Energy 87 (2015) 645e653

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/energy

Improvement of the LNG (liquid natural gas) regasification efficiency

by utilizing the cold exergy with a coupled absorption e ORC (organic
Rankine cycle)

w*, Maciej Cholewin
Łukasz Tomko
ski
Wrocław University of Technology, Wrocław, Poland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Regasification is the process of evaporating and compressing LNG (liquid natural gas) so that the product
Received 10 October 2014 meets the parameters of a local distribution network. During this process large amounts of potentially
Received in revised form useful exergy are destroyed. There were several proposals of using this potential in practice. In this paper
17 April 2015
the methods for electric energy production using cold exergy from a LNG stream are investigated. The
Accepted 8 May 2015
new improvement is proposed for an absorption power cycle by coupling it with an organic Rankine
Available online 3 June 2015
cycle. The new components for working fluid are evaluated. The proposed solution is compared to
existing ones and analyzed using a computer model. A significant increase of exergetic efficiency and
Keywords:
LNG
power output is observed when compared to previous solutions.
Exergy utilization © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Organic Rankine cycle
Energy production

1. Introduction liquefaction of carbon dioxide to ease its storage, as shown by

Liquefaction of natural gas makes it easier to transport by vastly
reducing its volume. During this process a considerable amount of
energy is used to remove heat, estimated at 500 kWh/t of natural
gas [2]. Exergy is the measure of useful work which can be per-
formed by a system when it obtains thermodynamic equilibrium
with its surroundings. The physical state of LNG (liquid natural gas)
differs strongly from ambient conditions, thus making it a large
exergy reservoir. In most currently operated plants this potential is
wasted. However, with the application of proper equipment, cold
exergy can be harnessed and used beneficially. The issue of efficient
cold exergy usage is especially important in the face of expected
LNG consumption growth [25].
Several methods of utilizing cold exergy exist. The major focus of
this paper is power generating technologies. Dong et al. mentioned
other possibilities, such as cryogenic grinding, deep freezing of food
products and air separation [9]. Roszak et al. proposed to apply cold
exergy in order to improve the capacity of adsorbed natural gas
tanks by cooling them down [23]. Tan et al. suggested to utilize
LNG as a vehicle fuel [30]. Another possible application is the
* Corresponding author.

w).
E-mail address: lukasz.tomkow@pwr.edu.pl (Ł. Tomko
Zhang et al. [38]. Wang et al. analyzed the possibility of combining
natural gas liquids recovery and LNG regasification [33]. Xia et al.
suggested the application of cold LNG exergy and solar power for
water desalination [34]. It is not only LNG that can be applied as the
source of cold exergy. Many cryogenic flows may have sufficient
potential to become a low temperature heat source, as shown by
Zhang et al. [37].
One of the methods of utilizing cold exergy for power produc-
tion is the application of the ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) operating
between a high temperature heat source and a LNG stream to be
gasified. The operating principle of ORC is the same as the Clau-
siuseRankine cycle, which governs the operation of coal-fired and
nuclear power plants. The major difference is the replacement of
water as a working fluid with another compound. Most often hy-
drocarbons are applied, hence the method's name. The Brayton
cycle can be applied as well, as described by Morosuk et al. [19].
Angelino et al. performed the exergetic analysis of such cycle [4].
The absorption cycle has been proposed by Shi et al. and Liu et al.
[26,17]. Dong et al. suggested using cryogenic exergy to power a
Stirling engine [8].
Exergy analysis is a powerful tool for the evaluation of energy
systems. It has been performed by Haragovics and Mizsey to opti-
mize hydrocarbon processing [13]. Other plants can be analyzed as
well - Koroneos et al. optimized a lignite power plant [15]. Nguyen

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2015.05.041
0360-5442/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
646
w, M. Cholewin
Ł. Tomko
et al. suggested element-based exergetic analysis [20]. In this paper
the analysis was performed with Aspen Hysys software. This soft-
ware was used previously for exergy analysis, for example by Hajjaji
et al. (hydrogen production) [12] and Vitasari et al. (biomass gasi-
fication) [31]. In this paper the improvement of the absorption
power cycle is proposed, investigated and compared with other
solutions. The efficiency of different power producing processes is
evaluated and their performance is optimized using computer
simulations. The comparison is based on several criteria, especially
exergetic efficiency and power output. Possible heat sources and
working fluids are described.
2. Methods
2.1. Regasification process
2.1.1. Plant properties and final product requirements
The base data for the analysis comes from a LNG port in


