LNG: Production and Utilization

Archana
AP/PE
IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Liquefied Natural Gas
• The fuel in question is natural gas, a hydrocarbon or
fossil fuel consisting mainly of methane, & its relatively
new form is liquefied natural gas, usually referred to as
LNG
• The reason for the sudden spread of LNG production
schemes, both projected & already in existence, are
manifold & are closely linked to the economics of
energy generation, the growing concern about air
pollution & conservation of environment, the necessity
of a fuller utilization of natural sources, the objections
raised by the governments of oil- producing countries,
& last but not least, the need to supply the ever-
growing demand for energy by both developed &
developing regions around the globe
 Liquefied Natural Gas
• It is extremely expensive to store gas as such in large
quantities at moderate pressure
• Other economical means to store gas at elevated
pressure & both pressurized underground reservoirs
& above ground or in-ground pressure vessel are in
use.
• Even compression to 1000 psig (~70 atm) reduces
the volume of a gas only by a factor of 70, where as
liquefaction of methane results in a volume
contraction of 580 to 1, a ratio which allows one to
store sufficient gas to meet peaks of demand by
means of relatively small storage vessels
• The use of liquefied natural gas for distribution by
the gas industry was first proposed in the US in 1930
 Liquefied Natural Gas
• In many parts of the world the major
movements of gas, after purification &
conditioning, is compressed & transported over
large distances by pipelines.
• Pressure of 100 bar & pipelines of anything up to
several thousands kilometers long are in use
• Pipelines & piped gas transport have number of
drawbacks. Amongst others, pipelines can not at
present be laid at depths more than 100 m
below sea level, and in any case underwater
pipelines are expensive & sometimes at risk
 Liquefied Natural Gas
• Line pack is a procedure for allowing more gas to enter
a pipeline than is being withdrawn, thus increasing the
pressure, “packing” more gas into the system, and
effectively creating storage. The “packed” gas can
subsequently be withdrawn when needed.
• Gas stored in a pipeline or under pressure can only be
used to limited extent to follow a fluctuating gas
demand by allowing pressure changes in the line, a
procedure known as line-pack
• Creation of storage within the pipeline by increasing
pressure above that which is required for transmission,
but still within a safe limit.
 Liquefied Natural Gas
• Liquefied natural gas , on the other hand, is ideally
transported across sea, although road, rail &
particularly barge movements are operational in
various parts of the world
• LNG, once liquefied & refrigerated, can be stored at
atmospheric pressure & therefore constitutes a
useful gas reserve to be drawn upon when demand
temporarily rises above average
• The advantage of an LNG supply over a piped
natural gas system have been well known for many
years & the basic technology of liquefaction has
also been established
 Methods
• Compress the gas at temperatures less than its critical
temperature

• Make the gas do work against an external force, causing

the gas to lose energy and change to a liquid state

• Make gas do work against its own internal forces, causing it

to lose energy and liquefy.

• Cascade process - use one liquefied gas to liquefy another

• Joule-Thomson effect - compress and then rapidly expand

the gas
Liquefaction Temperatures
 Liquid Natural Gas (LNG)
• Cooled until it Liquefies @ -160°C
• Reduces volume 600 times

• Colorless, Odorless and Non-Toxic

• Safe to transport and store
• Shipped and Stored at Atmospheric Pressure
 LNG Chain

Transmission
Gas Well Pipeline Shipping

Market

Field Liquefaction
Processing Receiving
Terminal
Key components of an LNG liquefaction plant.
 LNG Process
• The key components of the LNG chain include a gas
field, liquefaction plant, LNG carriers, receiving and
regasification terminal, and storage.
• The process for the liquefaction of natural gas is
essentially the same as that used in modern
domestic refrigerators, but on a massive scale.
• A refrigerant gas is compressed, cooled, condensed,
and let down in pressure through a valve that
reduces its temperature by the Joule-Thomson
effect. The refrigerant gas is then used to cool the
feed gas. The temperature of the feed gas is
eventually reduced to −161°C, the temperature at
which methane, the main constituent of natural gas,
liquefies.
 LNG Process
• At this temperature, all the other hydrocarbons
in the natural gas will also be in liquid form.
• In the LNG process, constituents of the natural
gas (propane, ethane, and methane) are
typically used as refrigerants either individually
or as a mixture.
• Feed pre-treatment and refrigerant component
recovery are normally included in the LNG
liquefaction facility.
• LPG and condensate may be recovered as by-
products.
 LNG Process
• Liquefaction of natural gas & its shipment in the
form of LNG are well established technologies
• Other alternative to be considered there are
basically two processes, manufacture of Ficher-
Tropsch hydrocarbons from synsthesis gas, which
in turn made from natural gas, & production of
methanol by established chemical processes, also
via a suitable synthesis gas.
• Of these two, the Fischer- Tropsch route is not
now being considered, mainly because leads to
multiplicity of liquid products which it would be
difficult & uneconomic to re-convert into gaseous
fuel
 LNG Process
• Manufacture of a fuel gas of combustion properties
similar to those of natural gas from methanol is
relatively easy, on the other hand, & considerable
thought has been given to the methanol route over the
last few years
• On the debit side methanol is toxic & special
precautions are required if spillage occurs.
• Furthermore, both plants to convert natural gas into
methanol, and to convert methanol into substitute
natural gas, the latter by low temp. reforming over a
high nickel catalyst, are substantially dearer than their
LNG equivalents the gas liquefaction & LNG evaporation
facilities respectively.
 Gas liquefaction plant
• Natural gas i.e., methane has to be cooled down to below
-161°C, the atmospheric boiling point of methane
• It is generally necessary either to compress the gas before
the first expansion step or, if it supplied to plant under
pressure, to recompress after initial expansion, in order to
achieve further cooling
• For complete liquefaction several cycles of expansion &
recompression are invariably needed.
• The need for large compression machinery, high-pressure
equipment, special materials of construction, complex
heat exchangers & large tankage, thus, all contribute to
the heavy investment in the liquefaction complex
 Receiving, regasification terminal and storage
• The function of an LNG import terminal is to receive
LNG cargos, store LNG, and revaporize the LNG for sale
as gas.
• Odorant injection may be required if gas is to be
exported through a transmission grid.
• There are two main systems used for LNG vaporization:
submerged combustion vaporizers and open-rack
vaporizers (ORVs).
• In submerged combustion vaporizers, the LNG passes
through tubes immersed in a water bath, which is
heated by submerged burners.
• In ORVs, water runs down the outside of the vaporizer
tubes (usually vertical) as a film. River water or
seawater is normally used.
 Gas Conditioning & purification
• Natural gas supplied by pipeline to a liquefaction plants
from fields situated within about 100 miles of the plant,
which may be inland or offshore, is as rule only purified
at well-head to a minimal extent.
• This means that water, acidic gases, i.e., carbon dioxide
& H2S, higher hydrocarbons & other impurities may be
present in the liquefaction feed as gases or liquids,
depending on pipeline pressure & ambient temp.
• It follows that in order to obtain constant flow through
the line, it must be swept at regular & fairly frequent
intervals with scrapers or pigs to prevent blockage &
irregularities due to two-phase flow
• The first stage of any gas conditioning plant will
therefore consist of a trap & facilities for the collection
of liquid products.
 Gas Conditioning & purification
• Depending on ambient temp., water content of the gas
& pressure drop, glycol or methanol may be injected as
an antifreeze, & if this is done glycol or methanol
recovery from aqueous layer in the gas/liquid separator
will be required
• This usually involves fractionation in a small
atmospheric distillation plant
• After reduction of liquid water, glycol & heavier
hydrocarbons by simple gas/liquid separation, the gas is
cooled by heat exchange to a few degrees below
freezing;
• At pipeline pressure this results in further condensation
, & additional water & heavy hydrocarbons separate out
in a knock-out drum
 Gas Conditioning & purification
• The process which follows is generally referred to
as gas sweetening & serves to remove both H2S
& CO2
• Sweetening of gases done by two mechanism:
Adsorption Process & Absorption Process
• Sweetening reagents can operate by two
basically different mechanism, i.e. a reversible
chemical reaction may take place between the
acid gas & the solvent , or
• Alternatively the acid gas may merely dissolve in
the absorber liquid, in preference to & generally
at a faster rate than the other gas components
 Gas Conditioning & purification
• In case of physical absorption, equilibrium concentrations of
H2S & CO2 in the liquid are strictly proportional to the partial
pressures of the gases.
• Reactive solvent, on the other hand, have absorption
equilibria independent of the partial pressure of the gas, the
ultimate concentration in the liquid being achieved by
saturation
• Typically chemically reactive solvents include aqueous solution
of most alkanolamines such as MEA, DEA, DGA, TEA, & anthra
quinone disulphonic acid ( Stretford solution).
• A series of absorption solvent based on potassium carbonate
act in similar fashion to the alkanolamines.
• Physical absorbents for acidic gases include anhydrous
propylene carbonate (Fluor solvent), N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone
(Purisol) etc.
 Gas Conditioning & purification
• In certain instances physical absorbents need not
be heated but can be flashed at reduced
pressure to release the absorbed acidic gases
• Their main disadvantage, compared with
chemical absorbents, is their tendency to remove
higher HCs from the gas, which is particularly
undesirable where Sulphur is to be recovered
from the acid gas in a claus plant
• The main disadvantage of chemical absorption is
the highly corrosive nature of both absorbnets
& , particularly, absorbent-acid compounds
 Gas Conditioning & purification
• After removal of acidic impurities by means of a
chemically reactive solvent the gases generally saturated
with water, & this has to be removed before liquefaction
• Three possibilities exist for gas drying
 By simple refrigeration, sometimes in a turbo expander,
which allows the recovery of expansion energy for
subsequent recompression. Both higher hydrocarbons &
water are condensed & separated in a knock-out vessel
 Secondly, the gas be dehydrated by means of a
concentrated glycol solution. Di, tri, tetraethylene glycol
are suitable absorbents at gas temp. 15 to 65°C
 Gas dew point as low as -70°C can be attained
irrespective of gas pressure; higher HCs , however,
remain unaffected and have to be removed separately
 Gas Conditioning & purification
• Thirdly, water can be removed by contacting
with solid desiccants such as silica gel, alumina
or molecular sieves.
• Dew points of -50 to -70°C ( both water & HC)
can be achieved
• If only higher HCs are to be removed active
charcoal is most suitable adsorbent.
• The use of certain molecular sieves, on the other
hand, permits selective separation of water, HCs,
sulfur compounds & carbon dioxde.
 Gas Conditioning & purification
• Capacity of solid adsorbents is insufficient to
remove impurities present in very large conc. &
these processes are normally used for final gas
clean-up rather than overall purification
• Permissible concentrations of impurities in
natural gas depend on the choice of subsequent
liquefaction process & particularly on the
susceptibility of fouling & blockage of heat
exchangers & expansion engines used for
refrigeration
 Gas Conditioning & purification
• Generally it is desirable that water content of
the gas should be less than 1 ppm.
• Carbon dioxide conc. Should be in the range of
50 to 150 ppm.
• H2S, as far as potential fouling is concerned,
could be as high as 30 to 50ppm.
• Higher HC conc. Is not restricted provided
liquefaction facilities are designed to separate
liquids from gases in the course of refrigeration
• It may be less expensive to purify the gas than to
provide extensive separation facilities in the
liquefaction section of the plant
 Natural Gas Liquefaction Process
GAS GAS -161ºC
Treatment
and
Purification

