Overview of technology advancements

transportation and re-gasification of LNG.

(6.2.612)
optimization during

Narendra Asija
Institute of Oil and Gas Production Technology, ONGC, Panvel-410221, India
E-Mail: asija_narendra@ongc.co.in

Abstract
Natural Gas is emerging as the preferred fuel of the future in view of it being an environment friendly,
economically attractive fuel and feedstock. As the availability of indigenous natural gas is far lower than
the demand and import of Natural Gas through pipelines need resolution of techno-political issues, it has
become necessary to go in for import of LNG. If natural gas cannot be transported through pipeline, it is
liquefied and transported by ship as LNG. LNG is a Natural Gas (Methane+) liquefied at (-) 160o C at
atmospheric pressure. The broad function of the LNG terminal is to receive LNG from LNG tankers, unload & store it into the specially designed storage tanks, re-gasify and send out to the pipeline system for
distribution to the users. To meet this objective the terminal mainly consists of port facilities and shore
facilities. During transportation and re-gasification of LNG, the specificities of the site are critical. The metoceanic conditions such as tidal currents, sea water depth, wind & wave data, quality of seawater and
ambient conditions (Temperature, Humidity etc.) play a major role in selection of the processing scheme
and design of marine facilities.
The paper describes the approach following which by analyzing each and every challenge, applicability of
a suitable technological advancement can be selected to ensure highest level of safety and reliability in
operation of transportation and re-gasification of LNG.

Keywords
LNG, METHANE, RE-GASIFICATION, BOG, DAU, FOB, CIF, ORV, STV, SCV

Introduction
This paper will give an overview of technology advancements/optimization during transportation and regasification of LNG. The paper also discusses various challenges that are encountered for the sites that
are very attractive with respect to market situation but are difficult sites with respect to design of marine
facilities. Aspects like providing sheltered safe berthing facilities, need & design of breakwater, handling
of ship boil-off, supply of return gas, disposal of vapours during arm cool down, construction methodology
to meet the tight time schedule & difficult met-oceanic conditions are dealt in detail. On the terminal side
issues like type of LNG storage tanks, utilization of boil off gases, selection of optimum vaporization
system (best suited to the prevailing ambient conditions) and other process facilities are also described.
The major economic drivers for LNG terminals have focused on minimizing conversion cost from received
LNG to delivered gas by utilizing opportunities for economic gain and/or loss avoidance in the various
processing phases through technology optimizations. Their area wise description is as under:

Custody Transfer at Supplier Location

LNG is an unstable cargo (mainly composed of methane kept under liquid phase at boiling point) at
cryogenic temperatures (approx. 160 o C) i.e. during the entire transportation process; a portion of the
LNG cargo vaporizes (boil off) due to atmospheric heat leak. Much of this gas is used to fuel the tanker
but a portion is occasionally vented / flared (when the carrier is required to idle in high seas or during
loading). Depending on the distance between source and destination, size of vessel and other factors,
boil off may be in the range of 1% to 5 % of loaded cargo.
Who incurs this loss depends on contract terms: many older contracts are CIF i.e. bought on a delivered
basis to the buyers jetty. In this case, the loss goes to the sellers account. However, most new contracts

are FOB at the sellers shipping point, with the buyer responsible for transport costs to his location plus
any losses.
For this reason, custody metering along with calorific value (BTU) measurement are key measurements in
defining sales. Level measurement on-board used for cargo volume measurement had always been an
issue of concern. Since the tanks handle volatile cargo at minus 160 oC and they may not be opened for
years, the measuring system should generally be free from electrical cables and moving mechanical
parts. Any failure on such equipment inside the tank requires warming, de-hydrocarbonizing, inertising
etc. for the tanks for manual entry to repair the failed equipment. To avoid such time consuming and
expensive propositions, state of the art Radar type tank gauging system is required to be used with only
the still pipe and cone antenna inside the tank. Very little maintenance is required for Tank Radar
systems (Figure: 1) and they offer highly accurate and reliable results.
Figure: 1 (Tank Radar systems)

Marine Facilities
The main objective here is to provide a berthing facility to un-load LNG all around the year, with minimum
down time. As the safety of the un-loading operation is the key factor for LNG import terminal, extensive
studies, making use of modern tools, have to be made for design of safe berthing facilities.
The bathymetry has a specific role to play. Slope in the inter-tidal areas w.r.t. coastline, tidal variation and
the tidal currents at the site are key factors to be addressed. Tidal currents may go as high as 3 m/s at
flood and 2 m/s at ebb tide. The minimum draft of 14 meters is required for the 1,48,000 M3 nominal
capacity size of LNG carriers. Distance of draft location from the shoreline will decide the length and size
of jetty required.
Figure: 2

As in the case of Dahej, Gujarat, LNG Terminal

site is located between the two river mouths,
Narmada (to the south) and the river Mahi (to
the North) (Figure: 2) and these rivers bring
large quantities of sediment to the Gulf waters.

