Optimal Design of Natural Gas Liquefaction Processes

The paper reviews the state of art in the design of liquefaction processes for the production of liquified natural gas, and addresses key design aspects to be considered in the design and how these design issues are systematically reflected in industrial applications. Various design options to improve energy efficiency of refrigeration cycles are discussed, including cascaded or multi-level pure refrigeration cycles which are used for covering wide range of cooling temperature, as well as mixed refrigerant cycle which can maintain a simple structure. Heat integration technique has been used for graphically examining differences of commercial cycles discussed in this paper, while energy efficiency and economics of commercial liquefaction processes has been summarized. Discussion also has been made about how to select the most appropriate set of drivers for compressors used in the liquefaction plant.This research was supported by a grant from the GAS Plant R&D Center funded by the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) of the Korean government