Re-gasification

Re-gasification involves gradually re-warming the liquefied gas until its

temperature rises above 0 Celsius. The process takes place at high
pressure through a series of evaporators, the most energy-efficient
technique when the right water
quality is available. In other cases,
some of the gas is burned to provide
the necessary heat. The gas returns
to its original state. In other words, it
recovers its gas form and its initial
volume, almost 600 times greater.

Preparing LNG for Use by Re-gasification

Conventionally, LNG receiving terminals have been built along coasts and
used seawater or fuel in cold districts during cold seasons as their heat
sources for vaporizing and warming LNG to normal temperature gas.
Recently new types of LNG receiving terminals have emerged, and the
number of projects they are involved in is gradually increasing. These new
types include the following:
Floating storage re-gasification units (hereinafter FSRUs)
LNG vaporizer systems with air heat source

FSRUs
FSRUs are LNG receiving terminals consisting of vessels that have been
modified to accommodate equipment such as vaporizers; they are moored
offshore.
There are many benefits with floating vessels. The lead time and
investment is smaller than for a land-based terminal. The lead time for an
offshore terminal is in the range of three years, while the land-based
terminal may be in the range of four years.

Ideal for providing fast and flexible access to gas in new areas

For land unsuitable for onshore LNG

tanks or difficult to permit

Where there is a lack of skilled

labour and local construction
material

A mobile asset, possible to relocate

or trade ideal for temporary
demand and uncertain market
conditions

The use of existing LNG vessels

eliminates the need for civil engineering work and the construction
of LNG tanks which would be required for land terminals enabling
the shortening of the period of construction.

Of four countries planning to begin importing LNG in 2015, three of them

Pakistan, Jordan, and Egypthave chosen to do so using floating
regasification rather than building full-scale onshore regasification
facilities.

Vaporisers
Vaporisers of various output volumes, constructions and heating methods
are the basic equipment used in the LNG re-gasification facility. The
location, intended use and fuel availability are the main factors considered
in selecting the type of evaporators and the LNG re-gasification facility layout.
Liquefied natural gas vaporisers can be divided into the following
categories:

vaporisers heating to a temperature equivalent to the ambient

temperature:
- vaporisers heated by sea or river water (ORV)
- vaporisers heated by air (SPV)

vaporisers heating to a temperature higher than the ambient

temperature:
- vaporisers with direct heating:
* fire heating gas burners
* electric heating

vaporisers with direct heating with the use of heat carrier medium:
- water steam heaters
- water heaters heated by immersed gas burners
- isopentane heaters or other energy carriers.

Important factors that should be considered in the LNG vaporizer selection

process are:
Site conditions and plant location
Availability and reliability of the heat source
Customer demand fluctuation
Emission permit limits
Regulatory restrictions with respect to the use of seawater
Vaporizer capacity and operating parameters
Safety in design
Operating flexibility and reliability
Capital and the operating cost
Traditionally, base load regasification terminals have used two types of
vaporizers: 70% uses the Open rack Vaporizer (ORV), 25% uses the
Submerged Combustion Vaporizer (SCV) and the remaining 5% uses the
Intermediate Fluid vaporizer (IFV). In addition to these vaporizers, other
types of vaporizers such as the direct air vaporizers, the
Ambient Air Vaporizers (AAV), have been used in smaller regasification
plants and peak shaving facilities.
Seawater (SW) Heating
LNG receiving terminals are generally located close to the open sea for
ease of access to LNG carriers. Seawater is generally available in large
quantities at low cost as compared to other sources of heat, and is the
preferred heat source. The opposition is mainly from the environmental
sensitive regions for the concerns on the negative impacts on marine life
due to the cold seawater discharge and the residual chemical contents.
Open Rack Vaporizers (ORV)

