Techno-economic assessment of upfront nitrogen removal in a baseload LNG plant

Pal, Ajinkya; Mkacher, Hajer; Almomani, Fares; Karimi, Iftekhar A.; Al‐musleh, Easa I.

doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2022.125535

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…This recovery represents about 0.69% of their LNG production . This correspondence validates the accuracy of the simulated model in estimating the JBOG. − …”

Section: Case Studysupporting

confidence: 72%

Managing Jetty Boil-Off Gas for More Sustainable LNG Export Terminals

Bouabidi,

Al-Musleh,

Al Momani

et al. 2024

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a key component in the global energy mix, offering a cleaner alternative to traditional fossil fuels. Managing boil-off gas (BOG) at export terminals, however, presents significant challenges. If not properly managed, BOG can compromise safety, waste resources, and pollute the environment. This study evaluates strategies for BOG management, including integrating jetty BOG into the fuel system, minimizing BOG generation through LNG subcooling, and BOG liquefaction. Detailed simulations and economic evaluations confirmed that all strategies are profitable. Liquefaction using recirculating LNG is the most effective, increasing LNG output by 1.62% and yielding an annual profit of $28.50 million. Other successful strategies include liquefaction in separate and existing cycles, which increase LNG by 1.38% and 1.36%, resulting in annual profits of $23.50 million and $23.84 million, respectively. Integrating the jetty BOG into the fuel system also results in a 0.63% increase in LNG, generating $11.01 million annually. Subcooling using a main cryogenic heat exchanger and nitrogen prestorage boosts LNG production by 0.53% and 0.45%, with profits of $9.25 million and $5.93 million, respectively. These strategies not only enhance LNG production and profitability but also optimize resource use and reduce environmental impacts, thus supporting broader sustainability goals.

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“…This recovery represents about 0.69% of their LNG production . This correspondence validates the accuracy of the simulated model in estimating the JBOG. − …”

Section: Case Studysupporting

confidence: 72%

Managing Jetty Boil-Off Gas for More Sustainable LNG Export Terminals

Bouabidi,

Al-Musleh,

Al Momani

et al. 2024

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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“…The conversions for all three reactions are assumed to be complete and the influent to the Li-Cy contains 5 mol% N 2 and 95 mol% CH 4 , while the effluent specification is 99 mol% CH 4 . Other than the complete conversion assumption, it should be noted that these numbers do not represent the ultimate profit value for the entire plant as doing so would require a more in-depth technoeconomic analysis of equipment capital cost, operation, and maintenance requirements, and adjusting to inflation for both basic scenarios (traditional liquefaction) and UNR, while also calculating the energy savings made in the liquefaction section, which was done recently by Pal et al 90 These results merely represent the attractiveness of ammonia production as a side product when compared to electrolysis economic losses. Even if one T A B L E 7 Summary of the main economic benefits and costs to be considered for Li were to assume other costs associated with equipment installation and maintenance of Li-Cy would offset revenue made by selling ammonia, the main benefit of this proposed cycle remains to be the profits made in the liquefaction section in which high volumes of nitrogen no longer exists, which leads to lower costs of mechanical energy requirements in the refrigerant/propane cycle due to the decrease of the volume nitrogen previously occupied.…”

Section: Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A more detailed technoeconomic analysis of using the Li‐Cy was recently conducted by Pal et al 90 and their findings are summarized in Table 8, which includes the profits calculated for the UNR in the range 12.5%–87.5% compared to the basic scenario where the stream is directly fed to the liquefaction cycle. The authors developed and the detailed cost analysis of the Li‐Cy based on the process parameters extracted from Li and colleagues 16,26,42,44,91‐93 .…”

Section: Economic Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors developed and the detailed cost analysis of the Li‐Cy based on the process parameters extracted from Li and colleagues 16,26,42,44,91‐93 . Although Pal et al 90 resultsdo show that employing the Li‐Cy on the LNG plant is feasible, several comments can be observed. First, some of the process parameters, such as the lithium bed L / D ratio and porosity, were assumed to be equal to beds from other studies that do not involve lithium.…”

