Apparatus for the liquefaction of natural gas and methods relating to same

Patent · Tue May 22 00:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:909408

Wilding, Bruce M ^[1]; Bingham, Dennis N ^[1]; McKellar, Michael G ^[1]; Turner, Terry D ^[2]; Raterman, Kevin T ^[1]; Palmer, Gary L ^[3]; Klingler, Kerry M ^[1]; Vranicar, John J ^[4]

---

1. Idaho Falls, ID
2. Ammon, ID
3. Shelley, ID
4. Concord, CA

An apparatus and method for producing liquefied natural gas. A liquefaction plant may be coupled to a source of unpurified natural gas, such as a natural gas pipeline at a pressure letdown station. A portion of the gas is drawn off and split into a process stream and a cooling stream. The cooling stream passes through a turbo expander creating work output. A compressor is driven by the work output and compresses the process stream. The compressed process stream is cooled, such as by the expanded cooling stream. The cooled, compressed process stream is divided into first and second portions with the first portion being expanded to liquefy the natural gas. A gas-liquid separator separates the vapor from the liquid natural gas. The second portion of the cooled, compressed process stream is also expanded and used to cool the compressed process stream. Additional features and techniques may be integrated with the liquefaction process including a water clean-up cycle and a carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2) clean-up cycle.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-99ID13727; AC07-05ID14517
• Assignee: Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (Idaho Falls, ID)
• Patent Number(s): 7,219,512
• Application Number: 11/124,589
• OSTI ID: 909408
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS