Poster PO-06

A REVIEW OF THE LNG INDUSTRY IN CHINA LA SITUATION ACTUELLE DU LNG EN CHINE

Anzhong Gu Yumei Shi Rongshun Wang Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenic Engineering School of Mechanical Engineering Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200030, P.R.C Tel.& Fax 86-21-62932602

anzgu@online.sh.cn

ABSTRACT In the last decade, especially the recent years, China makes great progress in LNG industry. There are already two LNG plants in China. One is the East Sea peakshaving LNG plant in Shanghai and another is Zhongyuan LNG plant at Puyang of Henna province. A larger LNG plant is been building in Xinjiang province. For importing LNG, a LNG receiving terminal is been building at shenzhen of Guangdong province. The second and the third LNG receiving terminal would be built in Fujian province an in the Yangtze River delta area. The LNG tank with a size of 100m, 300m and 30000m has already been successfully made in China. The manufacturers in Sichun and Jiansu has successfully produced LNG road tankers, which has already been put into production. These manufactures have also planned to manufacture the LNG container. The Chinese government has planned to build LNG carriers. In some cities of Shandong, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Henan, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, there are LNG satellite stations, where the LNG is re-gasified and the natural gas is supplied to residents and industries by pipeline. To improve the air quality, China are now developing LNG vehicles. There are LNG vehicles in test running in both Shanghai and Beijing. The first LNG refueling station has already been built in Beijing. In this paper, the technical data and flow diagram about LNG plants, receiving terminal, tank trucks, satellite station and LNG vehicle are introduced. RESUME La Chine compte une abondance de gaz naturel. Pour lobjet de modifier le structure energique, ameliorer lenvironnement naturel et developper leconomie dans lOuest du pays, le gouvernement chinois prend une grande consideration dans lexploitation et lapplication du gaz naturel. Depuis une dixaine dannees, en particulier depuis ces dernieres annees, nous avons fait de grands progres dans lindustrie du gaz naturel liquifie (LNG). Actuellement, la Chine possede deux usines a gaz naturel liquifie: la station de coordination des incidents de LNG a Shanghai et lusine a gaz naturel liquifie de Zhongyuan, dans le province du Henan. Une autre usine plus grande est en construction dans le province du Xinjiang. Pour importer les gaz naturels liquifies de letranger, nous sommes en train de construire une station de reception de gaz naturel liquifie a Shenzhen, dans le province du Guangdong. Nous comptons faire construire une deuxieme dans le province du Fujian. Nous avons construit des stations satellites de gaz naturel liquifie dans les villes des provinces du Shandong, du Jiangsu, du Henan, du Zhejiang et du

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Guangdong. Et nous alimentons les habitants ainsi que les usines a travers les tuyaux le gaz naturel liquifie apres la gazeification. Le projet de la construction des bateaux a gaz naturel liquifie sest mis a jour s par le gouvernement chinois. Apres la mise en fonction des camions a gaz naturel liquifie, nous comptons fabriquer des conteneurs a gaz naturel liquifie. En plus, la redaction des standards de gaz naturel liquifie se poursuit. On fait des recherches basiques sur lapplication de gaz naturel liquifie dans les etablissements denseignements superieurs. Cet article nous presente les progres de recherches dans les domaines suivants en Chine: les usines a gaz naturel liquifie, le recepteur final de gaz naturel liquifie, les camions a gaz naturel liquifie et la station de gazeification des gaz naturel liquifie. INTRODUCTION LNG chain is an enormous industry. It involves the rings of liquefaction, storage, transmission and re-gasification. LNG chain is shown in Figure1. The detailed introduction of LNG industry chain in China, including LNG plant, receiving terminal, transmission and satellite station is as follows.

Figure 1 LNG industry chain LNG INDUSTRY CHAIN LNG Plant Zhongyuan LNG Plant In 2001, the successful startup of first small-scale LNG plant at Zhongyuan oil field symbolizes the important progress of China LNG plant. The LNG produced is supplied to Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, and other provinces by LNG tank trucks. Figure 2 is the process of natural gas liquefying unit of Zhongyuan LNG Plant.

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Figure 2 The natural gas liquefying unit of Zhongyuan LNG Plant Zhongyuan oil field is rich in natural gas resources, with a long-term reserve estimation of 281010 m and a proved reserve of 947.57108 m. Zhongyuan LNG plant has a production capacity of 15104 Nm/d. Its gas resource is 12 MPa, 30C, and with a methane mole percentage 93.35~95.83%. Figure 3 is the process of natural gas liquefying unit. The pretreatment, liquefaction and storage of the Zhongyuan LNG plant are briefly introduced as follows.

1separator 2filter 3removing CO2 unit 4removing water unit 5, 6propane heat exchanger 7, 11, 14throttle 8, 12, 15NG separator 9ethylene heat exchanger 10, 13natural gas heat exchanger 16LNG tank Figure 3 The process of natural gas liquefying unit Raw gas first loses its liquid contents at vapor-liquid separators, then has its large particle removed at filters. The cleaned gas contains carbon dioxide and water vapor. The CO2 and H2O in the natural gas are removed by ethanol amic (MEA) and zeolite respectively. There are two driers at pretreatment unit, one in usage, another in regeneration. Natural gas purified is pre-cooled by the propane refrigeration cycle, then is throttled and the temperature of the gas decreases, and is divided into liquid and gas stream. The gas is cooled by the ethylene heat exchanger and natural gas heat exchanger, then liquefied natural gas is throttled and the pressure decrease. The LNG is stored in a storage tank at normal pressure.

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The unit fully utilizes the kinetic energy of high-pressure raw natural gas, and cold energy of gas or liquid stream in throttling process is recovered. These methods help to save the energy consumption. The highly-efficient plate-fin heat exchanger for this unit contributes to the effect of heat transfer at heat exchangers. The liquefied natural gas is stored at LNG tanks. Two LNG tanks are 1200m in volume total. Each tank contains seven small tanks and one outer shell, and each has a storage capacity of 87 m. The insulating material is filled between the outer shell and small tanks. Nitrogen is pressed into the insulation layer to prevent air and water penetrating into. The East Sea LNG Plant Shanghai LNG Plant is the first peak-shaving LNG plant in China. Its full layout is shown at Figure 4. The establishment of this plant substantially influences the development of LNG industrial in China. It is the primary parts of the east sea natural gas project which supports the downstream of gas network of Shanghai, and supplies natural gas when the natural gas cant be supplied to Shanghai from the east sea due to the reason of typhoon, pipeline problem, or peak demand in winter and so on.

Figure 4 Full layout of East China Sea Peak shaving LNG Plant The natural gas in 1.5 MPa from the main line is filtrated, gauged, and compressed to 5 MPa. The CO2 and H2S in the natural gas are removed by MEA, the H2O is removed by zeolite, then the natural gas purified is liquefied and stored in a tank of 2104m.The LNG re-gasified, odorized, regulated to the city gas network as demand. The evaporated gas in the LNG tank streams into the main line after BOG (Boiling of Gas) treatment. Main parameters of this plant are as follows: (1) volume of tank, 2104m. (2) daily evaporation rate of LNG tank, 0.08%/d. (3) LNG production, 165m/d. (4) gasification capacity, 120m/h in LNG. The refrigeration cycle of the process is integral incorporated cascade cycle (CII) that is designed by GAZ DE France.

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Figure 5 is the flow chart of CII cycle. The main equipments of this cycle are compressors, fractionation unit and cold box. The cycle contains two parts: the natural gas liquefaction unit and mixed refrigerant refrigeration units.

1fractionation tower 2cold box 3low pressure compressor 4high pressure compressor 5,6,7,8liquid vapor separator 9,10,11throttle 12, 13cooler Figure 5 CII cycle diagram CII cycle is feathered to three points as follows: first, compact flow chart and using less equipment; second, small size cold box and easy installation due to the choice of high-efficient brazing aluminum plate-fin heat exchangers; third, simplification of compressors and drivers engine which decreases the initial equipment investment and maintenance cost. Guanghui LNG Project of Xinjiang Guanghui LNG Project of Xinjiang is a natural gas liquefying project, invested by Guanghui Industry Cooperation. Guanghui LNG Project I starts on September 2002, with an investment of 1.57 billion RMB. The LNG product is transmitted to the consumers by road tankers, and supplies natural gas to users which are not covered by the main gas network of transferring west gas to east. The perspective markets are as follows: (1) Southeast of Fujian province, the 14 cities along the railway from Fuzhou to Xiamen. (2) Hubei, Hunan, and other provinces of east China. (3) North China and Tianshan Economic Zone in Xinjiang. The natural gas resource is from Tuha gas field. The output of Xinjiang LNG plants is 1.5106 Nm/d in natural gas. The Guanghui LNG plants contains 5 units, such as purification unit, liquefying unit, LNG storage tanks, LNG transportation unit and burning unit. Figure 6 is the sketch of cold box and the mixed refrigerant cycle of liquefying unit for the Xinjiang Guanghui LNG plant. The refrigerating cycle uses MRC cycle (mixed refrigeration cycle).