Swinouj
scie, currently under construction. It is located on the Baltic
coast in northern Poland. After completion it is going to supply
almost 32% of the country's natural gas demand. LNG will be
delivered by ships from the Persian Gulf region, especially Qatar.
There are also plans to expand the supplier base with Norway. The
terminal construction will allow sources of natural gas delivered to
Poland to be diversified. The majority of used gas currently comes
from Russia.
During the regasification process LNG is converted into a
gaseous phase with parameters that comply with local regulations
and distribution network parameters. Natural gas pressure
required at the inlet to the main gas pipeline is 8.5 MPa. The
temperature of the product is expected to be in the range of
0
Ce200
C. In order to find the expected mass flow, the monthly


output of the Swinouj
scie LNG plant was analyzed. It is shown in
Fig. 1. LNG production increases significantly in winter, when the
average temperature is low. The maximum monthly output of
approximately 0.6 bil. m3 is expected in December. This corre-
sponds with the maximum instantaneous LNG mass flow of
approximately 160 kg/s. This mass flow will be further used in the
cycle calculations.
2.1.2. Exergy potential
To use the exergy potential as an evaluation factor one needs to
know its available amount. The general equation for the specific
exergy x of a given substance is shown below (Eq. (1)). It has been
Fig. 1. Expected monthly output of the considered plant and average temperature in
Poland.

ski / Energy 87 (2015) 645e653
Fig. 2. Isobars of methane under different pressures with practically available exergy
marked.
used for the preliminary calculation of the compressed LNG ther-
mal exergy [28,29]. In the following equations hf and sf are the
specific enthalpy and the specific entropy of LNG, respectively. h0, s0
and T0 are the specific enthalpy, the specific entropy and the tem-
perature of natural gas in ambient conditions. Fig. 2 shows methane
isobars in 8.5 MPa and 1 MPa with exergy available to use in each
case.


x ¼ hf  h0  T0 $ sf  s0 (1)
If specific enthalpy and specific entropy will be assumed to be
0 in ambient conditions, the previous equation simplifies to Eq. (2).
x ¼ hf  T0 $sf (2)
The data for these and any further calculations was found using
the modified Peng-Robinson method implemented in Aspen Hysys
software.
2.1.3. High heat source
Compliance with the distribution network parameters is guar-
anteed with a proper LNG regasification process. Currently, the two
dominant regasification methods are open rack vaporizers and
submerged combustion vaporizers [1]. Both methods lead to the
production of harmful combustion products and to exergy waste.
The portion of received natural gas is burned to obtain heat for the
evaporation process. Other methods require an external heat
source. Its choice determines the final temperature of working fluid
in the front of the expansion device in the Brayton or Rankine cycle.
Therefore it strongly influences the maximum possible efficiency of
the process. Some of the possible heat sources are listed below.
There are several examples of utilization of waste heat from
industrial processes. Lee et al. suggested using condensation heat
from a coal power plant [16]. Cogeneration heating with a gas en-
gine was proposed by Querol et al. [22]. Another possible waste
heat source is a blast furnace, as shown by Bisio et al. [5]. The
application of solid oxide fuel cells as a heat source for ORC also
appears to be an interesting solution, as shown by Al-Sulaiman
et al. [3]. Detailed analysis of the similar trigeneration cycle was
performed by Yu et al. [35]. The use of each mentioned heat source
in the considered location would require the commissioning of a
new heat producing plant.
Renewable heat sources such as solar energy might be used, as
shown by Song et al. [27]. Due to the volatile nature of their power

w, M. Cholewin
Ł. Tomko
output, it might be sometimes hard to guarantee the continuous
supply of heat for the LNG regasification process. Due to the plant's
location in northern Poland it might impossible to provide a suf-
ficient amount of heat in winter, when natural gas demand is the
highest.
Seawater is a low-temperature heat source, however with an
extremely large heat capacity [24]. It is an accessible and credible
way to obtain heat, particularly when a LNG unit is located next to