Storage

•Removes condensate, CO2,

Mercury, and H2S
Refrigerant
Loop

LNG

Compression
 The liquefaction Processes
• The liquefaction of natural gas involves the
removal of its sensible & latent heats, either by
the use of an adiabatic expansion process( the
“expander” cycle) or by multistage mechanical
refrigeration (the “cascade” cycle)
• After the removal of unwanted impurities, the
methane component of natural gas is liquefied at
a temp. of -161.5 °C to form the liquid
 The liquefaction Processes
• Depending upon the composition of the input
gas, other HC gases ( ethane, propane, etc.) may
also be liquefied & included in the output LNG
The principal liquefaction processes are described
below
1. The “Expander” cycle
2. The Cascade cycle
3. The Mixed Refrigerant Cascade cycles
 The “Expander” cycle
• This utilizes energy produced by the expansion of
natural gas as it passes from a higher (pipeline)
to a lower ( distribution) pressure
• Although the efficiency possible is rather low,
both capital & operating costs are considerably
less than for other systems
• The first large-scale LNG plant to use pipeline
pressure drop for liquefaction energy was built at
Chula Vista , California, in 1965
 The Cascade cycle

• The standard liquefaction technique or “classical”

cascade cycle consists of a number of compression
– refrigeration cycles which operate at temp. which
are successively lower
• At each lower-temp. cycle rejects heat to the next
warmer cycle-i.e. it “cascades” on to it.
• In theory, three cycles might be used – for example
a methane cycle cascading on to an ethylene cycle,
which in turn cascades on to a propane cycle, which
finally rejects heat to cooling water
• In practice, more complex systems are required for
efficient operation
 The Cascade cycle

