1.

BACKGROUND

1.1 LNG receiving terminal and regasification process

Many countries that import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and intend to use it as a supply for their natural gas pipeline
network or other purposes would need LNG receiving terminal for the delivery and storage of the imported LNG in
their premises. Most of LNG receiving terminals comprise LNG Regasification Units for the purpose of transforming
LNG into natural gas. The transformation process of natural gas from liquid phase to gas phase is known as
“Regasification Process”. After having been re-gased, natural gas will be delivered to the natural gas pipeline network
or for other purposes of the importers. In Thailand, first LNG receiving terminal has been constructed in Maptaput
industrial estate, Rayong and it is planned to be operated around 3rd quarter of 2011.

1.2 LNG cold energy utilisation

LNG cold energy utilisation is meant to capture the benefit of LNG cold energy (-163 degree Celsius) while it is
vaporised and becomes natural gas instead of wasting it to the atmosphere. In normal regasification process, LNG
absorbs heat from heat source (seawater is usually used as a heat source) to raise its temperature up until reaching its
boiling point. As mentioned before that LNG temperature is very low, when absorbing heat from heat source for
vaporisation, it will cause the heat source temperature lower dramatically according to the temperature difference
between LNG and the heat source. Thus effective technologies to recover energy from the exchange phenomenon
between LNG and heat source should be explored instead of wasting it to make surrounding sea water become colder
during regasification process.

From the fact that amount of imported LNG is rising all over the world, thus to utilise this benefit of cryogenic
temperature would have a huge benefit in term of energy efficiency and energy conservation. Utilisation of LNG cold
energy during regasification process is a great thermodynamic benefit to be integrated with other engineering or
industrial process as a heat sink of their system.

Furthermore, the benefit from the application of LNG as a heat sink of other system can reduce operation cost of the
receiving terminal with regasification unit. The LNG cold energy utilisation also reduces some environmental problems,
for example, keeping seawater temperature around terminal area from not being too low and improving energy
efficiency (reducing energy consumption) of the system by utilising LNG cold energy.

1.3 Estimated energy benefit of LNG cold energy

The maximum energy benefit of the LNG is estimated by the amount of energy that LNG has to consume during
regasification process. This amount of energy can be considered as a cooling capacity to other system at the temperature

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level of -163 degree Celsius. In general, the energy benefit of LNG which is possible to be utilised is estimated to be
around 850 kJ/kg and this amount of energy can be slightly varied depending on the specification of LNG and
conditions of natural gas after vaporisation.

LNG Natural gas

LNG
LNG Tank Vaporiser

Lower temperature Sea water

sea water
Sea water
pump
This thermodynamic Energy exchange
benefit should be between LNG and
harvested instead of seawater that makes
wasting it into seawater seawater become
cooler

Fig. 1 Regasification Process and Potential LNG Cold Energy Utilisation

2. LNG COLD ENERGY UTILISATION TECHNOLOGIES

2.1 Existing LNG cold energy utilisation technology

Utilisation of LNG cold energy has been implemented since around 1990 at LNG receiving terminals. The studies
indicate that there are 14 applications of LNG cold energy utilisation all over the world at the present. These 14 units of
LNG cold energy utilisation can be classified into 2 categories which are direct and in-direct applications.

LNG Cold Energy Utilisation

Direct Application In-Direct Application

Air separation & liquefaction

• Manufacturing of liquefied O2, N2 and Ar
Liquefied Liquefied Liquefied
Liquefaction and solidification of carbon
nitrogen oxygen argon
dioxide
• Manufacturing of liquefied CO2 Manufacturing of frozen foods
• Manufacturing of dry ice • Freeze drying
Cryogenic Power Generation Cryogenic crushing
Cold heat source for the chemical industry
Boil-off gas liquefaction system using cold
energy storage
Etc.

