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An Open Rack Vaporizer (ORV) is a heat exchanger that uses seawater as the source of heat.
The preferred seawater temperature for ORV operation is above 5C.
ORV units are generally constructed of aluminum alloy for mechanical strength suitable to
operate at the cryogenic temperature. The material has high thermal conductivity which is
effective for heat transfer equipment. The tubes are arranged in panels, connected through the
LNG inlet and the regasified product outlet piping manifolds and hung from a rack (Figure 1).
The panels are coated externally with zinc alloy, providing corrosion protection against seawater.
Process
Open rack vaporizers (ORV) use seawater as the thermal energy source in a direct heat
system to vaporize the LNG. To control algae growth within the system, sodium
hypochlorite (chlorine) is injected on the intake side of the system. The treated seawater
is then pumped to the top of the water box and travels down along the outer surface of the
tube heat exchanger panels, while LNG flows upward through these tubes and
is vaporized.4 The cooled seawater collects in a basin under the open rack vaporizer and
is discharged through the water outfall, while the vaporized natural gas is removed from
the top header of the system. Because this technology relies on seawater as the primary
heat source, it is only effective where seawater temperatures exceed approximately 63
degrees Fahrenheit.
Drawbacks
Open rack vaporizer technology requires large volumes of water, which could adversely
affect marine life.
The cooled and treated seawater that is returned to the ocean could potentially affect
marine life and water quality.
Although the ORVs do not directly produce air pollution emissions, powering the
seawater pumps
For large regasification terminals where significant amounts of water are required, in-depth
evaluation and assessment of the seawater system must be performed. the key issues and design
parameter must be established early in the project, such as:
Is the seawater quality suitable for operating an ORV system?
Does the seawater containing significant amounts of heavy metal ions? These ions will attack
the zinc aluminum alloy coating and will shorten its life.
Does the seawater contain significant amount of sand and suspended solids? Excessive
sediment will cause jamming of the water trough and the tube panel. Proper seawater intake
filtration system must be designed to prevent silts, sands and sea life from reaching the seawater
pumps and exchangers.
The design must consider the environmental impacts of the seawater intake and outfall system,
and minimize the destruction of marine life during the construction period and normal plant
operation.
Chlorination of the seawater is necessary to slow down marine growth. However, residual
chlorine in the seawater effluent can impact the marine life and the usage must be minimized.
Seawater discharge temperature must comply with local regulation. The temperature drop of
seawater is typically limited to 5C in most locations.
Location of the seawater intake and outfall must be studied to avoid cold seawater
recirculation.
If site is located in a cold climate region, supplementary heating may be necessary to maintain
the outlet gas temperature. Boiloff gas from LNG storage tanks can be used as fuel to these
heaters.
Is a backup vaporization system provided? This may be necessary during partial shutdown of
the seawater system or during peaking demand operation.
Is the regasification facility located close to a waste heat source, such as a power plant? Heat
integration using waste heat can reduce regasification duty and would minimize the
environmental impacts.
Advantages
Since the thermal capacity of the water bath is high, itis possible to maintain a stable
operation even for suddenstart-ups/shutdowns and rapid load fluctuations.
SCV is very reliable and have very good safety records.
Leakage of gas can be quickly detected by hydrocarbon detectors which will result in a
plant shutdown.
There is no danger of explosion, due to the fact that the temperature of the water bath
always stays below the ignition point of natural gas.
SCVs are compact and do not require much plot area when compared to the other
vaporizer options.
Drawbacks
The submerged combustion vaporizer system produces large quantities of air emissions
from the flue gas. This can be reduced through exhaust gas control technology, but adds
significant operating costs to the SCV system.
The controls for the submerged combustion vaporizers are more complex when compared
to the open rack vaporizers (ORV).
During operation, SCVs consume anywhere from 1.5 to 2.0 percent of the LNG cargo to
fuel the combustion burner, which is a significant operating cost.
Advantages
AAV technology is best suited forareas with warmer ambient temperatures
Since the AAV technology typically burns natural gas only for
supplementalheating during colder months, air emissions overall are relatively
low compared to the other vaporization technologies.
Overall thermal efficiency is still significantly higher and provides much higher
overall fuel savings compared to indirect contact vaporizertechnologies.
Drawbacks
Depending on geographical locations (such asareas with high dew points) cooling
the ambient air can generate a fog bank.
In cooler climates, a supplemental heat system would be necessary to maintain
effective use during colder weather conditions.
2) Indirect Contact Ambient Air Technologies
This LNG vaporizing via intermediate fluid utilizes Heat Transfer Fluid in a closed loop
to transfer heat to vaporize LNG.
Types of Intermittent Fluids
Three types of Heat Transfer Fluids are typically utilized for LNG vaporization:
Glycol-Water
Hydrocarbon Based HTF (Propane, Butane or Mixed Refrigerant)
Hot Water
Although propane and refrigerant have low flash points thatare ideal for heat transfer, the
operationalrisks are much higher whenhandling these types of fluids, and these fluids are
verycostly. The water/glycol mixture has a high flash point,requiring a larger heat
transfer area, which results in alarger system than the propane or refrigerant systems.
However, the water/glycol fluid system is more cost effective and the associate
operational risks are relativelylow.
Process
An IFV typically uses a shell and tube heat exchanger, where LNG flows
through the tubes with the intermediate heating medium circulating inside the
shell and around the tubes. There are two stages to heating the LNG with an
intermediate fluid vaporizer. First the liquefied natural gas is heated by an
intermediate fluid in a heat exchanger, in which the LNG becomes a gas Then the
vaporized natural gas is circulated through a second shell and tube heat
exchanger, with seawater as the heating medium used to bring the gas to the
temperature required to send it out through pipelines foruse. An IFV system that
uses the water/glycol mixture is considered a safer way to operate.