An integrated process for producing LNG and GTL products is provided, wherein a CO2-containing natural gas feed to an LNG production zone is first pre-treated to separate at least a portion of the CO2 therefrom, and the resulting CO2 stream obtained thereby is then directed to a GTL production zone and utilized to make GTL products that include methanol and/or methanol derivatives.

Integrated processing of natural gas into liquid products

A process and apparatus for improving the efficiency of an open-cycle cascaded refrigeration process. Process efficiency is improved by the manner in which the compressed recycle stream (156) is combined with the main process stream (100) in the open refrigeration cycle.

Efficiency improvement of open-cycle cascaded refrigeration process

A process is shown for producing liquefied natural gas from a pressurized natural feed stream. The feed stream is introduced into heat exchange contact with a mechanical refrigeration cycle to cool the feed stream to a first cooling temperature. At least a portion of the feed stream is passed through a turboexpander cycle to provide auxiliary refrigeration for the mechanical refrigeration cycle to thereby cool the feed stream to a second, relatively lower cooling temperature.

Use of a turboexpander cycle in liquefied natural gas process

Natural gas liquefaction system employing a zeolite adsorbent (404) for removing nitrogen (414) from pretreated natural gas (402).

Natural gas liquefaction with improved nitrogen removal

A process to produce liquid cryogen wherein subcooled supercritical liquid is expanded without vaporization and a portion thereof is used to carry out the subcooling by vaporization under reduced pressure.

Process to produce liquid cryogen

The inventive process and associated apparatus are ideally suited for methodology and apparatus for the small-scale liquefaction of natural gas. The current invention provides a methodology and apparatus for the liquefaction of normally gaseous material, most notably natural gas, which reduces both the number of process vessels (34, 58) required and also the associated space requirements over convention apparatus while resulting in only a slight decrease in process efficiency.

Conversion of normally gaseous material to liquefied product

In a system for liquefying natural gas containing more than about 1.5 percent nitrogen in which the natural gas is cooled by refrigeration and heat exchange with initial flashing of liquid at a pressure to remove substantialy all of the container nitrogen and with additional stages of flashing of liquid with low pressure flash liquid being passed to liquid natural gas storage and flashed vapors used for heat exchange, recompressed, and combined with the incoming feed the energy requirements of the system are improved by stabilizing the amount of nitrogen recycle in the system by stripping nitrogen from the initial vapor flash with overhead from the stripping heat exchanged within the system to recover its refrigeration and then yielded from the system and with the liquid from the stripping, recycled to the liquid from the initial flashing.

Natural gas liquefaction with nitrogen rejection stabilization

A process for liquefying a natural gas, having a pressure above atmospheric pressure, in which a feed gas is cooled to sequentially lower temperatures, by passing the gas through a plurality of cooling stages, in indirect heat exchange with at least one refrigerant, until the gas is substantially completely condensed in the last of the cooling stages, a fuel gas fraction is withdrawn from the liquefied gas in an amount proportional to the amount of feed gas passing through the cooling stages and, thereafter, the pressure of the remaining liquefied gas is reduced to essentially atmospheric pressure. Apparatus for carrying out the process is also described.

Liquefaction of gas

A process for simultaneously, cryogenically separating natural gas liquids from a lean natural gas stream and a rich natural gas stream; including, compressing the lean gas feed, cooling the compressed lean gas feed, separating the cooled lean gas feed to form a vapor phase and a liquid phase, expanding the vapor phase lean gas feed, separating the expanded vapor phase lean gas feed to form a second vapor phase and a second liquid phase, fractionating the second vapor phase lean gas feed to form a methane-enriched, low pressure bottoms fraction and a nitrogen-enriched, high pressure overhead fraction, flashing a portion of the methane-enriched bottoms fraction and passing the same in countercurrent, indirect heat exchange with the nitrogen-enriched overhead fraction, to cool the same and produce a vapor phase nitrogen-enriched product and a liquid phase reflux for the fractionator, passing the remainder of the methane-enriched bottoms fraction, the flashed methane-enriched bottoms fraction and the vapor phase nitrogen-enriched fraction in countercurrent heat exchange with the lean gas feed, compressing the rich gas feed, cooling the compressed rich gas feed, fractionating the cooled rich gas feed and the liquid phases separated from the lean gas feed to form a methane-enriched overhead fraction and a natural gas liquids bottoms product and combining the methane-enriched overhead with a portion of the methane-enriched bottoms product from the lean gas feed, prior to the passage of the latter in heat exchange with the lean gas feed. The methane-enriched streams are combined, following their use as heat exchange media, to form a pipeline quality natural gas product and the nitrogen-enriched vapor phase can be utilized as a low BTU fuel gas for the plant.

Cryogenic separation of lean and rich gas streams

Liquid cryogenic refrigerant is transferred from a pressurized transport vessel to a low-pressure supply tank in cryogenic refrigeration system by passing vapors from the vessel to the refrigeration system and passing the resulting cooled liquid from the vessel to the supply tank.

Dunn M. Bailey

Papers

Conversion of normally gaseous material to liquefied product

Natural gas liquefaction with nitrogen rejection stabilization

Liquefaction of gas

Cryogenic separation of lean and rich gas streams

Fluid handling and storing of make-up refrigerant