Apparatus for large hydrogen liquefaction system
AssigneeL'Air Liquide, Societe Anonyme pour l'Etude et l’Exploitation des Procedes Georges Claude
InventorsMichael A. TURNEY, Patrick LE BOT, Alain GUILLARD, Bobby Mon-Flan CHAN, Francois FUENTES
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hydrogen liquefaction apparatus is provided. The apparatus can include: one or more precooling zones; a plurality of liquefaction zones; a precooling refrigeration cycle configured to provide refrigeration to the precooling zone; and a cold end refrigeration cycle configured to provide refrigeration to the plurality of liquefaction zones, wherein the cold end refrigeration cycle comprises a common recycle compression system, wherein there are M total one or more precooling zones and N total liquefaction zones, wherein M is less than N.
Claims20
A hydrogen liquefaction apparatus comprising:
- a precooling cold box having a heat exchanger disposed therein, wherein the heat exchanger is configured to cool down a feed stream within the precooling cold box by indirect heat exchange between the feed stream and a precooling refrigerant;
- a plurality of liquefaction cold boxes in fluid communication with the precooling cold box, wherein each liquefaction cold box comprises its own heat exchanger, wherein each heat exchanger within the plurality of liquefaction cold boxes is configured to liquefy the feed stream by indirect heat exchange with a liquefaction refrigerant;
- a precooling refrigeration system configured to provide refrigeration to the precooling zone;
- and
- a liquefaction refrigeration system configured to provide the liquefaction refrigerant to the plurality of liquefaction cold boxes,
- wherein there are M total precooling cold boxes and N total liquefaction cold boxes, wherein M is less than N.
A liquefaction apparatus comprising:
- a first cooling cold box configured to receive a feed stream at an initial temperature T0 and cool the feed stream to form a cooled feed stream at a cooled temperature T1;
- a first precooling withdrawal line configured to remove the cooled feed stream from the first cooling cold box;
- a means for splitting the cooled feed stream, wherein the means for splitting the cooled feed stream are in fluid communication with the precooling withdrawal line;
- and
- a plurality of secondary cold boxes in fluid communication with the means for splitting the cooled feed stream, wherein the plurality of secondary cold boxes are configured to receive the cooled feed stream from the means for splitting the cooled feed stream and liquefy the cooled feed stream therein to form a liquefied stream at a liquefaction temperature TL,
- wherein there are M total first cooling cold boxes and N total secondary cold boxes, wherein M is less than N.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.