Air Products will supply its proprietary APX natural fuel liquefaction process technology and gear. This includes main cryogenic warmth exchangers (MCHEs), subcooling warmth exchangers, and Rotoflow turbomachinery companders

. The MCHE and SCHE will be designed, engineered and manufactured at Air Products’ LNG gear facility in Port Manatee, Florida. This is the same manufacturing location where we have developed extra than seventy five LNG warmth exchangers over 4 decades

. The AP-X Process Cycle

The heart of an LNG plant is its liquefaction process, which transforms natural fuel into liquid kind. This allows it to be transported by sea for economical distribution round the world. However, this transformation process destroys huge amounts of potential vitality that can be retrieved and used for electricity

. Air Products has developed an advanced liquefaction technology, known as AP-X, to improve the effectivity of the compressors that liquefy the LNG. It uses a new, multi-stream exchanger design and other modifications to decrease vitality losses, whereas rising polytropic effectivity of the compressors

. The AP-X technology is being deployed at the Qatargas 2-Train four LNG facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar. The liquefaction practice is rated for an annual LNG construction capacity of 78. million tonnes per year, and includes three wellhead platforms with eleven wells each, as good as an onshore fuel processing terminal and a fleet of 14 Q-Flex tankers. It also uses two subsea pipelines shared with the adjoining Qatargas 3-Train 5 LNG facility

. The AP-X Equipment

Air Products provides key gear and technology for 12 of the 14 LNG trains presently in operation at Qatargas’ Ras Laffan facility, including the preliminary units that started up in 1996 using AP-C3MRTM LNG process technology; six AP-X LNG Process units that started up between 2009 and 2011; and two new AP-X LNG Process units that are below development for the North Field South (NFS) project. The company’s liquefaction gear includes main cryogenic warmth exchangers, subcooling warmth exchangers, Rotoflow turbomachinery companders and nitrogen economizer cold boxes

. The AP-X gear uses the proven, patented AP-X liquefaction cycle that improves upon earlier cooled combined refrigerant processes by subcooling the LNG with a uncomplicated and effective nitrogen expander loop. This enables greater capacity, improved vitality effectivity and operational flexibility over a huge range of construction capacities

. The liquefaction gear is engineered and developed at Air Products’ world-class Port Manatee, Florida, manufacturing facility. This state-of-the-art facility opened in January 2014 and accomplished a 60% enlargement in October 2019 to meet the needs of an ever-expanding LNG industry

. The AP-X Technical Services

The design and construction of LNG crops is driven by business goals such as producing a maximum number of cargoes, assembly delivery schedules and operating within particular product specs. Failure to meet these goals can outcome in off-specification products and heavy penalties. Managing the plant to achieve these goals requires close manage of the process, gear and operation

. Air Products’ AP-X technology is good suited to this kind of management as the process uses an improved liquefaction cycle that subcools with a uncomplicated nitrogen expander loop, instead than a extra complex combination of refrigerants. This allows significantly larger capacity to be achieved

. Combined with an execution technique maximising normal vendor packages and modular construction, the AP-X process provides a low goal plant cost that can compete with other LNG liquefaction applied sciences for a small practice capacity. The technology also provides excessive vitality effectivity and can operate at a huge range of construction capacities

. The AP-X Project

Air Products’ LNG process technology is at the heart of an LNG construction plant, processing and cryogenically liquefying natural fuel so that it can be shipped economically to meet the world’s vitality needs. The company’s proprietary coil wound main LNG warmth exchangers are used to liquefy the fuel and also are responsible for producing vapor and liquid refrigeration to maintain the integrity of the LNG during transport

. The company’s gear and technology is key to Qatar Petroleum’s substantial liquefied natural fuel (LNG) construction enlargement project, generally recognized as the North Field East Project, in Ras Laffan, Qatar. Air Products is supplying its AP-X LNG Process technology and gear for two of the 4 trains being fabricated for NFE that will deliver significantly larger LNG production

. The firm has equipped key technology and gear to all 14 present Qatari LNG trains operating in Ras Laffan, including the preliminary units which started construction in 1996 with Air Products’ AP-C3MRTM LNG technology; six AP-X LNG Process trains that started up between 2009 and 2011; and two AP-X LNG Process trains being fabricated for NFE. This totals over 82% of the world’s nameplate capacity for LNG construction using this technology

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