ENHANCED PROCESS INTEGRATION BETWEEN LNG AND GTP PLANTS VERS UNE MEILLEURE INTEGRATION DES PROCEDES ENTRE LES UNITES DE LIQUEFACTION ET LES UNITES GTP

摘要

Previous studies have mainly analyzed offsite integration of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) and GTP (Gas to Products) plants, including Fischer Tropsch synthesis. This paper will provide a processing alternative, using modifications of conventional LNG technology, to fully integrate total gas feed to a GTP plant, without negatively impacting the overall power requirement or significantly impacting the equipment size of the LNG liquefaction section. This processing alternative also increases the heating value of the LNG and increases Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) recovery while not detrimentally altering GTP plant performance. In this proposed integration scheme, the feed to a conventional LNG plant will be increased and an almost pure methane product, approximately equal to half the feed volume to the LNG, will be sent to a large-scale GTP plant. The NGL production in the LNG plant will approximately double and the heating value of the LNG product will increase because the ethane content (propane and butanes if needed) will also double. The proposed integration is based on modifications to any generic LNG liquefaction technology. The proposed modification would utilize a methane rich stream, from the LNG Train, as fresh feed to the GTP plant. Additional treated fresh feed would then replace the methane rich gas stream volume within the LNG plant.