Fig. 2 LNG Cold Energy Utilisation

Direct application of LNG cold energy utilisation is a direct use of the low temperature LNG as a heat sink for LNG
cold energy utilisation system. List of existing direct applications are;
1. Air separation and liquefaction
2. Integrated with gas separation plant process
3. Liquefaction/solidification of carbon dioxide production
4. Rankine cycle cryogenic power generation
5. Direct expansion cryogenic power generation
6. Cold heat source for the chemical industry
7. Boil-off gas liquefaction system by Phase Change Material (PCM)
8. Increasing turbine efficiency

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 9. Refrigerated warehouses
10. Chilled water for refrigeration
11. Seawater desalination
12. Amusement winter park

In-direct application is the use of cryogenic temperature LNG where an intermediate substance is generated by the
direct application system of LNG cold energy utilisation. The intermediate substance will then become a heat sink for
its in-direct application system. Examples of in-direct applications are;
13. Manufacturing of frozen foods (freeze drying) - use liquid CO2 or dry ice which is generated from
liquefaction/solidification of CO2 from direct LNG cold energy utilisation system
14. Cryogenic crushing - use liquid nitrogen which is generated from the air separation and liquefaction from
direct LNG cold energy utilisation system.

Table 1 Fourteen LNG Cold Energy Utilisation Technologies and Their Features
Alternatives
Air separation and
liquefaction
Integrated with gas
separation plant process
Liquefaction/solidification
of carbon dioxide
production
Rankine cycle cryogenic
power generation
Direct expansion cryogenic
power generation
Cold heat source for the
chemical industry
Boil-off gas liquefaction
system by PCM
Increasing turbine
efficiency
Refrigerated warehouses
Chilled water for
refrigeration
Seawater desalination
Amusement winter park
Manufacturing of frozen
foods (freeze drying)
Cryogenic crushing
Principle of Operation with LNG Cold Energy Utilisation Product/Benefit
Integrate LNG stream with air separation and liquefaction Liquid nitrogen,
process in order to produce liquid nitrogen, oxygen and oxygen and argon /
argon. LNG is used as cold source of the system to reduce reduce system
power consumption in the process. power consumption
Integrate LNG stream with propane and ethane separation Reduce GSP system
process to reduce power consumption from the system. power consumption
Integrate LNG stream with liquid carbon dioxide production Liquid CO2, Dry
process. LNG is used as cold source of the system to reduce iced / reduce power
power consumption in the process. consumption
Use LNG as heat sink of the system in Rankine Cycle power Electricity/
generation which has propane as intermediate medium and electrical energy
has seawater as heat source. with free operating
cost
Use high pressure LNG from LNG pump to expand through Electricity/
direct expander turbine to produce mechanical power to drive electrical energy
generator for power generation. with free operating
cost
Integrate LNG stream with industrial process which require Reduce system
cold source or heat rejection for reducing overall power power consumption
consumption of the process.
Use PCM to extract heat from BOG to make BOG condense LNG re-
and become LNG again. liquefaction/
Reduce power cost
Use LNG to cool down compressor inlet air of the system to Increase system
increase overall system efficiency. efficiency
Integrate LNG stream with refrigeration process and use Chilled air / reduce
LNG as cold source of the process to reduce power operating cost
consumption
Integrate LNG stream with refrigeration process and use Chilled water /
LNG as cold source of the process to reduce power reduce operating
consumption cost
Use LNG as a cold source of system to freeze seawater Fresh water/ reduce
before separate salt and water in the desalination process operating cost
Integrate LNG stream with artificial snow generation unit and Snow flake in
use LNG as cold source of the process to reduce power winter park / reduce
consumption (or can be an in-direct application by using LN2 operating cost
or CO2 as a cold source for the system depending on system
design)
in-direct application by using CO2 or dry iced as a cold Frozen food or cold
source for the system storage
in-direct application by using LN2 as a cold source for the Powder of raw
system material

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2.2 Existing Applications at LNG terminals
Different technologies of LNG cold energy utilisation are applied at LNG terminals all over the world depending on
characteristics of the terminals. An example of LNG receiving terminal that uses LNG cold energy utilisation technology is
Senboku LNG receiving terminal, Osaka Gas Co., Ltd, Japan. The objectives of the utilisation at this terminal are
mainly to reduce power consumption and investment cost with an air separation and liquefaction plant and a Rankine
cycle power generation (cryogenic power generation) where LNG is used as a heat sink of the system to produce and
supply electricity for the terminal. Another cryogenic power generation system which is used in the terminal is direct
expansion power generation system. The system uses the benefit of pressure changes of LNG to generate power through
an expansion turbine [1-4]. Other applications of LNG cold energy utilisation in Japan are also existed and varied based
on operation conditions of LNG terminal, market requirement around that area and other technical limitations of that
terminal. Those applications are cryogenic crush, liquefaction of liquid carbon dioxide and boil-off gas re-liquefaction.