If a protected berth in shallow water is considered, around 4 meters of sedimentation (after monsoon) in
the berth is expected every year, calling for extensive maintenance dredging. To avoid huge cost on
maintenance dredging, deep water jetty away from the shore with C shaped breakwater can be
considered.

Current conditions are very critical for design of breakwater than wave conditions as far as operational
downtime is considered. The design of C shaped breakwater would protect the LNG jetty from waves and
partially from the flood currents to enhance tranquility of sea. Ebb currents would also get reduced. The
breakwater (Rubble mounded with accropode armour) shall provide a significant reduction in the mooring
and berthing forces and its situation, as an island will avoid sedimentation or erosion of the shoreline.
(Figure: 3)
Figure: 3

The studies have confirmed that the

LNG tankers can safely gain access to
the berth at Dahej and un-load LNG in
the sheltered area all around the year,
without need of any expensive
channel.

The Piled Structure & Approach Trestle

The most common type of piling used by the local construction companies is bored-cast-in-situ type of
piles. However, owing to difficulties in constructing cast-in-situ type of piles, driven steel piles using
specialized construction equipment for shallow and deep water piling can be time and cost effective. At
Dahej, approach trestle, to connect the jetty head to the shore, is approximately 2.4 Km long. The width of
approach trestle is about 10 meters, with widening at every 200 meters for accommodating the pipeline
expansion loops. Additionally about five passing bays are considered for vehicular traffic. This has also
helped in reducing the width of the approach road (Figure: 4).
Figure: 4 (LNG Jetty
under construction)

Docking Assistance Unit

The major cost risk to the LNG terminal owner is the high demurrage / time charter charge incurred if
there is a delay in loading (FOB contracts) or unloading (both CIF and FOB contracts). Installing Docking
Assistance Unit (DAU) is the preferred option to assist in safe and quick berthing of LNG tankers at Jetty.
The DAU is sophisticated laser based system to provide real time information to the shipmaster and port
captain about the approach speed, direction etc. of the ship in final critical stages of maneuvering of ship

to jetty. It is also integrated with Environmental Monitoring Unit (EMU) to provide real time data about
wind, current & tide information. Provision of such arrangement reduces the berthing time significantly.

Vapour Return Line and Vapour Loading Arm

Normally it is considered that the Vapouriser on LNG carrier will meet the necessary requirement of
vapour balance during unloading of LNG or if the Terminal facilities are very near to the unloading
platform, there is a provision of connecting storage tanks BOG directly to LNG carrier. But in case of a
very long jetty, a suitable vapour return line along with associated Vapour loading arm has to be
considered. However, in order to increase the reliability and have minimum cost facilities it is techno
economical to draw these vapours down stream of BOG compressors (resulting in reduced size of vapour
return line) instead of conventional design where these vapours are drawn up-stream of BOG
compressors.

LNG Storage Tanks

The storage capacity at the terminal is selected based on the size of LNG carrier & un-loaded capacity,
the send-out flow rate and the delay of the LNG carrier due to weather conditions.
The estimated requirement is of two storage tanks with a nominal capacity of 148,000 M3 each when
send out rate is corresponding to 5.0 MMTPA. The type of tank for the terminal is selected based on
safety analysis to evaluate the effect of a major LNG spillage due to an accident on a storage tank. The
specific scenario of accident is chosen for each type of tank, as recommended in the European Standard
The result of risk analysis indicates that in full containment tank, the concrete roof can withstand an
external impact without collapse and the secondary container is able to contain the LNG. The scenario
therefore considered is the discharge of cold natural gas from the safety valves on the top of tank. At the
safety valve elevation, the maximum distance to the lower flammable limit (LFL) threshold is around 55
meters, which is well within the plant battery limit. Figure: 5 below depicts the graphical representation of
cloud dispersion in case of LNG leak.
Figure: 5 (Cloud dispersion study for LNG leaks)

In such a case, lightning is the only ignition source, even if extremely rare. The maximum radiation flux at
ground elevation, in case of fire, is only 2.2 kW/m2.
On the basis of above analysis full containment type of tank (i.e. 9% Ni inner tank and pre-stressed
concrete outer tank) may be selected for the LNG terminal. It will give the Owner, a full reliability of the
terminal in a long-term perspective, with adequate level of protection similar to any modern LNG terminal.
This type of tank eliminates the need of dykes and results in cost saving by a significant reduction of layout surface.

