p21-31:LNG 3 15/03/2012 12:51 Page 2
LNG REGASFICATION
LNG terminal cold energy integration
opportunities offered by contractors
Chris Sharratt, Manager, Midstream, Business Solutions Group, Foster Wheeler, UK
At the start of 2012 the LNG has an
installed liquefaction capacity of around
370 billion cubic metres, or some 270
million tonnes per annum. This equates
to about 10 percent of global natural gas
supply, and up to around 40 percent of
gas supply to Europe.
Over the 2020 timeframe around
200 Bcm, or 150 MTPA, of additional
liquefaction capacity is under
consideration from initial evaluation to
construction.
The LNG produced is delivered to
market via LNG import terminals. Over
the next decade, a significant number of
new LNG receiving terminals and
terminal expansions are expected to go
ahead, notably in China, India and
Europe.
Available
During the regasification process at LNG
import terminals a significant quantity of
cold energy is available.
The majority of current LNG import
terminals do not make use of this cold
energy and it is simply dissipated to the
environment (via air or sea).
For a typical 6.8 Bcm (5 MTPA)
import terminal, the cold energy
available is some 110 megawatts at
maximum send-out rate. An opportunity
therefore exists to utilise this cold
energy by integration with adjacent
over-the-fence users.
Of particular note is the vaporiser
technology used, as this is where the
main opportunity for integration occurs.
LNG import terminals use parallel
operating vaporisers with spares. The use
of seawater to heat and vaporise the LNG
in open rack vaporisers (ORVs) is the
most common type worldwide, especially
in warm sea conditions (>5C).
Submerged combustion vaporisers
(SCVs) use send-out gas as fuel to
combust and provide the heat for
vaporisation. ORV systems have a higher
capital cost but lower operating cost than
SCV installations. Around 70 percent of
the worlds import terminals use ORVs
and they typically have a three-year
payback period versus SCVs.
A number of facilities use ORVs for
the normal duty vaporisers with SCVs as
spares. ORV systems help reduce the
22 LNG journal The Worlds Leading LNG publication
already low CO2 and NOX emissions of
the LNG chain.
Shell and tube vaporisers have been
deployed where an alternate source of
heat is available, e.g. a power plant, or
where cold energy can be utilised
elsewhere, as discussed later.
Vaporisation
This cold energy released from the
vaporisation can be harnessed in several
ways to improve the combined efficiency
and reduce overall capital and operating
Figure 1: A typical onshore LNG import terminal is shown, along with
costs.
indicative key parameters such as cost and construction schedule
It is uneconomic to transport the LNG
long distances once unloaded from the The cold from the vaporising LNG is will increase the cost of both the LNG
ship. This is why regasification terminals transferred to the GTG inlet air by a import terminal and the power plant.
are as close as possible to the point of suitable heat transfer fluid e.g. a The economics of the integration will
LNG delivery and therefore, for the same glycol/water mixture. IAC increases depend on the value of the increased
reason, any facility wishing to make use power output because the cooler inlet air power export taking account of the extra
of the available cold energy needs to be has a higher density and thus, for a fixed fuel usage.
adjacent to the LNG import terminal. volumetric flow, a larger mass enters the
Possible uses for LNG cold energy air compressor of the gas turbine. Additional
integration are listed: Some additional fuel is fired to However, if this additional electrical
1. Inlet air cooling to gas turbines for maintain combustion conditions and power can be sold then it will be cheaper
power generation or compressor drive incremental power is then generated to produce than installing dedicated
applications from the greater mass of exhaust gas. standalone equipment to generate the
2. Cold power generation As a rule-of-thumb, and accounting for same power.
3. Air separation or other low- the losses caused by the increased pressure A recent Foster Wheeler study for
temperature fractionation -drop of the additional chilling equipment, China showed a simple pay-back of an
4. Chilled water for industry for every C that the inlet air temperature integrated IAC system of three years.
5. District cooling is lowered, power output from the GTG is The largest power benefit occurs in the
6. Niche applications - cold storage, increased by around 0.5 percent. summer when ambient temperatures are
cryogenic crushing and seawater Implementation of IAC Systems will higher and humidity is lower (as
desalination generate additional electrical power, but condensation of water requires additional
The laws of thermodynamics dictate that
the lower the temperature of the
refrigerant supplied, the greater the
energy required to provide a unit of that
refrigerant.
