detection technologies including residential methane detectors, remote methane detection systems, and aerial drone based systems. From its inception, GTI has been engaged in the development and management of the Collaboratory to Advance Methane Science (CAMS), an industry-led collaborative research consortium of leading energy companies.

Looming Challenges For Natural Gas

Natural gas, as part of the energy industry, faces big challenges related to greenhouse gas emission reductions needed to address climate change. This is a global, economy-wide challenge, Rutkowski said.

“In many ways, the natural gas industry has also had the greatest impact on addressing this challenge. Through decades of R&D (much of it by GTI and its predecessors), we’ve been able to unlock an abundant, affordable, lower-carbon energy source in the form of shale gas. This has been the primary driver of the greenhouse gas reductions we’ve seen in the U.S. over the past 15 years, as the power generation industry has shifted from coal to lower-carbon forms of generation.

“But we have much further to go,” he continued. “We must continue to address methane emissions across the natural gas value chain, as well as engage in ongoing efforts to improve the efficiency of natural gas power generation and end-use applications. We must develop and advance carbon capture and utilization technologies to commercial readiness. We also must continue to enhance the safety, reliability and resiliency of our natural gas infrastructure while readying it for other types of low-carbon resources such as biomethane and hydrogen blends.

“We know this challenge in moving to a low-carbon future is great, and we will need to employ all available technologies in moving to that future. We feel that leveraging the existing natural gas infrastructure and systems will enable that transition in the safest, most reliable, and most affordable way possible. Our team is focused every day on meeting that challenge,” he said.

Rutkowski said natural gas ultimately will achieve the promising results industry observers have long anticipated.

“I think natural gas—and the infrastructure for transporting, storing, delivering and using it—will continue to be a major part of the solution to a customer-centric energy system, both in the near- and longer-term. It will continue to be an economic, flexible fuel for power generation, space and water heating, and industrial uses. We will continue to improve the efficiency of its use in these applications, while reducing methane emissions. Finally, we will find optimal uses of the natural gas infrastructure to accommodate lower-carbon fuels to address greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the energy economy,” he concluded.