Method of producing a gasified hydrocarbon stream; method of liquefying a gaseous hydrocarbon stream; and a cyclic process
AssigneeShell Oil Company
InventorsFrancois Chantant, Wiveka Jacoba Elion, Casper Krijno Groothuis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A first liquefied hydrocarbon stream is provided from a first source and a second liquefied hydrocarbon stream is provided from a second source. The second liquefied hydrocarbon stream has been liquefied by cooling solely against a first cooled nitrogen-based stream. The first and second liquefied hydrocarbon streams are gasified to produce a gasified hydrocarbon stream, thereby cooling a gaseous nitrogen-based stream against the gasifying first and second liquefied hydrocarbon streams to provide a second cooled nitrogen-based stream.
Claims17
A method of producing a gasified hydrocarbon stream, at least comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a first liquefied hydrocarbon stream from a first source;
- (b) providing a second liquefied hydrocarbon stream from a second source, which second source is at a geographically separate location from the first source and which second liquefied hydrocarbon stream has been liquefied by cooling a gaseous source hydrocarbon stream solely against a first cooled nitrogen-based stream;
- (c) gasifying the first and second liquefied hydrocarbon streams to produce a gasified hydrocarbon stream, wherein cooling a gaseous nitrogen-based stream against the gasifying first and second liquefied hydrocarbon streams to provide a second cooled nitrogen-based stream wherein the mass of the second cooled nitrogen-based stream produced using cooling duty released from the first and second liquefied hydrocarbon streams is at least as high as the mass of the first cooled nitrogen-based stream used in step (b), whereby no additional cooling duty is used to cool the gaseous nitrogen-based stream and the gaseous source hydrocarbon stream.
A method of liquefying a gaseous hydrocarbon stream, at least comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a second cooled nitrogen-based stream;
- (b) liquefying a hydrocarbon stream solely by cooling against the second cooled nitrogen-based stream to provide a liquefied hydrocarbon stream;
- wherein the second nitrogen-based stream has been obtained from a gaseous nitrogen-based stream that has been cooled against a first liquefied hydrocarbon stream provided from a first source and against a second liquefied hydrocarbon stream provided from a second source, during which cooling the first and second liquefied hydrocarbon streams have been gasified, and whereby no additional cooling is used to cool the gaseous nitrogen-based stream, which second source is at a geographically separate location from the first source and which second liquefied hydrocarbon stream has been liquefied by cooling solely against a first cooled nitrogen-based stream, wherein the mass of the first cooled nitrogen-based stream used in step (b) is at most equal to the mass of the second cooled nitrogen-based stream, and no additional cooling is used to liquefy the first cooled nitrogen-based stream.
A cyclic process wherein cooling and re-warming a nitrogen-based stream, and wherein liquefying and regasifying a hydrocarbon stream, comprising the steps of:
- (a) at a first export location, liquefying a first gaseous hydrocarbon stream to produce a first liquefied hydrocarbon stream;
- (b) at a second export location, being geographically separate from the first export location, importing a cooled nitrogen-based stream which has been produced at an import location in step (e);
- (c) at the second export location, liquefying a second gaseous hydrocarbon stream by cooling solely against the cooled nitrogen-based stream to produce a second liquefied hydrocarbon stream, wherein no additional cooling duty is used to liquefy the second gaseous hydrocarbon stream;
- (d) at the import location, importing the first and the second liquefied hydrocarbon streams which have been produced at the first and second export locations in steps (a) and (c) respectively;
- (e) at the import location, cooling a nitrogen-based gaseous stream against the first and second liquefied hydrocarbon streams imported in step (d), thereby producing the cooled nitrogen-based stream and a gasified hydrocarbon stream, whereby no additional cooling duty is used to cool the nitrogen-based gaseous stream;
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- (f) transporting the cooled nitrogen-based stream to the second export location, wherein the mass of the cooled nitrogen-based stream produced in (e) using cooling duty released from the first and second liquefied hydrocarbon streams is at least as high as the mass of the cooled nitrogen-based stream used in step (c).
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.