For example, it is relatively easy to
provide a kW of cooling for a domestic
refrigerator, while it will require many
times the power to create that same kW
of cooling at the -160C level of LNG.
Potential
Therefore the potential 110MW of cold
energy available at a 5 MTPA import
terminal is also very expensive cold
energy i.e. it has a high value if it can find
a suitable use in a very low temperature,
cryogenic application.
Inlet Air Cooling (IAC) to gas turbine
generators (GTG) results in increased
power output from the turbine. Figure 2: Here is a simplified schematic of a GTG IAC integration system
p21-31:LNG 3 15/03/2012 12:51 Page 3

LNG REGASFICATION

cold energy). The estimated power benefit directly linked to the performance of level. Therefore, this scheme lends itself the power plant. Fortunately the
will need to take account of the additional each facility. A successful integration is to being operated by one company i.e. an availability track record for well-
pressure drop in the air inlet caused by dependent on the two units operating integrated energy company which designed and well-operated LNG import
the air chiller. consistently close to their optimum will run both the LNG terminal and terminals and CCGT power stations
Specification of an IAC
system for a particular
application includes
consideration of the
following:
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turbine (CCGT) power
generation a further
enhancement is possible by
chilling both the GTG inlet
air and also chilling the
cooling water used in steam
turbine generator (STG)
which lowers the steam
condensing pressure and
thus increase power
generation further.

Operator
The power plant operator
and the LNG import
terminal operator must
fully co-operate to achieve
mutual commercial benefits
for both facilities.
A major issue is
balancing the loads
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LNG journal March 2012 23

p21-31:LNG 3 15/03/2012 12:51 Page 4
LNG REGASFICATION
Figure 3: Power generation from LNG cold using a Rankine Cycle
is excellent, with 365 days per year
operation achievable.
Cold Power Generation creates
electricity by the expansion of a working
fluid across a turbine linked to a
generator (similar to steam in a STG).
Sufficient temperature potential exists
between the LNG and seawater to
condense and vaporise the working fluid.
For the cycle to work the fluid should boil
at high pressure against seawater and
condense at low pressure against LNG;
propane is a suitable fluid.
Figure 3 shows a simplified schematic
of a potential scheme employing
seawater. Alternatively, air could be used
as the heat source in both vaporisers.
Several units exist in Japan that use
this Rankine Cycle with LNG to generate
additional electricity.
For a 5 MTPA import terminal some
35MW could be generated in this way
with no fuel cost. A Foster Wheeler study
showed a simple pay-back for an
integrated Rankine Cycle power
generation scheme of six years.
Methods
Air Separation using cold energy from
LNG can provide liquid nitrogen and
liquid oxygen. It is an attractive option as
it can utilise the low temperature source
(i.e. -160C).
The power consumption for an
integrated air separation unit (ASU) is
significantly lower, up to 50 percent, than
that of a stand-alone plant as the
cryogenic refrigerant is essentially
available free.
There are currently several integrated
ASUs using LNG import terminal cold
operating in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and
France.
In 2010, Chinas first ASU integrated
facility using LNG cold energy was
brought on stream. Located in Putian,
the ASU is a joint venture between Air
Products and China National Offshore
24 LNG journal The Worlds Leading LNG publication
Oil Corp. (owner of the LNG terminal)
and can produce 600 tpd of liquid oxygen,
nitrogen and argon to supply the
industrial gases market in Fujian
Province.
This cold energy could also be used as
a source of refrigeration for other low
temperature separations such as
ammonia, ethylene, and LPGs.
Applications
Chilled Water for industry can be
used to reduce capital cost in new-
build applications or help debottleneck
existing facilities.
Nearly all refineries and
petrochemical facilities world-wide use
cooling water for rejection of low-
grade heat.
In closed-loop systems (a secondary
fresh water circuit cooled against
seawater) or evaporative systems (a
secondary fresh water circuit cooled by
evaporation in a cooling tower) this
cooling water is typically supplied at
around 30 to 35 C and is returned at 40
to 45 C.