In China, there is an LNG cold energy utilisation with air separation and liquefaction unit installed at Putian terminal.
This is a joint venture project between CNOOC and Air Products and Chemicals Incorporation, which utilises around
50-70 tons per hour of LNG flow rate or approximately 10-18% of maximum LNG flow rate of the terminal capacity.
The estimated cost of this project is around 215 million CNY (Chinese Yuan) and the payback period of the project is
projected to be 8.64 years. There is also another [1] terminal in China, the Ningbo terminal, where LNG cold energy is
utilised through an air separation and liquefaction unit and the other 2 terminals in Shenzhen and Shanghai, where air
separation and liquefaction units to recover LNG cold from LNG [5] are considered.

Table 2 Applications of LNG Cold Energy Utilisation around the World [6]
Country LNG Cold Energy Utilisation
 LNG cold for air separation and liquefaction unit
 LNG cold to produce liquid CO2 and dry ice
 LNG cold for power generator (Cryogenic power generation)
Japan  LNG cold for Boil of Gas (BOG) re-liquefaction system
 LNG cold as a cold source for chemical plant
 Cooling of intake air for gas turbine
 LNG cold for cold storage
Korea  LNG cold for air separation and liquefaction unit
 LNG cold for air separation and liquefaction unit
Taiwan
 LNG cold for power generator
Australia  LNG cold for air separation and liquefaction unit

2.3 Challenge in LNG cold energy utilisation

Although LNG cold energy utilisation is not new and also LNG cold energy has a great potential to reduce power
consumption and CO2 emission in various cooling processes, the number of LNG cold energy applications is still
considerably low in comparison with the number of existing LNG receiving terminals all over the world. This is
because the applications of LNG cold energy utilisation are limited by both engineering and market constraints. Main
challenge in LNG cold energy utilisation is to decide “which LNG cold energy utilisation technique is the best for our
LNG receiving terminal?”. To overcome this challenge, it is highly required to have the ability to evaluate both
technological and economical feasibilities of the terminal of the LNG cold energy utilisation system, while the terminal
reliability on natural gas supply at its design capacity is maintained.

2.4 Key success parameters for LNG cold energy utilisation technology selection
Successful LNG cold energy utilisation system is the system that is able to maintain regasification capacity while the
most of availability energy of LNG cold is utilised and more economic value to the terminal is realised. To achieve
these system conditions, 4 aspects of technology assessment pillars which are 1. Technical aspect, 2. Economic aspect, 3.
Environmental aspect and 4. Social aspect are needed to be evaluated for each LNG cold energy utilisation technology
in order to select the best LNG cold energy utilisation system which perform the best balancing of these 4 aspects. To
select the best-match of LNG cold energy utilisation technique with each LNG receiving terminal, key main parameters
which derive from the 4 aspects of technology assessment model are identified as in the table below;

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 Table 3 Criteria for LNG Cold Energy Utilisation Selection
Aspects Criteria Definition
How much energy benefit from LNG stream which LNG cold energy
utilisation technique can be extracted as a sensible and latent heat by the
principle of difference temperature and pressure
 LNG pressure in & out
% of Energy
 LNG temperature in & out
Recovery
 LNG flow rate & specification
 Type & efficiency of equipment
 Environmental condition
 Etc. depending on each alternative
Since LNG cold energy utilisation require LNG stream as a heat sink or
coolant of the system, without LNG enters the system, the system will have an
effect on its operating conditions and performance.
Technological
Reliability of LNG cold energy utilisation has to work as regasification unit for the terminal
Aspect
Alternative and thus the system has to have high reliability to satisfy NG demand from
LNG Receiving customer which is the 1st priority function of terminal
Terminal  Effect on system itself without LNG stream
 Effect on LNG terminal if the LNG cold energy utilisation can’t
operate
 Maintenance period of the system
Utilisation unit has to be nearby LNG terminal to reduce investment in high
price LNG pipeline and the utilisation area has to be fit in with the availability
land space near LNG terminal (~ 350 rai or 560,000 m2, maximum distance is
Site condition
2-3 km)
 Distance
 Area
Product that each LNG cold energy utilisation unit produce has to be on
Demand of product
demand in the market or for terminal internal use
Flexibility of product utilisation in the market, the best choice is the product
Product utilisations from that alternative is flexible to be used internally within terminal and PTT
group also it is able to sell to others customer in the market.
Economical
Saving from the application of LNG cold (baht/kg of LNG) when compare to
Aspect
that system without LNG cold energy utilisation. Cost of product that each
Competitiveness of LNG cold energy utilisation produce has to be lower than the system with out
product LNG in order to make competitive advantages
 Investment cost
 O&M cost
Low (and not excess the limit) CO2 and VOCs emission and other pollution
which is generated from the system when each LNG cold energy utilisation is
installed
 CO2 Emission
Environmental Pollution
 VOCs - for example, benzene, butadiene, dichloroethane,
dichloromthane, dichloropropane, tetrachloroethylene,
trichloroetylene, vinyl chloride
 Water condition
The system generate positive effect on social around LNG receiving terminal
and country
EIA / other
Social  Increase job opportunity for residential around Maptaput area
regulation
 Potential to reduce CO2 and gain positive carbon credit by increasing
energy efficiency of the system