the sea or another large water reservoir. The Swinouj
scie plant is


located at the mouth of the river Swina flowing into the Baltic Sea,
so even in winter a large amount of water with a temperature of
4
C is available. The risk of clogging may be decreased by using an
intermediate heat exchanger with glicol solution. Based on the
location of the plant seawater was chosen as the heat source in the
numerical model.
2.1.4. Selection of working fluid
A crucial aspect of LNG exergy utilization system design is the
selection of working fluids. Several factors have to be considered.
The application of flammable media, such as hydrogen and hy-
drocarbons, leads to increased costs connected with fire protection.
Some fluids, for example CFCs, are hazardous to the environment
and their usage is legally limited. Others, such as ammonia, are
harmful to human health. Some of the possible working fluids are
expensive and their application is economically unjustified. The
thermodynamic parameters of the medium should offer the pos-
sibility to transfer the energy between high and low heat sources
and have sufficient potential of expansion connected with a specific
mass difference. Long et al. used exergy analysis to find the optimal
circulating medium for waste heat recovery [18].
The working fluid for ORC is often a single hydrocarbon or a
mixture of such compounds. Hydrocarbons are flammable, but
relatively cheap and have good thermodynamic properties. Dis-
penza et al. proposed using liquid carbon dioxide to work in the
transcritical cycle and also showed some other proposals for cold
exergy utilization [7]. A similar solution was proposed by Deng
et al., who also performed exergy analysis [6]. Zhang et al. designed
a carbon dioxide cycle which closely follows the LNG heating curve
[36]. Kim et al. analyzed the application of an ammonia-water
mixture [14]. Krypton was suggested by Szargut et al. to be used
as the working fluid in the topping cycle of a cascade system [29].
It is hard to find a working fluid with good thermodynamic
properties in a low temperature range for the Brayton cycle. Air is
often used, however Gomez et al. suggested the application of
helium and nitrogen [11,10]. Park et al. proposed the application of a
dual Brayton cycle with air and helium as working fluids [21].
There were several proposals of absorption system application,
for example the ones by Shi et al. and Liu et al. [26,17]. The working
fluid in such a system is the mixture of several components. Shi
et al. proposed the application of an ammonia-water mixture.
However, this solution led to large losses of exergy as the
condensation temperature of ammonia is high when compared
with the temperature of evaporating LNG. Wang et al. optimized a
similar process and proposed using a waste heat source [32]. Liu
et al. applied the mixture of propane and tetrafluoromethane. With
this mixture a significant increase of efficiency when compared to
the basic ORC cycle has been observed. However, there were still
significant exergy losses in the low temperature range. In this paper
further improvements to these cycles are proposed.
2.2. Proposed plants
2.2.1. Model assumptions
LNG arriving in a gas carrier is assumed to have a pressure of
1 bar and a temperature of 111 K. Natural gas leaving the plant and