A heat exchanger that uses seawater as the source of heat, the preferred
seawater temperature for ORV operation is above 5C. An ORV is a
vaporizer in which LNG, flowing inside a heat transfer tube, exchanges
heat with seawater that flows outside the heat-transfer tube to gasify the
LNG. ORVs have the following features and are most generally used for
primary receiving terminals.
The following describes the features of ORV:
The use of seawater as a heat source achieves low running costs (in
most cases incurring only
the cost of powering the pumps).
The system is simple and has
excellent operability, allowing
visual observations from the
outside of the heat-transfer tubes
during its operation, which
ensures very high reliability.
Increasing or decreasing the
number of panels or blocks easily
allows a design appropriate for
the vaporizing capacity, enabling
the designing of vaporizers with large capacities, exceeding 300 tonnes/h,
for example
Submerged combustion vaporizers (SCV)
An SCV has a structure in which an underwater burner, burning fuel-gas,
generates heat to vaporize LNG. It comprises a tank, an underwater
burner, a bundle of heat-transfer tubes, combustion-air fan and fuel-supply
control device. The underwater burner and combustion gas distribution
mechanism, as well as an exhaust stack, are all provided inside the bath.
The following describes the
features of SCV:
The use of combustion gas as a
heat source allows the vaporizer
to be smaller than other types of
vaporizers of the same capacity.
Even when the fuel gas is
suddenly stopped, the supply of
vaporizer gas continues,
although for
a limited time, thanks to the heat
capacity of the heated water in
the bath.
Unlike ORVs and IFVs, an SCV does not require any facility for water
intake and discharge, which reduces the construction cost.
The running cost is very high because approximately 1.5% of the
vaporized LNG is consumed as fuel.
Regulations on the combustion exhaust gas must be complied with.

Fluid type vaporizers (IFV)

This LNG vaporizing via intermediate fluid utilizes Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF)
in a closed loop to transfer heat to vaporize LNG. Three types of Heat
Transfer Fluids are typically utilized for LNG vaporization:
Glycol-Water
Hydrocarbon Based HTF (Propane, Butane or Mixed Refrigerant)
Hot Water
The following describes the features of IFVs:
As in the case of ORVs, the use of
seawater as
the major heat source achieves a low
running cost.
Heat is exchanged between LNG and
a heat
source fluid via an intermediate
medium, which
avoids the freezing of the heat source
fluid and
its consequences such as the blockage of flow
passages.
The use of titanium alloy for the material of
heat-transfer tubes avoids problems, including
erosion and corrosion, even when low quality
seawater is used as the heat source.
The intermediate fluid and the chilled heat source
fluid after the heat

Ambient Air Vaporizers (AAV)

This vaporizer uses the heat from the air. It is a proven technology and has
generally been used for smaller installations such as LNG satellite
terminals fed with LNG by road truck. The units may have natural
convection of fan-assisted airflow. Some larger units have recently been
installed at LNG import terminals where seawater systems are considered
unsuitable.

conclusion
On its way out of the terminal, the
gas is treated as necessary to meet
the specifications of regulators and
end-users. For example, its heating
value can be modified by adjusting
the concentrations of nitrogen, butane or propane or by blending with
other gases.
Afterward, the natural gas is ready for delivery into the nations network of
transmission and distribution pipelines for use by residential consumers,
industries, or nearby power generation plants, where it fuels natural gas
turbines.
The gas is then injected into a gas pipeline connected to a distribution
network and, in this way, it reaches the end user, whether household or
industrial.

By-product
In addition to re-gasification, many valuable industrial by-products can be
produced using cold energy of LNG.[1] Cold energy of LNG utilisation for
extracting liquid oxygen and nitrogen gas from air, makes LNGregasification plants more viable when they are located near integrated
steel plants and/or urea plants. Cold energy of LNG usage in lieu of
massive and energy intensive cryogenic refrigeration units in natural-gas
processing plants is also more viable economically. The natural gas
processed with cold energy of LNG and the imported LNG can be readily
injected into a conventional natural gas distribution system to reach the
ultimate consumers.
Odorization
Natural gas by itself is extremely difficult to detect with our senses. Being
an extremely volatile hydrocarbon and not easy to identify.
One of the processes during natural gas production is gas odorization,
which is adding odorant to natural gas so people can detect it. Odorants

belong to a group of organosulfur compounds which give natural gas that

distinct odor, as mandated in federal safety guidelines to make the
detection of a gas leak easier, whether it is in our kitchen or in a pipeline
The impetus behind odorizing natural gas goes back to one of the worst
tragedies in the U.S. history. In 1937, in London, Texas, natural gas ignited
and blew up a school, killing nearly 300 children and teachers. Following
the accident, Texas and other states adopted standards to regulate the
odorization of natural gas. The Natural Gas Industry goes through great
efforts to deliver this fuel safely from the wellhead to the burner. Today,
federal regulations mandate the odorization of natural gas.

References
http://www.lngamerica.com/terrestrial-terminal
http://lng.edu.pl/en/education-centre/types-of-lng-terminals
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=20972
http://www.wartsila.com/energy/lng-infrastructure/storage-regasificationbarges
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2013/04/f0/LNG_primerupd.pdf
http://www.freeportlng.com/regas_technology.asp