Gastech 2005 Bilbao, Spain Paper

Design and Safety Considerations for existing LNG Peak Shaving Plants

Presented by

Hans Joachim Grossmann Director GOC Engineering GmbH Bachovenstr. 8 53489 Sinzig, Germany hans.grossmann@goce.de

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Abstract

Starting from the mid 70`s many LNG Peak Shaving Plants and Terminals has been constructed and commissioned in various locations worldwide. During these 30 years many regulations were changed considerably in respect of more stringent safety and environmental requirements. Furthermore technical standards have been further developed with procedures of identifying and assessing process hazards. Owner and Operators of old LNG plants and terminals are now facing several questions in regard of their own plants to introduce revamping and life extension programs. To comply with state of the art of safety and operational standards within the LNG plant is already the ignition of detailed technical and economical discussions and evaluations. This paper focuses on a properly analysed situation for an existing LNG peak shaving plant in Germany and the cooperation of Owner and Engineer to increase safety and plant operations. The complete project phases from the initial safety study to the decommissioning of the systems will be presented. Up dated information of the status of execution of works is given. The contents of the paper can be a helpful and useful tool for owners, operators and engineers of similar plants or marine terminals for loading, storage & handling facilities of liquefied hydrocarbons. 2. The Plant

The LNG Peak Shaving Plant, located at Dormagen-Nievenheim, Germany is part of the natural gas transmission and storage network owned by RWE- Energy. The company serves imports natural gas for more than 30 years to their customers. Imports include gas supplies from The Netherlands, Norway, Russia and the UK. The pipeline grid includes more than 4,000 km of underground high pressure pipelines. Compressors booster stations keep the gas moving, blending stations are provided for mixing gas of varying grades (high o low caloric grades). For reserve stocks of gas mainly cavern storages are used. Aboveground storage facility is provided at the peak shaving plant in Dormagen-Nievenheim. The plant is beside of an LNG peak shaving plant in the south of Germany the only cryogenic LNG storage facility in Germany. a. Brief Plant Description The main plant operations are described as follows: Gas Treatment and Liquefaction Gas to be liquefied for storage is taken from the transmission mains and reduced to 40 bar. It is passed through two absorber systems to remove moisture, aromatics and carbon dioxide. A further separator cleaned the gas from heavy hydrocarbons (HHCs) For the liquefaction process a Mixed Refrigerant Liquid (MRL) cycles is used as coolant. Flash gas is utilized together with the separated heavy hydrocarbons to clean the adsorber bed before being returned to the pipeline. MRL is a Methane/Propane mixture Liquefection capacity 2,400 Nm/h

Plate type heat exchanger is used as main process heat exchanger and a reciprocating compressor is used to compress flash gas and MRL. Previously the compressor was used to condition the send out gas back to pipeline gas quality. Stages: Power: Psuc: Pdisch Capacity Capacity Maker 8 1, 9 MW -0,1 / +0,2 bar NG (4. stage): 67,5 bar MRL (3. stage): 54 bar NG: max. 6.145 Nm/h MRL: max. 6.820 Nm/h Ingersoll Rand

Storage of LNG The LNG is stored in a double wall steel tank made out of 9% nickel steel for the inner tank and carbon steel for the outer tank known as single containment storage system. The discharge pipeline is designed as bottom outlet from the tanks. Filling line is connected to the liquid phase too. The tank is enclosed by an earth embankment capable of containing the entire liquid contents of the reservoir. Gastech 2005 Grossman 2

Geometrical capacity of the tank: 22,700 m (say 14 million Nm gas storage capacity) Design pressure: 68 mbar Design code: API 620 Q in combination with DIN 4119 and German pressure vessel rules (AD). BOG handling system The boil off gases are reliquefied by compression, refrigeration and expansion and routed back to the tank. The repeated circulation is used for homogenization of the tank contents. Natural gas send out system When the reserve of liquefied gas is required for distribution at time of peak demand, it is first pressurized by two high pressure pumps to equal the pipeline pressure, which may be as high as 70 bars. To bring the calorific value of the send out gas in line with the pipeline gas liquid nitrogen is added before the LNG is vaporized in two submerged combustion vaporizer. Send- out rate 2 x 50,000 Nm3 /h

