Comprehensive comparison of small-scale natural gas liquefaction processes using brazed plate heat exchangers

doi:10.1007/s11708-020-0705-0

Frontiers in Energy

2020, Vol. 14

Issue (4): 683-698 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-020-0705-0

本期目录

Comprehensive comparison of small-scale natural gas liquefaction processes using brazed plate heat exchangers

Jitan WU, Yonglin JU(

)

Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

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Abstract：

The brazed plate heat exchanger (BPHE) has some advantages over the plate-fin heat exchanger (PFHE) when used in natural gas liquefaction processes, such as the convenient installation and transportation, as well as the high tolerance of carbon dioxide (CO₂) impurities. However, the BPHEs with only two channels cannot be applied directly in the conventional liquefaction processes which are designed for multi-stream heat exchangers. Therefore, the liquefaction processes using BPHEs are different from the conventional PFHE processes. In this paper, four different liquefaction processes using BPHEs are optimized and comprehensively compared under respective optimal conditions. The processes are compared with respect to energy consumption, economic performance, and robustness. The genetic algorithm (GA) is applied as the optimization method and the total revenue requirement (TRR) method is adopted in the economic analysis. The results show that the modified single mixed refrigerant (MSMR) process with part of the refrigerant flowing back to the compressor at low temperatures has the lowest specific energy consumption but the worst robustness of the four processes. The MSMR with fully utilization of cold capacity of the refrigerant shows a satisfying robustness and the best economic performance. The research in this paper is helpful for the application of BPHEs in natural gas liquefaction processes.

Key words： liquefied natural gas brazed plate heat exchanger energy consumption economic performance robustness

收稿日期: 2019-01-17 出版日期: 2020-12-21

Corresponding Author(s): Yonglin JU

引用本文:

. [J]. Frontiers in Energy, 2020, 14(4): 683-698.
Jitan WU, Yonglin JU. Comprehensive comparison of small-scale natural gas liquefaction processes using brazed plate heat exchangers. Front. Energy, 2020, 14(4): 683-698.

链接本文:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/CN/10.1007/s11708-020-0705-0
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fie/CN/Y2020/V14/I4/683

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Fig.5

Tab.1

Tab.2

Fig.6

Tab.3

Variables	Lower boundary	Upper boundary	Optimal value
$m ˙ C H 4$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	5500	10500	7193
$m ˙ C 2 H 6$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	8000	16000	9710
$m ˙ C 2 H 3$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	7000	14000	13080
$m ˙ N 2$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	1500	6000	3045
P_MR–8/kPa	3000	6000	4807
P_MR–3/kPa	160	300	191
T_MR–4_b/K	283	303	296
T_MR–2/K	108	118	113
SEC/(kW·h·(N·m³)^–1)			0.512

Tab.4

Variables	Lower boundary	Upper boundary	Optimal value
$m ˙ C H 4$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	4000	13500	5608
$m ˙ C 2 H 4$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	5500	17000	12510
$m ˙ i − C 4 H 10$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	8500	12500	9820
$m ˙ N 2$ / (N·m³·d^–1)	1000	4500	2284
P_MR–5/kPa	1800	4500	2611
P_MR–13/kPa	160	300	232
P_MR–17/kPa	160	300	242
T_NG–4/K	233	258	251
T_MR–11/K	228	243	235
T_MR–12/K	108	118	113
T_MR–16/K	248	263	256
SEC/(kW·h·(N·m³)^–1)			0.395

Tab.5

Variables	Lower boundary	Upper boundary	Optimal value
$m ˙ C H 4$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	5500	8500	7923
$m ˙ C 2 H 6$ / (N·m³·d^–1)	6500	11500	10810
$m ˙ C 2 H 3$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	7000	10500	9317
$m ˙ N 2$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	1000	3500	3006
P_MR–17/kPa	4000	8000	6405
P_MR–5/kPa	160	300	168
P_MR–11/kPa	700	1500	1317
T_NG–4/K	248	258	253
T_MR–3/K	228	243	239
T_MR–4/K	103	118	109
T_MR–6_a/K	223	253	232
SEC/(kW·h·(N·m³)^–1)			0.383

Tab.6

Variables	Lower boundary	Upper boundary	Optimal value
$m ˙ C H 4$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	4000	6500	5780
$m ˙ C 2 H 4$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	12500	15000	13420
$m ˙ C 3 H 3$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	5500	7500	7305
$m ˙ N 2$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	1000	2500	2034
$m ˙ C 3 H 6$ /(N·m³·d^–1)	14000	18000	15140
P_MR–5/kPa	800	2200	1404
P_MR–14/kPa	160	300	208
P_C3–4/kPa	800	2200	1243
P_C3–6/kPa	160	300	202
T_NG–4/K	243	263	248
T_MR–10/K	233	249	246
T_MR–12/K	183	203	202
T_MR–13/K	108	118	110
T_C3–7_b/K	280	288	284
SEC/(kW·h·(N·m³) ^–1)			0.415

Tab.7

Fig.7

Fig.8

Fig.9

Economic parameters	Value
Average nominal escalation rate for fuel (r_FC)/%	5 [³²]
Average nominal escalation rate for operating and maintenance cost (r_OMC)/%	5 [³²]
Average annual rate of the cost (i_eff)/%	10 [³²]
Constant cost of electricity consumption (C_e)/($·(kW·h) ^–1)	0.071 [⁸]
Annual operation time ( $τ$ )/h	8000 [⁷]

Tab.8

Tab.9

Fig.10

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Tab.10

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Fig.13

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