3. LNG COLD ENERGY UTILISATION AT MAPTAPUT LNG RECEIVING TERMINAL

3.1 Screening Criteria

Screening criteria and the principle of go/no-go gate criteria are applied to screen out some LNG cold energy utilisation
alternatives which their characteristic do not match with minimum requirements of Maptaput LNG receiving terminal.

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Main characteristics of Maptaput LNG receiving terminal, which have strong influence on the application of LNG cold
energy utilisation and the new construction of the system, are required to be fully aligned with EIA criteria (should not
contain combustion process or VOCs generation), to send out considerably high natural gas pressue in pipeline, to
provide constant capacity of natural gas supply rate to pipeline network and etc.

The above criteria screened out 5 of LNG cold energy utilisation technologies. Those are direct expansion cryogenic
power generation due to low level of natural gas send out pressure, and BOG re-liquefaction by PCM due to the
requirement of fluctuation of natural gas send out capacity to enable them to switch their mode to store and emit energy.
There is no chemical industrial and gas separation plant and gas turbine plant situated near LNG receiving terminal area
so the operations of the remaining 3 alternatives are not practical.

Refrigerated warehouse and amusement winter park are also screened out due to the reason of safety zone around
terminal area. The characteristics of refrigerated ware house and amusement winter park which has a high traffic rate of
people in-and-out tend to create difficulty and risk to control all safety regulations in the safety zone. Seawater
desalination (freeze desalination) is not applicable since the stage of technology is only in lab-scale without any
availability of commercialisation scale in the market at the present.

The manufacture of frozen food and cryogenic crushing plant are indirect applications of LNG cold energy utilisation
which their characteristics are already covered with the direct application systems (Air separation and liquefaction and
liquefaction/solidification of carbon dioxide production) so they should not be taken into account in the analysis.

After the screening method, alternatives of potential LNG cold energy utilisation for Maptaput LNG receiving terminal
are short-listed to only 4 from 14 alternatives, which are;
1. Air separation and liquefaction
2. Liquefaction/solidification of carbon dioxide production
3. Rankine cycle cryogenic power generation
4. Chilled water for refrigeration

These 4 alternatives are also the major of LNG cold energy utilisation techniques that are widely applied at LNG
receiving terminal all over the world.

3.2 Air Separation and Liquefaction

The system produces liquefied nitrogen, oxygen and argon from air, main unit of the system. Air Separation Unit
(ASU) is the unit to separate air into nitrogen, oxygen and argon and then to liquefy them into liquid phase. In the
liquefaction process, in which additional/circulation liquid nitrogen (LN2) loop is circulated as a cooling medium for
ASU to perform its separation and liquefaction function and thus to maintain cooling ability of LN 2 loop in the system,
an electrical compressor is used. This is where cold LNG can be applied. When LNG cold energy utilisation is
integrated into the system, the suction temperature of nitrogen compressor and the circulating nitrogen flow rate can be
reduced and resulted in lower power consumption of compressor in liquefied nitrogen system. Typically, the energy
consumed by the conventional air separation and liquefaction system is around 0.8 kWh/Nm 3 of liquefied product,
while the system with LNG cold energy utilisation consumes only 0.4 kWh/Nm 3 of liquefied product, which is
approximately 50% lower in energy consumption of the system [7].

