Studying efficient small-scale natural gas liquefaction plants
Authors: Arharov A.M., Semenov V.Yu., Likhacheva N.I.
Published in issue: #4(64)/2017
DOI: 10.18698/2308-6033-2017-4-1604
Category: Power, Metallurgic and Chemical Engineering | Chapter: Machines and Devices, Processes of Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering, Air Conditioning
Currently there is a growing interest in producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) on a small scale due to the development and modernisation of the gas and transport industries. LNG production consumes a lot of energy, and small-scale production means that energy consumption and prime cost of the output increase even further. This makes a comparative analysis of the efficiency of a given technology specifying the origins of irreversibility quite relevant. The study deals with the best-known natural gas liquefaction technologies using refrigerant blends, SMR (APCI) and Limum (Linde), which are used in small-scale production. We supply the results of comparing their efficiency using the statistical entropy analysis method. We show that the Limum technology is more efficient due to the presence of an extra refrigeration stage. On the basis of experimental and computational data we also discovered that the thermodynamic efficiency of various LNG cycles depends on the minimum liquefaction work.
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