Truck loading system To serve various costumers with LNG a single truck loading bay is installed Send out rate History The plant was built by CBI Germany in 1974/75 and commissioned in 1976. It was continuously in operation since nearly 30 years. The plant is subject to regulations covering hazardous industrial sites and must be conform to the highest level of rules & regulations as laid down in the provisions of national emission control laws. 3. Project Phases Main driver of the project was that the client wants to operate the plant for the next 20 years considering that the plant shall in line with the relevant rules & regulations. Furthermore the German laws handover the responsibility for state-of-the-art in safety to the plant operator. a. Conformity Study Rules & Regulations The aim of this initial study, carried out in 2002 was to clarify the actual status of the plant with respect to Status of installed active and passive safety equipment including review of existing documentation To check the compliance of the plant with the actual rules & regulations, especially for the LNG Tank For LNG Installations two main codes & standards are followed for new LNG storage plants NFPA 59A - Standard for the production, storage and handling of liquefied natural gas EN 1473 Installation and equipment for liquefied natural gas Tank penetrations EN 1473 allows no penetrations of the primary and secondary container walls, means the requirement of the use of submerged pumps. NFPA 59A allows penetrations, however the design spill shall be calculated as the full liquid content of the tank. The design spill in case of the use of submerged pumps (over the top fill and emptying) results in 10 min operation of the installed pumps capacity. Result The main topics which arises out the study was Renew the field instrumentation and the control system ( fail safe instrumentation) due to the age of the equipment Review the LNG tank design with respect to tank nozzles at bottom at shell below the liquid level. Review the consequences of the installation of submerged pumps( reduces hazard arising from LNG) Review the consequences of the installation of additional safety features (e.g. water curtains, foam system, thermal insulation of impoundment area) to reduce the evaporation and dispersion of spilled LNG. 35 Nm/h

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b. Costing Study Based on the results of the above mentioned study a detailed costing study was carried out with the main alternatives Installation of submerged pumps Installation of additional safety features without submerged pumps Revamping of the entire plant (Instrumentation, Control system, mechanical equipment etc.) Result Beside the costs for revamping of the entire plant the estimated costs for installation of submerged pumps are just 10 % higher than for the installation of additional safety feature With consideration of all aspects of the alternatives and having in mind that with the installation of submerged pumps the LNG peak shaving plant shall comply with the latest codes & standards also in future it was decided to install submerged pumps. 4. The Project End of 2003 the engineering work starts for the entire project including the following main area Decommissioning of the LNG tank/plant Modification of the LNG tank to install submerged pumps Renewing of instrument & control system including increased Level of Automation New BOG Handling System ( was added to the project 1Q/ 2004) General Revamping of the plant including the supply of new apparatuses, valves piping system, Extension of the existing control building)

Project schedule The overall project schedule is based on the fact that the peak shaving plant must be back in operation for the winter season 2005/2006. 5. Design Aspects a. Static Calculation of existing Tank A new static calculation was required to confirm that he tank structure can handle the added loads due to the installation of a new pump platform on the tank roof the installation of new pump columns inside the tank Secondly the existing tank was recalculated due to the actual codes and requirements for this type of tank structure in Germany. The calculation results in a recommendation to install a additional stiffener ring at the outer tank shell. All calculations were made with FE methods using the latest version of ANSYS software package. b. Submerged pumps The tank shall be equipped with two submersible, retractable pumps. The existing pumps will be further utilized so that the submerged pumps acting as low pressure feed pumps. Of major importance during design stage was to have a low energy input into the tank to avoid an increased boil off. By selection the pumps low weight, small diameter was considered to avoid too much modification work for the tank structure itself. c. HAZOP Study/Safety Report A coarse HAZOP study was prepared already in 2003 to combine the operation experiences of the plant operators with safety requirements due to the installation of new field instrumentation and new control system. To serve the requirements of the local authorities the safety report of the plant including risk assessment need to be completely revised. d. Process optimization The revamping of the plant is use also to optimise the process of the systems. Process simulations support this optimization in close contact with operators and makers of equipment. e. Increased level of automation A complete revamping of the field instrumentation is underway including an increased level of automation for various operations e.g. gas treatment and liquefaction, BOG handling, send out system. This includes modern DP/PA Bus structures, remote control and operation of the processes by using field workstations. A number of hand valves are replaced by remote operating valves. Gastech 2005 Grossman 4

