ENERGY SAVING OPPERTUNITIES IN NATURAL GAS LIQUEFACTION PROCESS

Abstract

Natural Gas (NG) is a viable energy source that is dependent on pipelines and other infrastructures to reach consumers. To overcome this problem, the gas volume needs to be reduced so that it can be transported through Liquefied Natural Gas carriers and pipelines. Currently, the liquefaction process employed is energy intensive as NG needs to be cooled until it liquefies at -162˚C and atmospheric pressure. Chemical and gas plants are energy-intensive facilities so that any enhancement of their efficiency will result in abundant reduction of energy consumption. Liquefied natural gas plants consume a great amount of energy. In order to enhance LNG plant efficiency, thepotential various options for improving liquefaction cycle efficiency is investigated in this study. After developing models for the LNG process using HYSYS software focusing on APCI C3MR cycle because it represent about 70% of the total LNG worldly produced . The simulation results show that the consumed energy decreased by replacing expansion valves with expanders from 1831KJ/Kg to 1478.33KJ/Kg