Section: Economic Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A critical review on the practical use of lithium cycle as an upfront nitrogen removal technology from natural gas

Omar

Ibrahim

Almomani

2022

Energy Science & Engineering

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The increase in energy demand as the world population grows, as well as the competition in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market, force producers to work hard on developing cost‐effective production technologies. Upfront nitrogen removal (UNR) before the LNG plant's cold section is considered a promising option to save energy that would otherwise be wasted to cool down a large volume of unused nitrogen in the gas stream. In this study, the use of the lithium cycle (Li‐Cy) as a cost‐effective method for UNR is investigated. The Li‐Cy is compromised of three stages: lithium chemisorption of nitrogen (Chem normalN 2 ${\mathrm{Chem}}_{{{\rm{N}}}_{2}}$), hydrolysis of lithium nitride (HydLi 3 normalN ${\mathrm{Hyd}}_{{\mathrm{Li}}_{3}{\rm{N}}}$), and electrowinning (Elec.‐w) of the final product to precipitate lithium metal for further reuse. The relevant chemistry, applicability, economic, and future challenges of Li‐Cy as a UNR technology from natural gas (NG) were explored and discussed. The main challenges that required further investigation to apply Li‐Cy to large‐scale applications were highlighted for future works. The literature review revealed that Li‐Cy can spontaneously remove nitrogen from NG even at low temperatures and produces ammonia as a valuable hydrogen storage material. The used lithium can be regenerated via HydLi 3 normalN ${\mathrm{Hyd}}_{{\mathrm{Li}}_{3}{\rm{N}}}$ and Elec.‐w and reused again many times. The cost of the Li‐Cy can be compensated by energy savings, the increase in production rate, and by selling the generated ammonia. Calculations showed that selling the produced ammonia from LNG plants with capacity in the range of 1–5 MTPA would not only offset the costs of Li‐Cy but would generate a net profit of $21MM to $103MM, respectively.

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“…Hence, some studies have developed more efficient refrigeration cycles. − One option is to integrate the hot and cold sections via a specially constructed exchanger known as a multistream exchanger (MSHE) . Another option is to integrate NG liquefaction with NGL recovery and nitrogen removal. − Victory et al integrated nitrogen removal unit (NRU) and CFZ process variants using an open-loop refrigeration cycle . Their integration reduced the capital cost by 18% and increased revenue by 6% as compared to a solvent-based CO 2 removal process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freezing-Based Acid Gas Removal and Its Integration with the Cold Section in an LNG Plant

Pal

Almomani

Al‐musleh

et al. 2022

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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Natural gas (NG) feed undergoes a series of liquefaction and upgradation processes to produce the final liquefied natural gas (LNG) product that meets customer specifications. LNG processes have a significant capital investment and a high energy requirement, and hence many researchers have focused on process improvement and optimization. While much of the previous research has concentrated on the development of more energy-efficient processes (such as acid gas removal unit (AGRU), liquefaction, natural gas liquid (NGL) recovery, and nitrogen removal), reducing the energy consumption of the whole LNG plant has received little attention. Moreover, the power needs of the LNG plant and LNG product and fuel gas quality constraints remain briefly addressed. The present work proposes an integration between the acid gas freezing unit (FAGRU) with the cold section and suggests multiple structural changes to the cold section. The results showcase that the proposed integration and structural design changes lower the total energy requirement by 16.6% and increase the production rate by 60 kt/a (1.76%). Both these reduce specific energy consumption (SEC) by 17.98%. The feed-to-fuel (FFF) ratio decreases from 6.94% for the base process to 5.7% for the integrated process.

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Techno-economic assessment of upfront nitrogen removal in a baseload LNG plant

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

Managing Jetty Boil-Off Gas for More Sustainable LNG Export Terminals

Managing Jetty Boil-Off Gas for More Sustainable LNG Export Terminals

A critical review on the practical use of lithium cycle as an upfront nitrogen removal technology from natural gas

Freezing-Based Acid Gas Removal and Its Integration with the Cold Section in an LNG Plant

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