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Figure 6- the sketch of the mixed refrigerant cycle for the Xinjiang Guanghui LNG plant The annual LNG output is about 4.56105 t. A LNG tank of 3104m, which provides a ten-day LNG storage, will soon be completed. LNG Receiving Terminal To meet the increasing energy demand of the Zhujiang delta area, China has decided to import LNG to southeast China. The first LNG receiving terminal is building at Chentou town, Dapen bay, Shenzhen city of Guangdong province. The Guangdong LNG project consists of the LNG receiving terminal, the gas pipeline, the power generation plant, and the city gas network. The gas supply covers 9 cities in the Zhujiang delta area and Hongkong. The project is carried out with two phases. Phase I includes the LNG receiving terminal and pipeline. The main line, which is 215.4 km, begins at Pingshan, goes through Dongguan and Guangzhou, and ends at Foshan. The annual transmission capacity is 4109m. Phase I has two branch lines. One is 32.6 km, from Pingshan to Huizhou; the other is 78.8 km, from Pingshan, to the power generation plant of Qianwan and Meishi. The pipeline of Phase II is 181.7 km in length, begins at the Hengqin islet of Zhuhai, goes through Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Heshan, and ends at Foshan. Its annual transmission capacity is 8.2 109m. Two tanks of 1.35105 m are fabricated for Phase built for Phase II. , and a tank of 105 m will be

The evaporator is heated by seawater, and a burner will be built in case of insufficient heating ability. The re-gasification capacity of Phases I and II are 1200 m/h and 2000 m/h, respectively. A LNG carrier of 1.36105m can be laid at anchor. The connection bridge between the carrier and the terminal is 450m in length, and the depth of water in the receiving terminal is 13.2 m.

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The Phase I of the receiving terminal and gas piping project costs 5.1 billion RMB, and the Phase II of the project will cost 2.1 billion RMB. It is about 70% of imported LNG is used for power generation and industry, and the rest is supplied for city gas. The LNG will be imported from Australia and the contract includes 3106t/a LNG for a period of 25 years. The contract is offered by China marine petroleum company on August 8, 2002. China marine petroleum company will establish the second Chinese LNG receiving terminal at Meizhou bay in Fujian, and it is contracting with BP on the gas resource. The initial LNG import will be 2.5106 t/a, and the gas supply will be from Donggu gas field of Indonesia. LNG Tank Truck LNG is transmitted by tank trucks. By far, there are more than 10 LNG tank trucks in use. There are two kinds of tank trucks in China, 27m3 and 40m3. 27m3 LNG Tank Truck The 27m3 LNG tank truck has a capacity of 27 m, which equals to 1.6104m natural gas at 101.325kPa, 20C. The LNG tank is thermally insulated by vacuumed and filled with fiber between the inner and outer shell. The inner shell and pipeline is made of austenitic stainless steel0Cr18Ni9; the outer shell is made of low alloy steel-16MnR. The support between the inner and outer shell is epoxy glass fiber reinforced plastics, which is suitable for thermal insulation at cryogenic temperature. Figure 7 is the structure scheme of LNG tank truck.

Fig.7 The structure scheme of LNG tank truck 1truck tractor; 2safety devices of outer shell; 3outer shell; 4fiber of vacuum insulation layer; 5inner shell; 6operation panel; 7instrument, valves and piping; 8THT9360 underpan of tractor-trailer