ski / Energy 87 (2015) 645e653 647
entering the gas network will be assumed to have a temperature of
273 K and a pressure of 8.5 MPa. The initial temperature of seawater
(heat source) will be assumed as 277 K. In simulations the amount
of water will be adjusted so its final temperature does not decrease
by more than 2 K. This is to decrease the environmental impact and
avoid the risk of freezing.
Several different cycles will be analyzed for the purpose of po-
wer production evaluation. Ethane was chosen as the working fluid
in ORC due to its low boiling temperature and larger pressure dif-
ference in a given temperature range than other possible media. For
the Brayton cycle air will be used as the working fluid. It is easily
available and its thermal properties appear to be proper.
Components previously used in absorption cycle mixtures had
several drawbacks. The most important was the large temperature
difference inside the LNG heat exchanger, especially in the low
temperature section. This was caused by the high dew point of the
mixture - condensation occurred too early and a large part of the
fluid was condensed instead of being absorbed, thus wasting
exergy. Another issue was the low degree of separation and the
high absorption heat generation. In this paper the use of a mixture
of ethane and krypton is proposed. These substances are charac-
terized by a large difference of boiling temperatures, which eases
separation. Krypton is a noble gas, and therefore no chemical in-
teractions occur between the components.
Computer models have been created with Aspen Hysys 7.3.
software provided by the Wroclaw Networking and Super-
computing Center. The mechanical efficiencies of machines were
calculated using the same program.
2.2.2. Process diagrams
The first considered solution is the application of a single
seawater/LNG heat exchanger. The process diagram is shown in
Fig. 3. Initially LNG is pumped to the working pressure and then
regasified in the heat exchanger. This is the simplest solution
possible with the given assumptions. However, it has several major
drawbacks, the most important being the complete waste of exergy
potential. In such a configuration the heat exchange occurs over a
large temperature difference which may lead to ice formation in-
side the exchanger and clogging.
The calculations of this process allowed the amount of heat
required to completely evaporate the LNG stream to be found. The
minimum work of the pump and the amount of seawater required
can also be obtained from such analysis. Another option (not
shown) is to replace the pump with a gas compressor located
behind the heat exchanger. However, the expected work input is
very large when compared to the pump application - gasified
natural gas has much lower density.
The second proposal is to apply a single turbine ORC. It is shown
in Fig. 4. In the considered cycle it was decided to pressurize LNG
only partially prior to evaporation in order to stay in the sub-critical
region. After evaporation, its pressure is increased with a
compressor coupled with the turbine. This allows for an efficient
heat exchange and leads to the reduction of exergy losses by
decreasing the temperature difference between the LNG and the
working fluid. In the presented process liquid ethane leaves the
Fig. 3. Regasification of LNG with seawater.
648
w, M. Cholewin
Ł. Tomko
Fig. 4. Regasification with a basic ORC cycle.
LNG/ethane heat exchanger (condenser) and is pressurized with a
pump. It is then evaporated in an ethane/seawater exchanger
(evaporator) and expanded in the power producing turbine. After
that it is routed back to the condenser for cooling and liquefaction.
A major drawback of this configuration is the need for the
application of a natural gas compressor to obtain network condi-
tions for the product. The efficiency of this process is strongly
affected by the working pressure of the condenser. The main trade-
off is between the pressure to which LNG is pumped and the
expansion range of the ethane turbine. The greater the LNG
pumping pressure, the lower the requirements for the compressor
work. On the other hand, increasing the LNG pressure leads to the
increase of the condenser working pressure and limits the power
produced by the turbine. Exergy losses are relatively low, due to the
possibility of maintaining a low temperature difference during heat
exchange between evaporating LNG and condensing ethane. An
additional benefit is an extremely efficient heat transfer in such
conditions, which allows for the application of a smaller heat
exchanger.
In order to simultaneously benefit from the low LNG compres-
sion power requirements and low temperature difference during
heat exchange the Brayton cycle can be applied. In this process the
working fluid remains in a gaseous state during each stage. The
cycle analyzed in this paper is shown in Fig. 5. Low pressure and
cold working fluid leaving the LNG heat exchanger is compressed
and then heated up with seawater. After that it is expanded in a
turbine and routed again to the LNG heat exchanger. Power from
the turbine is used to drive the compressor and electrical generator.
LNG is initially pumped up to the final pressure and later regasified
in the LNG exchanger. Since cooled down working fluid is gaseous,
the heating process of supercritical natural gas can be followed
more closely. Therefore exergy losses during heat transfer are
limited. However, in the Brayton cycle a significant part of power
produced by the turbine is used to drive the working fluid
compressor, thus limiting the net power output.
Turbine power output can be increased by dividing it into two or
more stages and by reheating partially expanded gas. The sum of
the power outputs from the stages is at its maximum when they are
equal. To find the middle pressure in a two-stage configuration pm
Eq. (3) is used. p1 and p2 are high and low pressures in the process.
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
pm ¼ p1 $p2 (3)

