Combined Heat and Power Technology for Natural Gas Liquefaction Plants

Abstract

Systems and methods for the generation of liquid natural gas (“LNG”) are provided.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]Not ApplicableSTATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]Not ApplicableTHE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT[0003]Not ApplicableINCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC[0004]Not ApplicableBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0005]1. Field of the Invention[0006]This invention relates generally to systems and methods for the generation of liquefied natural gas (“LNG”).[0007]2. Description of the Related Art[0008]Natural gas can be converted to liquefied natural gas (“LNG”) by cooling it to about −161° C., depending on the exact composition of the natural gas, which reduces its volume to about 1 / 600th of its original value. This reduction in volume can make transportation more economical. For example, the LNG can be transferred to a cryogenic storage tank located on an ocean-going ship. Once the ship arrives at its destination, the LNG can be offloaded to a regasification facility, i...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]The present disclosure overcomes one or more of the deficiencies of the prior art by providing systems and methods to recover and utilize waste heat generated in LNG facilities, thereby reducing fuel gas consumption and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In the present disclosure power to supply all of the LNG plant's electrical demand can be extracted from gas turbine waste heat. The power can be generated in a dedicated onsite power unit that is located to optimize the layout of the overall production facility. The separation of the power facility from the liquefaction area allows for more efficient operation of the power unit and utilization of plot space as the equipment used requires significant space that is not generally available in the liquefaction area.

Problems solved by technology

Additional compression power is typically supplied through use of gas turbine generators or other external sources, with the help of large synchronous motors with load commutated inverter (“LCI”) drives, which require additional fuel gas consumption leading to higher operating costs and higher plant greenhouse gas emissions.

Synchronous motors are larger, more expensive, less reliable and require more control equipment than induction motors, but large induction motors that can operate at high speeds are not known in the art.

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