Research on Natural Gas Liquefaction Technology for the Hammerfest LNG Plant

摘要

In the 1980s, there was little experience from LNG developments in near-arctic climates, and the technical options and LNG technology information available for potential operators were quite restricted. Having discovered gas in the Barents sea near Hammefest, Statoil decided to initiate a research and development programme on the fundamentals of LNG processes and equipment to increase the knowledge and in-depth understanding of natural gas liquefaction technology, and to adapt the LNG technology to "near arctic" and remoteo infrastructure conditions. This led to the establishment in 1984 of a long-term Statoil-NTH/NTNU/SINTEF framework agreement aimed at pursuing fundamental studies of liquefaction processes and equipment. Directed by Professor Einar Brendeng, the NTH-SINTEF Department of refrigeration engineering became a de-facto joint theoretical and experimental centre of excellence for LNG. The work carried out here,and in association with the Statoil research centre and the Norwegian government's complementary SPUNG1) programme (1987-1992), paved the way for converting theory into practice. In recent years, the R&D cooperation between StatoilHydro and NTNU-SINEF has focused on more advanced technologies for utilisation of remote natural gas resources. Following up the early fundamental work, a LNG technology alliance was established between Statoil and the German industrial group Linde in 1996, pooling the knowledge and technology in the pursuance of joint research and development. The objectives were to improve base load LNG technology, and to create increased competition and more commercial options for liquefaction processes and key equipment units. Several years of intensive joint research culminated in the development and qualification of spiralwound heat exchangers and a brand new refrigeration technique, known as the mixed fluid cascade process (MFC(R)). This process was eventually selected for the Hammerfest LNG plant by the Snohvit partners in 2002.