3.3 Rankine Cycle Cryogenic Power Generation

The system produces electrical energy by the principle of Rankine cycle which has propane as a heat medium, seawater
as hear source and LNG as heat sink. In the system, propane is evaporated by absorbing heat from seawater at the
propane evaporator and then expanded at the turbine to produce mechanical energy for electrical generator. After that,
low pressure propane gas/mixture, which exits turbine, will be condensed in the propane condenser by rejecting heat
into LNG steam and becomes liquid propane. Finally, liquid propane will be pumped to increase its pressure before
entering evaporator to complete the cycle.

From the system characteristic and propane physical properties with its boiling temperature around -42 degree Celsius,
the energy recovery from LNG cold of the system is around 50% which makes natural gas send out temperature still
very low (under -50 degree Celsius). The unit requires additional natural gas heater to increase the natural gas
temperature to match with the standard temperature of natural gas supply in the natural gas pipeline network. In general,
100 ton per hour of LNG flow rate in this cryogenic power generation system can produce around 1.7 MW of electrical
but this capacity is varied depending on pressure level of required send out natural gas to the system.

3.4 Liquefaction of Carbon Dioxide and Dry Ice Production

The system produces liquefied carbon dioxide as a product from the system. In the system, LNG stream is used for a

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pre-cooling process of carbon dioxide when it enters the system; this is to low down CO 2 temperature in order to reduce
compressor energy consumption. After CO2 is compressed, another LNG stream is integrated into the CO 2 distillation
column. Within this distillation column which is cooled by LNG, there is a significant effect on reduction of liquefaction
energy consumption, around 50% of total energy consumption in the system when compared with the conventional
system. After CO2 is liquefied, it can be further processed in the CO2 solidification process to produce dry ice by
injecting certain amount of water into liquefied CO2 in dry ice mould to form a dry ice for other market and application
purposes. Energy recovery of cold LNG from this system is not much (around 40%) since carbon dioxide requires only
around –55 degree Celsius (can be varied depending on pressure level in the process) to form the liquid phase.

3.5 Chill water production

The principle is to supply LNG cold steam into an additional heat exchanger to reduce working fluid temperature or to
condense working fluid of existing refrigeration system. This can reduce the need for compression unit in the
refrigeration cycle, thus a benefit in saving of system energy consumption. Main consideration of this application is to
use water-mixture fluid instead of pure water in the chill water loop in order to reduce freezing point of the fluid which
enable the system to utilise more benefit of LNG low temperature while still be able to avoid a blockage problem from
water freezing effect in the system.

The required temperature of chill water in the chill water system is not very low (higher than 0 degree Celsius for pure
water and not lower than -10 degree Celsius for other water-mixture fluid) thus it means a low benefit extration from
LNG cold stream (-163 degree Celsius) which in turn generates only around 10% of energy recovery from LNG cold
energy utilisation potential.

4. DISCUSSION OF LNG COLD ENERGY UTILISATION AND ITS FUTURE

At LNG receiving terminal LNG will be evaporated through vaporisers before being sent to natural gas pipeline
network. During the evaporation process, LNG releases a large amount of cold energy (about 850 kJ/kg). The released
LNG cold potential can be utilised through certain processes to recover energy and enhance economic performance of
the whole terminal system.

Fourteen (14) technologies were selected as possible LNG cold energy utilisation technologies to be installed at LNG
receiving terminal. After screened with technology assessment criteria which was designed to balance technological,
economical, environmental and social aspects, it was found that only 4 technologies of LNG cold energy utilisation which
are 1) Air Separation and Liquefaction, 2) Rankine Cycle Cryogenic Power Generation, 3) Liquefaction/Solidification
of Carbon Dioxide and 4. Chill Water Production have the potentials to be applied to Maptaput LNG receiving terminal
in Thailand.

In the future, these potential technologies for LNG cold energy utilisation would have a high possibility to be
constructed at Maptaput LNG receiving terminal since they are considered as useful tools to reduce operation cost of
the terminal, to generate new business opportunities and to reduce CO 2 emission by reducing electricity consumption
from the whole system.

Further study is required in order to utilise the most benefit from the available LNG cold energy at the terminal. All key
success parameters which are mentioned above together with “LNG Utilisation Ratio” which is the ratio between LNG
flow rate of that application and LNG cold energy utilisation by total LNG flow rate from LNG receiving terminal are
needed to be identified and optimised against the economic parameters of the system in order to achieve the maximum
benefit from the available LNG cold energy.

5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the Thailand Research Fund, PTT Public Company and PTT
LNG for all information and suggestion on this study.

6. REFERENCES

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