Boil Off Gas Handling

If there is no consumer requiring low-pressure gas, the boil off gases from the tanks are compressed and
re-condensed by contact with sub-cooled LNG in the re-condenser, which is sized for handling maximum
vapours during all the operating modes. During ship un-loading case a part of the compressed boil off
gases are returned to the ship as required based on the un-loading rate. This scheme, as compared to
4

conventional arrangement of compressing the BOG and sending them to low pressure users, offers
greater flexibility and energy optimization.

Lng Re-Gasification
LNG from the tanks is pumped out with the help of in-tank pumps and then high-pressure pumps pump it
to the required pressure to send out gas up to desired destination without booster compressors. The
pumping of liquid is always energy efficient as compared to compressing the same mass of vapours. For
vapourization of high pressure LNG, following options can be evaluated (capex + opex):
1. Open Rack Vapourisers (ORVs)
2. Submerged Combustion Vapourisers (SCVs)
3. Shell & Tube Vapourisers (STVs) + SCVs
The use of conventional Open Rack Vapourizers (Figure: 6) is widely used.
Figure: 6 (Typical schematic of Open Rack Vapourizer-ORV)

If we take a case of Dahej area, seawater contains about 1000 to 3500 mg/l of suspended solids and 0.13
mg/l of copper ions, as against acceptable levels of 30 mg/l of suspended solids and 0.002 mg/l of copper
ions. Such high-suspended solids would cause erosion of the ORV panels and the high copper ion
concentration would result in high corrosion rate for the aluminum parts of the ORV. Painting the ORV
panels with erosion & corrosion resistant paint is expected to be made every 6 months for a period of 2 or
3 days.
Figure: 7

The SCVs (Figure: 7) are not preferred as a

normal case on account of economics and
environmental considerations.
In view of above scenarios, the selected scheme may comprises of:

Vertical shell & tube vapourizers (STV) with a closed loop hating medium, which is heated by
ambient air.

Submerged combustion vaporizers (SCV) as additional capacity in case of low ambient air
temperature.

The terminal is normally equipped with a captive power plant (CPP) comprising of gas turbine generators.
A closed loop of warm water from the co-generation heat exchangers feeds the SCVs. The provision of
NG firing in SCVs is kept as redundancy or for emergency purposes.
The shell and tube vapourizers considered are TEMA type NEN or NJN design, with process fluid in the
tube side and heating medium on the shell side. The heating medium selected is 36% glycol-water
mixture. This heating medium is chosen to prevent freezing inside the exchanger and to ensure high heat
transfer rate. The ambient air in-turn heats the return glycol-water mixture. (Figure: 8):
Figure: 8
L N G

V A P O R I S E R

A I R

H E A T E R

A N D

H P

F C

T C

G L Y C O L

A T E R

L O O P

G A S

P C

H IG H
P R E S S U R E
S E N D O U T

A IR
H E A T E R

S T V

F C

ID E N T IC A L
U N IT S
L N G
I

T C

G L Y C O L
W A T E R
H P
P U M P S

It is this aspect, which needs special attention in case of large variation in the ambient air temperature.
The issue involved is to achieve the required duty at very low ambient air temperature (~10oC) to avoid
cold air re-circulation and to avoid fog generation during humid and cold weather.
On detailed investigations to verify the performance of air heaters and to determine the frequency of
appearance of plume / fog (due to contact of ambient air with cold surface) depending upon the time of
year and time of the day, it is observed that taking air humidity into account improves air heater
performance, due to heat released by condensing vapours, however efficient means of condensed water
removal are required to prevent carry-over of water with the flowing air than causing plume / fog. The
simplest & most efficient solution for minimizing cold air re-circulation is to place different units not parallel
to each other, as the re-circulation problem is predicted mainly due to influence of streams coming from
parallel units. Figure: 9 describes the effect of cold air mixing. Placing of theses units perpendicular to
each other or in a staggered manner considerably reduced the problem of cold air re-circulation.
Figure: 9 (Effect of cold air mixing)

Conclusion
With the suggested approach and by inclusion of the proposed technology advancements/optimization
during transportation and Re-gasification of LNG, it is possible to build up safe and easily operable LNG
receiving terminal addressing all the technical challenges because of site-specific conditions such as high
tidal currents, large inter-tidal variations length of trestle, deep-water jetty, characteristics of seawater, low
ambient temperature, vapour requirement during unloading, custody transfer etc. in the ever growing and
competitive LNG market minimizing conversion cost from received LNG to delivered gas by utilizing
opportunities for economic gain and/or loss avoidance in the various processing phases.