ski / Energy 87 (2015) 645e653
The absorption system allows all power consuming gas
compression processes to be eliminated. The diagram of a basic
system is shown in Fig. 6. The working fluid is the mixture of two
components with different boiling temperatures. The component
with a lower boiling temperature is known as an absorbate, while
the one with a higher boiling temperature is called an absorbent. In
an ideal case an absorbent and an absorbate would be able to be
separated completely in a reversible process. In reality, however,
only partial separation occurs. In the presented process LNG is
pumped to the network pressure at a liquid state saving the power
input which would be required for gas compression.
The cycle starts with the liquid mixture of absorbent and
absorbate being pumped from an aborber to a desorber. It passes
through an internal heat exchanger where it is preheated. In the
desorber it is further heated and separated. Absorbate-rich gas is
passed to a high temperature heat exchanger. Meanwhile,
absorbate-lean liquid is routed through the internal heat exchanger
and expansion valve back towards the absorber. Absorbate-rich gas,
after being heated up, is expanded in a turbine. In the configuration
shown in Fig. 6 a two stage turbine with reheat is applied for an
increased power output. After the expansion the working fluid is
cooled down in a LNG heat exchanger. Ideally, the working fluid
should be brought to the saturated vapor state at the end of the
exchanger. However, partial condensation is expected to occur.
After cooldown absorbate-rich and absorbate-lean fluids are mixed
in the absorber. Heat is removed from the absorber by LNG in order
to keep the mixture at a liquid state despite heat infux from
incoming streams and an absorption process.
The power output of the whole system can be greatly increased
by the application of an additional cycle. In a simple absorption
cycle the working fluid rejects more than half of its available heat in
a low range of temperatures (up to approximately 140 K). There-
fore, in higher temperatures a LNG stream may serve as a heat sink
for another process. We propose to apply the additional power
producing cycle as the source of heat for the desorber, instead of the
conventional heating proposed previously. This solution would
allow the remaining cold exergy of the fluid leaving the internal
heat exchanger to be utilized, further improving the efficiency of
the absorption cycle. Considering the temperature range, a propane
ORC was applied. The diagram of a coupled system is shown in
Fig. 7. High-pressure liquid propane from the pump is evaporated in
an evaporator and expanded in a turbine. After expansion it heats

w, M. Cholewin
Ł. Tomko
ski / Energy 87 (2015) 645e653 649

Fig. 5. Regasification with a basic Brayton cycle.

Fig. 6. LNG regasification with an absorption cycle.

up a mixture inside the desorber so it can be separated. Then the 2.3. Comparison criteria
propane is routed to a LNG heat exchanger where it is completely
condensed and the whole process starts again, just like in a stan- To evaluate the application potential of each proposed cycle they
dard ORC. are compared according to several criteria. The first is the net
650
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Ł. Tomko
ski / Energy 87 (2015) 645e653

Fig. 7. Absorption cycle coupled with propane ORC.

power output Pnet defined with Eq. (4). Pout is the power produced
by turbines and other power-producing devices and Pin is the po- Ppr
hx ¼ (8)
wer supplied to all pumps, compressors and auxiliary equipment X_
present in the system, including LNG pumps. This criterion shows
the amount of useful power offered by the process. Pnet
hx ¼ (9)
X X X_
Pnet ¼ Pout  Pin (4) Cycle thermal efficiency htp can be compared with Carnot effi-
ciency hc, being the highest possible efficiency of a power cycle in a
Net thermal efficiency htn is found with Eq (5). Q_ in is a heat
given temperature range. Carnot efficiency is calculated with Eq.
stream supplied from a higher heat source to a power producing-
(10).
process.
Tl
Pnet hc ¼ 1  (10)
htn ¼ (5) Th
Q_ in
Tl is the temperature of heat sink, and in this case it is the
Ppr is the power produced in the cycle decreased only by its own temperature of LNG coming from a gas carrier - approximately
needs. It is found with Eq. (6). Pn is the power used internally by the 111 K. Th is the temperature of a heat source. In the considered
given cycle. The devices which power inputs are included in Pn and system this is the assumed temperature of seawater - 277.15 K. The
are the pumps and compressors of working liquid. fraction of Carnot efficiency hfc is found with Eq. (11).