• In order to liquefy a low-boiling gas it has to be

cooled below its dew point
• To cool a gas, heat energy has to be removed
from the compressed gas either by means of
cooling water, if this is possible, or by means of
an evaporating refrigerant if the temp. of heat
removal is lower than ambient .
• Among the methane, ethane, propane, ethylene,
propylene & nitrogen , only propane can be
liquefied by heat exchanger with cooling water at
moderately high pressure
 The Cascade cycle
• All listed gases require refrigeration by means of
a refrigerant prior to a final compression step
which results in liquefaction
• As mentioned the liquefaction of natural gas
involves the removal of its sensible & latent
heats, either by the use of an adiabatic
expansion process( the “expander” cycle) or by
multistage mechanical refrigeration (the
“cascade” cycle)
• Since sensible heats of gases are lower than
their latent heats, latent heat invariably
employed to transfer the bulk of the
refrigeration energy
 The Cascade cycle
• A single refrigerant will, as a rule permit cooling by
60-90 °C, & if an even lower temp. is required more
than one refrigerant may be needed to act as
intermediaries in the overall transfer of heat from
the cold gas to cooling water or air
• The use of series, or cascade, of refrigerants to cool
low-boiling gases such as methane down to their
dew point has given rise to the name of this process
• Conventional LNG cascades usually employ propane,
ethylene & methane as intermediate refrigerants
• Other combinations such as ammonia/ethylene/
methane or Freon 22/Freon 13/ Methane are
possible alternatives
Diagram: Conventional refrigeration cascade
 The Cascade cycle
• The system described involves three refrigerants
each moving in a closed cycle , i.e. not mixing at
any stage with each other or with liquefaction
feed
• Liquefaction feed passes through separate
passages in each heat exchanger & thereby
cooled gradually from ambient temp. to -161.5 °C,
the boiling point of methane, which is the main
component of most natural gas
• In addition to the standard cycle in which
refrigerants exchange heat with each other & with
methane which is to be liquefied, there are other
modified cascades also available
 The Uses of LNG
• LNG is mainly used as convenient & concentrated source of
transportable energy, providing a controlled supply of purified
natural gas after regasification near its delivery point
• There are also, however some smaller-scale specialized uses
that are mentioned below
 As an Automobile fuel : At a storage temp. of
-260°F, a 60-gal insulated tank of LNG holds the equivalent of
5000 cf of natural gas- sufficient for 700 miles of car travel
Conversion of vehicles to run on LNG involves the fitting of
cryogenic storage tank, a coil of copper tubing to act as vaporizer,
a gas regulator & a special carburetor
 LNG as a fuel has all the advantages provided by compressed
natural gas, i.e. absence of air-polluting exhaust compounds,
good power performance, economy & safety- with the added
advantage of its liquid nature, which facilitates refueling
 The Uses of LNG
 One disadvantage of LNG as motor fuel is the absence of
odour , which makes the detection of leakage more difficult.
However, a method of odorizing LNG has been developed
which may have general application
 As an Aircraft Fuel:
 LNG provides about 15 % more energy than normal jet engine
fuel.
 The temp. of ignition of a mixture of natural gas & air is 650°C,
which compared with only 245-260°C for normal fuels, & LNG
can exert a powerful cooling effect which quenches potential
sources of ignition
 It is free from electrostatic hazards during refueling & can be
used as a heat-transfer medium as well as fuel- thus providing
automatic facilities for air-conditioning & cooling circuits
 The Uses of LNG
 As a Standby Fuel
 LNG may be used as very convenient source of standby fuel,
particularly in industries where a cont. temp. must be maintained
during process operation
 Mobile facilities –i.e. a tank truck * truck-mounted vaporizer- for the
transport & regasification of LNG also make it a valuable portable
source of emergency energy
 Other Uses of LNG
 Using the “high-quality” cold of LNG for the refrigeration of foodstuffs
 For the production of liquefied industrial gases
 Other industrial uses of LNG are for the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD)
generation of electricity
 For large scale desalination of water: In desalinating water by freezing ,
the use of LNG as a “heat sink” could result in a more economically
attractive process than that which currently utilizes conventional
freezing agents
 LNG Storage
• Double-wall, above-ground welded tanks
 Outer wall made of carbon steel & a concentric inner
wall of 9% nickel steel( which has good cryogenic
qualities with a low “transition” effect) or, increasingly,
of aluminum.
 LNG storage of this type are very efficient & have
advantage of easy accessibility for inspection & a rapid
cooling down period after construction
 Costa rea probably higher than for the large-scale in-
ground storages
 But for quantities of the order of 5000 tonnes of LNG,
the double wall tank is the most economical storage
available
•
LNG Storage
Double-wall, above-ground welded tanks
 LNG Storage
• Prestressed concrete tanks
 Cryogenic liquids such as liquefied nitrogen have been
successfully stored in tanks made largely of prestressed
concrete
 Same material has also been applied in the
construction of large LNG storages, both above-ground
& in-ground
 LNG Storage
• Prestressed concrete tanks
LNG Storage
 LNG Storage
• Frozen pit, or in-ground storages
 In principle, brine or liquefied propane circulated as a
refrigerant in suitable piping system is first used to
consolidate the ground & facilitate the excavation of a
suitable cavity in impervious strata.
 The frozen moisture in the ground then act as a seal, &
in suitable circumstances such holes need not be lined
 The great advantage of this method of storage lies in its
flexibility and the possibility that it offers of an
immediate response to fluctuating demands
• Mined Caverns
LNG Storage
 The possibility of storing LNG in excavated caverns has
been examined particularly in France & in US
 One possibility would be storage in mined caverns in
the gaseous phase under pressure
 Other is to store LNG in cryogenic conditions in liquid
phase
 The caverns used need not be deep, if the storage is at
atmospheric pressure, & inclined shaft or horizontal
tunnel entry could be economically used
Transportation OF LNG

•On land- by road, rail & barge

•Marine transport of LNG

Environmental Advantages

•Virtually no ash, sludge or hazardous waste is produced

•Particulate emissions are approximately 95% less than burning coal

•Over Coal, Distillate and Naphtha LNG has lower:

–Sulfur dioxide emissions (by 100%),
–Nitrogen Oxide emissions (by 75%)
–Carbon Dioxide emissions (by 50%)
Thank You