Offshore staff
HOUSTON -- A US patent was awarded Mustang Engineering and Wood Group for a proprietary process to convert LNG into natural gas.
According to Mustang, the technology, LNG Smart Air Vaporization (SAV), uses a closed-loop intermediate fluid circulating through fin-fan heat exchangers to extract heat from ambient air to vaporize LNG from its cryogenic state at -260°F back to pipeline temperatures for transporting and storage.
When compared with the more traditional submerged combustion vaporization technique, Mustang explains, the SAV technology provides fugitive air emissions reductions (up to 100% under certain ambient conditions), and lowers facility operating costs by using less fuel gas.
SAV also is environmentally friendly, says Mustang. It does not use seawater, thereby eliminating impact on marine life in environmentally sensitive areas.
The SAV process is being installed as the primary vaporization process at Trunkline LNG Co.'s Infrastructure Enhancement Project in Lake Charles, Louisiana, with the existing Submerged Combustion Vaporizers as a backup heat source.
The project, currently in the detail engineering phase, is on schedule to be commissioned in 3Q 2008.
According to Mustang, SAV also can be used with a small-scale LNG liquefaction process, various floating vessels with regasification and storage technologies, floating production storage and offloading vessels with onboard liquefaction, and horizontal LNG storage tanks.
3/14/2007
