A novel process for small-scale pipeline natural gas liquefaction

A novel process for small-scale pipeline natural gas liquefaction is designed and presented. The novel process can utilize the pressure exergy of the pipeline to liquefy a part of natural gas without any energy consumption. The thermodynamic analysis including mass, energy balance and exergy analysis are adopted in this paper. The liquefaction rate and exergy utilization rate are chosen as the objective functions. Several key parameters are optimized to approach the maximum liquefaction rate and exergy utilization rate. The optimization results showed that the maximum liquefaction rate is 12.61% and the maximum exergy utilization rate is 0.1961. What is more, the economic performances of the process are also discussed and compared by using the maximum liquefaction rate and exergy utilization rate as indexes. In conclusion, the novel process is suitable for pressure exergy utilization due to its simplicity, zero energy consumption and short payback period.

[1]  Poivil Jaroslav,et al.  Use of Expansion Turbines in Natural Gas Pressure Reduction Stations , 2004 .

[2]  J. R. Simoes-Moreira,et al.  Using gas pipeline pressure to liquefy natural gas or generate electricity : Gas processing developments , 2006 .

[3]  Mahmood Farzaneh-Gord,et al.  Recoverable Energy in Natural Gas Pressure Drop Stations: A Case Study of the Khangiran Gas Refinery , 2008 .

[4]  M. J. Moran,et al.  Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics , 2014 .

[5]  Wensheng Lin,et al.  LNG (liquefied natural gas): A necessary part in China's future energy infrastructure , 2010 .

[6]  Donald B. Robinson,et al.  The development of the Peng - Robinson equation and its application to phase equilibrium in a system containing methanol , 1985 .

[7]  Min Jee Kim,et al.  Thermodynamic design of methane liquefaction system based on reversed-Brayton cycle , 2009 .

[8]  Satish Kumar,et al.  LNG: An eco-friendly cryogenic fuel for sustainable development , 2011 .

[9]  Sergio Usón,et al.  Thermoeconomic assessment of a natural gas expansion system integrated with a co-generation unit , 2013 .

[10]  D. F. Gongaware,et al.  Thermodynamic Cycle Selection for Distributed Natural Gas Liquefaction , 2004 .

[11]  N. G. Kirillov.  Analysis of Modern Natural Gas Liquefaction Technologies , 2004 .

[12]  Wensheng Lin,et al.  Coalbed methane liquefaction adopting a nitrogen expansion process with propane pre-cooling , 2010 .

[13]  Clifford Howard,et al.  An investigation of the performance of a hybrid turboexpander-fuel cell system for power recovery at natural gas pressure reduction stations , 2010 .

[14]  Yonglin Ju,et al.  Design and analysis of liquefaction process for offshore associated gas resources , 2010 .