Oil & Gas Production & Processing

Assignment # 4

SUBMITTED TO:-

NAME

------------------------

Dr. Fahad Rehman

SUBMITTED BY:-

NAME

------------------------

Hassan Sarfraz

CLASS

------------------------

DDP-SP13-BEC

SECTION

------------------------

(A)

ROLL #

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27

Comparative analysis of Mixed fluid Cascade Process, Liquefin

Process, Dual mixed refrigerant (DMR) Process.
Mixed fluid Cascade Process:
In this process the purified natural gas is pre-cooled, liquefied, and sub-cooled by means of three
separate mixed refrigerant cycles. The cold of the pre-cooling cycle is transferred to the natural
gas via two plate fin heat exchangers; whereas the cold of the liquefaction and sub-cooling cycle
is transferred via two spirals wound heat exchangers by the other two refrigerants. The
refrigerants are made up of components selected from methane, ethane, propane, and nitrogen.
The process has been designed for large LNG trains (>4 MTPA). The MFCP is a classic cascade
process, with the important difference that mixed component refrigerant cycles replace single
component refrigerant cycles, thereby improving the thermodynamic efficiency and operational
flexibility.

Liquefin Process:
This process producing LNG cheaper than with any other process, at good conditions of
reliability, safety, and friendlier to the environment. With this process very high capacities can be
reached with a simple scheme and standard compressors. It is a two mixed refrigerant process
designed for LNG base load projects of train sizes. The refrigerants are made up of components
from methane, ethane, propane, butane, and nitrogen. The first mixed refrigerant is used at three
different pressure levels, to pre-cool the process gas, and pre-cool and liquefy
the second mixed refrigerant. Using a mixed refrigerant for the pre-cooling stage, the
temperature is decreased down to a range of 50C to 80C depending on refrigerant
composition. The weight ratio between the cryogenic mixed refrigerant and LNG can be lower
than unity. This process was initially developed to obtain a 50%50% sharing of power between
the liquefaction refrigerant cycle and the pre-cooling refrigerant cycle. The advantages of this
process are in the use of a single quality of liquefaction refrigerant and a simplified PFHE type
liquefier..

Dual mixed refrigerant (DMR) Process:

This process have two separate mixed refrigerant cooling cycles, one for pre-cooling of the gas
to approximately 50C (PMR cycle) and one for final cooling and liquefaction of the gas. The
DMR process is the basis of the Sakhalin LNG plant, with a capacity of 4.8 MTPA per train.
Process configuration is similar to the Propane Pre-cooled Mixed Refrigerant (PPMR) process,
but with the pre-cooling conducted by a mixed refrigerant (made up mainly of ethane and
propane) rather than pure propane. PPMR vapor from the pre-cool exchangers is routed via
knockout vessels to a two stage centrifugal PPMR compressor. Desuperheating, condensation,
and sub-cooling of the PPMR are achieved by using induced draft air coolers. The PPMR
compressor is driven by a single gas turbine. Another main difference is that the pre-cooling is

carried out in SWHEs rather than kettles. The refrigerant of this cycle consists of a mixture of
nitrogen, methane, ethane, and propane. The DMR process has also employed double casing
instead of single casing equipment. This is a reliable method to bring the propane- MR process
closer to a capacity of 5 MTPA. With a single pre-cooling cycle and two parallel mixed
refrigerant cycles, the capacity can also be boosted up to 8 MTPA. The closer coupling between
the two cycles, by mechanical interlinking of compressors, is an operational challenge.

Summary of Comparative Analysis of Natural Gas Liquification

Processes
Features

Mixed Fluid
Cascade Process

LiquefinTM
Process

Temperature

-30 to -161C

-50 to -80C
-80 to -162C

Pressure

650 Psi

Type of Heat
exchanger

Spiral wound heat

exchanger

Plate Fin heat

exchanger

Type of
refrigerant

Mixed (methane,
ethane propane
and nitrogen)

No. of refrigerant
cycles

Cryogenic
heat
exchanger
Mixed
(Methane
ethane
propane
butane and
nitrogen)
2

Capacity

> 4MTPA

4-8 MTPA

4.8 MTPA

Cost

Technology
Developer

Statoil/Linde

20% cost
reduction per
ton of LNG
as compare to
other
processes
IFP and
Axens

Dual Mixed
Refrigerant
Process
-50 to -162C

Mixed (1. Ethane

and propane, 2.
Methane ethane
propane and
nitrogen)
2

Shell