f. BOG Handling The existing BOG handling system which included partially reliquefaction of BOG back to the tank shall be replaced by a direct BOG handling system just to suck the BOG from the tank and send it via a three stage piston compressor to the gas pipeline grid. 6. Project Execution a. Decommissioning of LNG tank The plant was taken out of operation in March 2004 with a liquid level of approx. 2, 5 m of LNG in the tank. This was due to the fact that no proven information was available for the NSPH performance of the existing high pressure pumps. Therefore it was decided to stop at this point and to install a temporary connection to the LNG pump which was installed to load road tanker. The normal capacity of this pump was similar to the estimated minimum flow of one high pressure pump. With this temporary feed pump the tank was more or less 100% liquid emptied in a very smooth and safe operation. The LNG was pumped out using the normal send out way via the vaporizers. b. Warming up/Purging of Tank After natural warming up of the tank, it was purged with nitrogen at a rate of 300 350 m/h using nitrogen road tanker facility. Total nitrogen consumptions were approx 6 times of the tank volume. Purging with air follows to allow inspection of the tank. c. First Tank Opening after 30 Years The first opening of the inner tank after 30 years of continuously operation of the tank was on September 07, 2004. d. Tank Inspection In accordance to German Law the tank was inspected by a Third Party (TUEV). The inner tank was visual inspected; the bottom was tested with a vacuum box. Plate thicknesses of inner and outer tank /shell roof were tested. A piece of the bottom outlet structure was tested in a laboratory to check the chemical analysis and the mechanical, technological data. The results of all tests and inspections were satisfied and no unexpected findings were detected. e. Safety Aspects All project phases to date are carried out under a high safety standard monitored and controlled by an independent safety inspector. 7. Project Status The actual project status per February 2005 is as follows (picture will be show during paper presentation: a. LNG Tank Installation of additional shell stiffener are completed Preparation for the Installation of the new pump platform Pump/Level/Temperature columns prefabricated Submerged pumps ready for performance test b. BOG System BOG Compressor ordered c. Instrumentation & Control Field construction work ongoing Fabrication of PLC/Control System d. Mechanical Work/Civil work starts 8. Project Organisation

The project organisation follows the following framework One engineering contractor for the entire project Direct purchasing of equipment and /or construction services The overall project costs are in the range of 13 Million. 9. Summary/Conclusion/Outlook

We are aware that the statements in this paper are only touching a part of the very complex execution of revamping an LNG facility. However the project phases as described above can be adapted for similar projects too. The project of revamping the LNG peak shaving plant at Nievenheim stand as an example of trustful and close relationship between the Clients, Engineer and Maker. Mainly the decision of the client to develop the project stepwise in cooperation with an experienced process orientated Engineer results in a smooth and safe project execution. As engineers and consultants of process plants we see our responsibility in providing this type of expertise. Gastech 2005 Grossman 5

We hope that we can have the opportunity during the next GASTECH event to report to the audience the next importance project phase, the Re-start of the the LNG peak shaving plant back into operation. 10. Pictures/Diagrams

Picture 1 - Overall View - LNG Peak Shaving Plant Nievenheim

Picture 2 - HP LNG Send out pumps

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Picture 3 - LNG Vaporizer

Picture 4 Temporary Feed connection between HP pump and Road tanker pump

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Picture 5- Picture made by Thermo graphic camera to detect defects in insulation (made during emptying of tank)

Picture 6 Nitrogen vaporizer

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Picture 7 Bottom outlet LNG Tank

Picture 8 LNG Tank above suspended deck

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