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LNG for non-technical people

Natural gas presents an exciting alternative to petroleum because of its abundance and relatively
inexpensive price.
The number of Natural Gas Liquefaction (LNG) Plants, currently in various stages of design, construction
and operation throughout the producing countries, has increased very quickly over the past few years.
Starting in the 1970s with less than half as much proven resources as oil, gas has become equal to the
petroleum industry with nowadays the ratio of Gas/Oil resources greater than one.
The LNG industry developed slowly during the second half of the last century because most LNG plants
are located in remote areas not served by pipelines, and because of the large costs to treat and
transport LNG. Constructing an LNG plant costs at least $1.5 billion per 1 mmtpa capacity, a receiving
terminal costs $1 billion per 1 bcf/day throughput capacity and LNG vessels cost $200 million$300
million.
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In the commercial development of an LNG value chain, LNG suppliers first confirm sales to the
downstream buyers and then sign long-term contracts (typically 2025 years) with strict terms and
structures for gas pricing. Only when the customers are confirmed and the development of a greenfield
project deemed economically feasible, could the sponsors of an LNG project invest in their development
and operation. Thus, the LNG liquefaction business has been limited to players with strong financial and
political resources. Major international oil companies (IOCs) such as ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP,
BG Group, Chevron, and national oil companies (NOCs) such as Pertamina and Petronas are active
players.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH
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) that has been converted to
liquid form for ease of storage or transport. It may also contain Propane, ethane and other
hydrocarbons as well as small quantities of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and sulphur compounds.
Since it consists mostly of light hydrocarbons, liquefaction process needs either extremely High
Pressures and/or extremely low temperatures.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquefied_natural_gas
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Figure 1 - Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG), Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
The LNG industry is one of the unique industries dealing with large throughput and extremely cold
temperatures reaching -160C ( -259 degrees Fahrenheit). The most extreme conditions are reached
during liquefaction are temperature of -160C and pressures of over 40 Bars.
Converting natural gas to liquid reduces its volume by 600:1. Liquefying natural gas makes it feasible to
transport natural gas by tankers, trucks, pipelines.
While storing and transporting LNG, the main issue is the treatment of boil off gas that comes from the
storage tanks.
So why is LNG important to us? When LNG is vaporized and used as a fuel, it does not
produce particulate emissions like Coal. It also reduces the carbon-dioxide emissions by 70% as
compared to other hydrocarbon fuels. It does not emit sulfur dioxide. It does not create large spills
difficult to clean up, but evaporates and dissipates in air leaving no residue.
Once it is transported in its liquefied form, natural gas is used for a wide variety of purposes like heat
and power generation. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 65 million people use
natural gas to heat their homes. Natural gas provides 76 percent of the energy for the residential and
commercial sectors, and provides 40 percent of the industrial sector's energy needs.
Did you know that natural gas is used to power automobiles, as well? Liquefied natural gas is often
converted into compressed natural gas after it has been transported, which makes it more usable to
consumers. Cars and trucks that run on compressed natural gas are especially popular in vehicle fleets
used by municipalities and businesses. Of course, consumers can buy them too. Honda makes a natural-
gas powered Civic sedan that achieves 36 miles per gallon (15.3 kilometers per liter) on the highway, but
never uses any actual gasoline.
Is it safe? If LNG is released, the methane will warm, become lighter than air and disperse in the
atmosphere. If a source of ignition is present, concentrations between 5-15% in air will burn. If the
concentration is below 5%, it will not burn due to insufficient fuel, and concentrations greater than 15%
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it will not burn as there is insufficient oxygen. As LNG vapors dissipate easily, and do not catch fire easily,
the potential hazards are much lower than those for other fuels.
Liquefaction process
LNG processes are generally patented by large engineering, oil and gas companies, but are generally
based on a one- two- or three-stage cooling process with pure or mixed refrigerants. Each process has
different characteristics in scalability, investment cost and energy efficiency.

Figure 2 - Simplified liquefaction process
The pre-cooling stage cools the gas to a temperature of about -30 to -50 C in the precooling cold box.
The cooling element is generally propane or a mixture of propane and ethane and small quantities of
other gases. The precooling cold box also cools the cooling medium for the liquefaction and sub cooling
stage.
The liquefaction process takes the gas down from -30 C to about -100-125 C, typically based on a
mixture of methane and ethane and other gases. It cools the LNG stream as well as the refrigerant for
the final stage.
Sub-cooling serves to bring the gas to final stable LNG state at around 162 C. The refrigerant is usually
methane and/or nitrogen.