Robust LNG plant piping and valve selection

摘要

Piping codes and standards for natural gas applications have changed over the years to address (material) challenges. This shows that the Codes and Standards committees together with industry have provided improved codes, standards and methods to engineers involved in LNG plant piping. Further improvements are expected. In 2019, the gas market expanded by 5 per cent, while the LNG market grew by 10 per cent. Natural gas/LNG are expected to remain the fastest-growing fossil fuel beyond 2037 due to its relatively low CO_2-footprint compared to coal. This implies that investments in LNG plants (gasification, liquefaction) and piping are needed to cater to this growing demand. LNG plants contain a significant amount of piping that is characterised by one or more of the following: large diameters, high design pressures, cryogenic temperatures, stainless steel, high velocity gas flow, large diameter-to-thickness (D/t) ratios(sometimes exceeding 100) and load cases not explicitly addressed by design codes.