In recent years, the efficient utilization of energy has become a hot issue in scientific research. Society needs sustainable development. Fossil energy will gradually withdraw from the stage of energy utilization in the future, and the significance of clean energy becomes increasingly prominent. Natural gas (NG) stands out for its superior characteristics among many clean energy sources. It is generally accepted as the cleanest fossil energy source in the world, [1] which has advantages of high calorific value and economic and environmental protection. NG emits very little greenhouse gas during the combustion process, and its application can greatly reduce the global greenhouse effect. NG is liquid state when stored and when in short distance transported, liquefied natural gas (LNG) is colorless, nontoxic, odorless and noncorrosive, and is 600 times the volume of NG. [2,3] The temperature is À162 °C at 101.325 kPa, LNG will be gasified to more than 25 °C before being transported to the gas user terminal, and the huge cold energy will be released simultaneously. Utilizing this part of energy rationally will produce excellent benefits.At present, LNG cold energy is mainly used as a cold source and applied to the combined power generation, refrigeration, and heating cycle engineering fields with thermal energy (industrial waste heat, solar energy, geothermal energy, etc.) together. In the past decade, there have been extensive in-depth researches conducted in this direction by many scholars. Lee et al. [4] designed and