The Production Of Liquid Natural Gas

Before the fuel can be cooled, it must be filtered to remove impurities that may damage the equipment or inhibit the liquefaction process

. This filtering removes any water, dust, acidic gasses, helium, and heavy metals such as mercury from oil and gas substances. It is important at this point to remove any water in the gas to prevent the possibility of Rapid Phase Transition (RPT). This is where the liquefied methane comes in contact with water that is much warmer and violently returns to the gaseous state. The result is a physical explosion that does not combust, called a cold explosion.

Once filtered, the product can be anywhere from 90 to 100% pure methane, but often it could contain trace amounts of ethane, butane, and propane. At this point the natural gas is cooled in stages by using LNG trains. A train has a compression area, a propane condenser area, and an area for methane and ethanes. At the point of liquefaction the LNG is only 1/600th of the original volume. This is the single largest reason for liquefying the natural gas, in this form the methane can easily be transported in large quantities using tankers and trucks.

The LNG is then transported to storage and recovery facilities, usually via a cryogenic tanker, but trucking and pipelines may also be used. Sometimes, the tankers used for transportation will utilize the boil off from the LNG cargo to power the ship. The LNG is then transferred to domed, cylindrical facilities that are generally low to the ground, although more expensive underground storage is available in places. Smaller amounts can be stored in pressure vessels.

The LNG is then stored at the boiling point of the methane, but eventually even the best insulators will allow the temperature to rise and cause vaporization which aids in the cooling of the remaining liquid, this method is known as auto refrigeration. Any excess gasses accumulated will then be pressurized and fed to the natural gas networks.

LNG is non-flammable, non-toxic, and odorless, but when a leak occurs, vaporization happens very quickly. Methane becomes highly volatile when combined with air, requiring only a small spark to ignite. In spite of this fact, ships have managed to transport liquid gas over 100 million miles without incident or mishap, and there have been very few land based incidents.

by: Christine Harrell

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