Natural gas is one of the most important energy sources. Consequently, its transportation through gas networks is an essential task and gives rise to gas transport problems. Such optimization problems involve discrete decisions to switch network elements as valves, control valves, or compressor machines. Moreover, the physical behavior of natural gas is described by differential equations. Thus, when dealing with gas transport optimization, mixed-integer problems constrained by differential equations become relevant. The scientific contribution of this thesis to solve such problems is twofold. First, three new global algorithms are presented. In general, a typical solution approach transforms the differential equations to linear constrai...