By integrating these closed-water
systems with available LNG cold (by an
intermediate refrigerant circuit e.g.
glycol/water) and thus supplying chilled
water to the refinery or petrochemical
facility, the following opportunities are
available for new-build facilities:
 Share water intake / outtake facilities
with the LNG terminal and reduce
overall size and cost
 Reduce air-fin cooling to save capital
cost and plot-area
 Reduce cooling water exchanger size
 Reduce evaporative losses in cooling
towers
 Recover ethylene from FCC product
stream
 Improve ethylene cracker cold-box
chilling efficiency
Alternatively the chilled water could
be used to debottleneck existing facilities.
In particular column overhead
condensers are renowned bottlenecks.
Case study
A simple Foster Wheeler case study of the
potential benefits of chilled water in a
refinery application considers a 14,000
bpsd naphtha stabiliser column overhead
cooler.
If the cooling water is chilled from
30C to 20C, an additional 45 percent of
valuable LPGs can be recovered rather
than lost into fuel gas. This equates to
some US$2.6M per annum (based on
8,000 hrs/yr and $500/te LPG) saving.
This is for a single column in a refinery.
A typical Middle Eastern 400 kbps/d
refinery requires around 150MW of
cooling water duty, and so a 5 MTPA
import terminal could provide a large
percentage of this duty for relatively
low cost.
District Cooling is where cold water is
used to reduce capital and operating cost
in new residential or commercial building
air conditioning systems in hot climates.
By integrating these closed-water
systems with available LNG cold, via an
intermediate refrigerant circuit e.g.
glycol/water, chilled water can be
supplied to the district. A recent Foster
Wheeler study for Barcelona showed the
technical feasibility of this approach.
Niche applications:
a) Cold storage and frozen foods is an
obvious use of cold energy. However, even
a large cold store only requires around
1MW of cold (a small amount of the
potential cold energy available from a 5
MTPA terminal) and only requires a
temperature of around -25C to -50C so number
does not make best use of the -160C
available. A related application is the
freezing of eutectic plates for use in
refrigerated vehicles, although a small
cold user it may have a high value
especially in warmer climates.
b) Cryogenic crushing of an elastic
material can transform the structure into
the brittle range enabling crushing.
Whilst unlikely to be a large consumer of
cold energy at an LNG terminal, it can be
used for crushing and thus help separate
wastes for recycling such as old car tyres.
Other uses include the crushing of
volatile, toxic and explosive materials
where cryogenic chilling reduces the
vapour pressure and associated hazards.
c) Seawater desalination happens
naturally at the worlds polar regions and
makes use of the fact that as water
begins to freeze the ice dendrites that
form first consist of fairly pure water. The
remaining water is a concentrated saline
solution. Once separated the ice is melted
by passing air (which could then be used
for air conditioning) or warm water
against it. This method of producing feed
water holds some economic advantages
over traditional distillation processes,
and even more so when the cold energy is
available at low cost. The evaporation of
1kg of water requires 539 kcal, compared
to 80 kcal when freezing it. Small-scale
desalination by freezing was trialled in
the 1960s but operational difficulties
limited the uptake, further research and
development is ongoing.
These niche applications require small
quantities of cold energy but they could
be combined with some of the other
potential cold energy uses.
For example, Taiwanese energy
company CPC and Osaka Gas of Japan
operate an ASU and also a cold storage
warehouse using LNG import terminal
cold energy in Taiwan.
Conclusion
In summary, the global increase in LNG
shipments will yield further
opportunities to utilise the high-quality
cold energy available at LNG import
terminals through energy integration.
To maximise the benefits then the
LNG terminal should be designed as an
integral part of the power or process
plant.
The overall increase in energy
efficiency will help reduce carbon
emissions where theres likely to be
increased interest in the future.
Foster Wheeler has investigated a
of these integration
opportunities and for the right conditions
they demonstrate strong potential for
overall efficiency improvements and
overall capital and operating cost
reduction. 
This article is based on a paper which
was first presented at the ME-TECH 2nd
Middle East Technology Forum, held in
Dubai, between 14 and 15 February 2012.
Author
Chris Sharratt is a chartered
chemical engineer and has worked
at Foster Wheeler since 2000. He
currently manages the midstream
section of Foster Wheelers Business
Solutions Group at Reading, UK.