X X htn
hfc ¼ (11)
Ppr ¼ Pout  Pn (6) hc

Process thermal efficiency htp is found with Eq. (7).
Ppr
htp ¼
Q_in
To calculate process exergetic efficiency hx Eq. (8) is used. X_ is
the stream of exergy provided by regasified LNG to a process.
Overall exergetic efficiency is found with Eq. 9
The two final criteria are the power producing process outlet
temperature Tout and the total heat stream required by the cycle
Qreq.
(7)
3. Results
In a seawater evaporation system a water pump needs
approximately 0.7 MW. A LNG pump requires 3.7 MW of electric

w, M. Cholewin
Ł. Tomko
ski / Energy 87 (2015) 645e653 651

Fig. 8. Temperature-entropy diagram for the ORC regasification system.

Fig. 10. Temperature-entropy diagram for the basic absorption regasification system.

power in order to increase the initial pressure of LNG to the

network pressure. No other power streams are present in this
system.
Power produced by an ethane turbine in the simple ORC process
is approximately 27.9 MW. The working fluid pump uses 335 kW.
Power required to pump LNG to 10 bar is 1 MW, while the power
required to further compress it after evaporation is 45.3 MW. The
water pump uses 1 MW. The diagram of this process is shown in
Fig. 8.
The total power produced by both turbines in a Brayton cycle is
approximately 71 MW. However, the air compressors use more
than 81 MW. The water pump uses 1 MW. The diagram of this
process is shown in Fig. 9.
In a basic absorption system the turbines produce 3.2 MW of
power. A LNG pump uses 3.3 MW of electrical power, and a water
pump - 0.75 MW. The working fluid pump requires 0.1 MW. The
process diagram is shown in Fig. 10.
In an enhanced absorption cycle the values are the same, except
for an additional propane cycle and a slightly increased water pump
duty. Power produced by the propane turbine is 10.4 MW, and the
Fig. 11. Temperature-entropy diagram for the enhanced absorption regasification
propane pump uses 86 kW. The process diagram is shown in Fig. 11. system.
Table 1 contains the results of calculations based on the criteria
from section 2.3. The exergy stream of LNG was found to be
Table 1
Comparison between cycles.

Cycle Heating ORC Brayton Absorption Enh. absorption

Pnet (MW) 4.39 19.14 14.84 0.95 9.20

htn 0.038 0.164 0.145 0.064 0.128
htp e 0.236 0.099 0.208 0.188
hxn e 0.070 0.054 0.003 0.033
hxp e 0.101 0.037 0.011 0.049
hfc e 0.274 0.242 0.107 0.214
Tout (K) 273.15 307.7 213.9 135 200
Qreq (MW) 114.9 116.8 122.3 118.2 128.5

272.5 MW. Carnot efficiency in the given temperature range is

approximately 0.599.