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The underpan of the tank truck is model number ND1926S, which the standard on the north-Benz vehicle. The dimensions of LNG tank truck are 14.52.53.8 m. The truck contains a loading and unloading system, a self-contained pressuring system, a cleaning system, an system controlling instrument, an emergency shut valve, a safety system, a vacuuming unit, and a sampling and full load analysis device. Since LNG is combustible liquid, the truck has such safety facilities as an emergency shut-down switch, a quick melting plug, fireproofing equipment, an nitrogen flashing and filling system, grounding and a fire hydrant. 40m3 LNG Truck Tank 40m3 LNG truck tank is a semi-trailer, with a LNG tank of 0.8Mpa. The dimensions of 40m3LNG tank truck are about 14.52.53.8 m. The tank is protected by two side board, and the truck is also safeguarded by rear-installed safety devices. LNG Carrier The advanced technology is needed for building the LNG carrier. China is the third largest ship manufacturer. Several Chinese ship manufacturers are preparing to make the LNG carrier. Shanghai Hudong Zhonghua Ship Making Group has completed the model of simulation carrier. It has been proposed to build GTT NO.96 LNG carriers, which has 4 cargo apartment, with a total transfer capacity of 138,000 m. Application Of LNG LNG satellite stations Table 1 shows the built and building LNG satellite stations in China, which all receive LNG for Zhongyuan LNG plant.

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Table 1 LNG satellite stations in China LNG satellite stations in commission Longchuan Jiangyan Yuyao Zibo

The site of LNG satellite stations Design production capacity /(m3/d)

Suzhou

Jiujiang

Shuyang

20000

120000

9500 (current) 33000 (in the future) 2002.5

6900

12600

11500

11465

Commission 2001.12 date

2001.12

2002.7

2002.10

2003.5

2003.6

LNG satellite stations in commission underconstruction The site of Yangjiang LNG satellite stations Design production capacity /(m3/d) Commissio n date 27500 Jian Zhaoqing Shangyao New Jingde District of zheng Shenyang 25000 Caozhou

25000

28600

25000

400000 750000

2003.10

2003.12

2004.5

2004.5

2004.7

A. Suzhou LNG Satellite Station in Jiangsu province

Suzhou LNG Satellite Station is built by Suzhou Gas Group Ltd. The Suzhou LNG satellite station has following functions: (1) LNG unloading and storage. (2) re-gasification, regulation, blending with water gas and coal gas, and transfer to city pipeline. The station has a recent gas supply ability 20000 Nm/d. The peak supply volume is 1200 Nm/h. The future gas supply ability will be 30000 Nm/d and will cover the city gas and LNG vehicle refueling. The LNG is re-gasified by air or steam evaporator. The air evaporator mainly works in summer, and the steam evaporator mainly works in winter. Air heated evaporator is a fined tube heat exchanger and LNG flows in the tube.

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The main facilities of the satellite station are two cryogenic tanks, which is 100m each. The space between inner shell and outer shell is filled with pearlite, and vacuumed. Two pressuring evaporators help to pressurize and discharge fluids in the tank, whose output gas rating is 150kg/h. There are two air-heated evaporators and one steam-heated evaporator at the station, each of which has a production rating of 600 Nm/h. A BOG heater at the station can produce 400 Nm/h of natural gas.
B. Zhibo LNG Satellite Station

The Zhibo LNG Satellite Station was built on December 2, 2001. It can provide natural gas 120000 Nm/day. Figure 8 is birds-eye view of the Zhibo LNG Satellite Station in Shandong province.

Figure 8 Birds-eye view of the Zhibo LNG Satellite Station in Shandong province The main facilities of the satellite station are as follows: (1) twelve cryogenic tanks, which is 106m each. (2) eight air-heated evaporators which can re-gasify LNG 1500kg/h. (3) one steam-heated evaporator which can re-gasify LNG 4000kg/h. (4) Cryogenic pipe made out of 0Cr18Ni9 material, the attached cryogenic valves which are provided by Japan Saisan company, and insulation of cryogenic pipe. LNG Vehicle Sponsored by the Shanghai Science and Technology department, a prototype bus powered by LNG has been made by Shanghai Jiaotong University and Shanghai Sunwin Bus Corporation. Figure 9 is the prototype bus powered by LNG.

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Figure 9 The prototype bus powered by LNG Zhongyuan Green energy Science and Technology Company is researching LNG powered buses in Beijing. Figure 10 is the LNG technical demonstration station and prototype bus powered by LNG.

Figure 10 The LNG technical demonstration station and prototype bus powered by LNG PROSPECT OF CHINA LNG INDUSTRY LNG industry is a newly build industry in China. There are many works to be carried out on the LNG producing and application, which mainly contains the follow aspects: (1) Miniature natural gas liquefying plants. (2) Cold energy utilization of LNG. (3) Localization of equipment in LNG chain. (4) LNG carriers. CONCLUSIONS This paper reviews the present advances of LNG industry in China, which includes the LNG plants, LNG receiving terminals, LNG truck tanks, and LNG satellite stations.

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