Refrigerant storage in lng production
OwnerWim van Wijngaarden, Jeremy Duncan Stuart Joynsoninventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A refrigerant tank (40) holds a hydrocarbon refrigerant (42) used by refrigeration equipment (14) to cool natural gas to about −163° C. to produce LNG (liquefied natural gas) (45). The refrigerant is stored on a floating structure (10) in a way that avoids dangers that would arise if the refrigerant were stored on deck with the refrigeration equipment. A refrigerant container (40) is stored in one of the LNG tanks (20) that holds LNG at about −163° C.
Claims10
A liquefied gas storage facility that includes a hull that floats in a sea, a deck on top of said hull, at least one insulated liquefied gas tank lying primarily in said hull and below said deck and containing cold liquefied gas, and refrigeration equipment that includes expansion, compression and heat transfer portions, wherein said refrigeration equipment includes at least one refrigerant container that holds refrigerant used in at least one of said refrigeration equipment portions, wherein:
- said refrigerant container lies below said deck, in a region that is thermally coupled to liquefied gas that lies in said liquefied gas tank, and the refrigerant temperature is maintained at least 40° C. below the average environmental temperature due to the refrigerant being thermally coupled to the cold liquefied gas.
A liquefied gas storage facility which includes a hull that floats in a sea and that has a deck lying above the sea, at least one liquefied gas tank lying primarily in said hull, a quantity of LNG (liquefied natural gas) lying in said liquefied gas tank, refrigerant equipment on said hull which includes expansion, compression and heat transfer refrigeration portions and at least one refrigerant container and a quantity of refrigerant in said refrigerant container, wherein:
- said refrigerant container lies within said liquefied gas tank.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.