4. Discussion

Most of the analyzed cycles have a negative energy balance. ORC

itself has a positive internal power balance and a good thermal
efficiency. It can be observed in Fig. 8 as the cycle diagram covers
Fig. 9. Temperature-entropy diagram for the Brayton regasification system. the large part of area between the LNG isobar and the line of
652
w, M. Cholewin
Ł. Tomko
seawater cooling. This process obtains the highest fraction of Car-
not efficiency. However, the power produced by this cycle is not
sufficient for a gaseous methane compression process. This prob-
lem is not present in other solutions, in which methane is pumped
to the final pressure in a liquid state. Because of the high
compression power requirements the total energy needs are
actually higher than in the case of heating with seawater. The lower
pressure of methane is needed to obtain two-phase conditions in
the temperature of ethane condensation. Higher methane pressure
would severely limit the power output of the cycle. When consid-
ering only the cycle, exergetic efficiency is the highest among the
proposed solutions. The process can be further improved by
applying a reheat, or a topping cycle with a different working fluid,
thus forming a cascade process. The temperature of methane at the
end of the process is higher than that of seawater due to the final
compression process.
In the given temperature range a Brayton cycle has the negative
internal power balance. More energy is needed to drive the air
compressors than produced by the turbines. The polytropes of
expansion in Fig. 9 are clearly shorter than the compression lines.
The main benefit is the fact that it closely follows the isobar of LNG,
which can also be seen in Fig. 9. If a heat source had a higher
temperature, more power would be produced and the energy
balance would be positive. However, in the given parameters it is
more beneficial to use just a seawater exchanger.
A simple absorption process offers a positive power balance and
is actually the first among the proposed solutions which reduces
the electric power requirements when compared to a seawater heat
exchanger. In the given conditions the power output is small and is
fully utilized to power a LNG pump. Thermal efficiency and Carnot
fraction is only slightly less than that of ORC. Due to the thermo-
dynamic properties of the mixture used, the temperature of LNG
leaving the process is very low, which further shows the potential
of the application. In Fig. 10 it can be observed that the condensa-
tion line of working fluid closely follows the methane isobar at a
very low temperature interval. The proposed absorption process is
thermodynamically justified only in specific conditions when ORC
cannot be efficiently used due to a high LNG pressure.
The exergetic efficiency of the process can be further improved
by adding more absorption cycles with different working fluids
operating in a higher temperature range, such as the one proposed
by Liu et al. [17]. Change of the mixture significantly affects the
temperatures and pressures in which absorption, desorption and
heat transfer occur. The application of a topping propane ORC
proposed in this paper is a simpler solution. Power output is
increased significantly, along with the exergetic efficiency. This can
be seen in Fig. 11 as the increased area of graph covered by the
cycles. The total thermal efficiency of the combined processes is
lower, but it is of small significance due to a cheap heat source.
There are several benefits of applying the proposed improve-
ment. Energy needed to compress LNG is reduced and in the case of
the enhanced absorption system a power surplus is observed.
Temperature difference affecting a seawater is lower than in the
simple heat exchanger, which reduces the risk of clogging. Less heat
is removed from the sea, which further decreases the environ-
mental footprint of an LNG terminal. The effect of a cold stream on
the sea can be dangerous, especially for marine flora, and must be
specified and prevented.
In general thermal and exergetic efficiencies of the proposed
cycles are low. The assumed parameters concerning the environ-
ment and the chosen heat source are very strict. Seawater has a low
temperature and its application as a heat source leads to the small
temperature difference between a low and high heat source.
Another reason for low efficiencies are high network requirements.
They cause several problems connected with the application of

ski / Energy 87 (2015) 645e653
exergy utilization methods. The final product pressure is higher
than critical. LNG pumped to this pressure moves to a supercritical
state during heating - no two-phase region is observed. In these
conditions the application of ORC and other cycles where the heat
exchange occurs in the constant temperature is limited or impos-
sible. These cycles often have the highest exergetic efficiency. If the
compression process takes place in a gaseous state, a very large
amount of energy is used.
The low exergetic efficiency of absorption-based solutions may
be the effect of a definition used. Exergy of the stream in the whole
temperature range is considered. This is advantageous for the so-
lutions based on a wide temperature interval. This also shows that
in the case of an absorption system some additional topping cycles
have to be used in order to improve exergy utilization. Another
factor reducing the exergetic efficiency is the fact that the natural
gas stream with higher pressure has a lower amount of the prac-
tically available exergy, as shown previously in Fig. 2.
The efficiency and power output of all the described solutions
would be improved if heat sources with a higher temperature were
used. The increase of temperature can be achieved with renewable
energy sources such as solar collectors. The use of heat storage units
would allow a continuous supply of heat throughout the year. Also,
the application of polygeneration techniques would significantly
increase the total efficiency.
5. Conclusions
Several methods for power production using the cold exergy of
LNG have been investigated. In the given conditions ORC and the
Brayton cycle are not useful and, actually, their application leads to
a power loss instead of gain. The implementation of a simple ab-
sorption cycle allows the cold exergy at the lowest temperature
range to efficiently be used. Further improvement was obtained
with the application of a topping ORC cycle.
The proposed processes can be enhanced with the application of
other heat sources and the adjustment of the product re-
quirements. These requirements are the subject of local law and
depend on the technical solutions used in the regional distribution
gas networks. Therefore the considerations for the other regions
might promote the application of different processes. The proposed
enhanced absorption system is a promising solution in the case of
required high network pressure and the low temperature of a local
heat source.
In further work the application of LNG exergy for the cooling of
superconductors will be analyzed. New mixtures for an absorption
system will be considered in order to further increase exergetic
efficiency. The possibility of the application of heat storage units
will be investigated and evaluated.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Wroclaw Networking and Super-
computing Center for granting access to the computing infra-
structure built in the project “PLATON - Science Services Platform”.
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