How is a LNG regasifier transported? How does it work? 4K video

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0:00 Intro
0:31 Transport
1:18 LNG Liquid Natural Gas
2:49 LNG Tanker
5:37 Regasification Plant
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In one of our previous videos we talked about natural gas. We went through all the detailed steps necessary for its extraction, the types of plant where it is used and we also had an overview of its peculiar features.
As aforementioned, once the gas has been extracted it is refined and transported through gas or methane pipelines, into electrical systems and households.
Anyway, how does the transport of the gas extracted from the field to its final user take place? In the best out of all circumstances, which implies being a Country lucky enough to be directly connected to supplier countries, such as most European countries (including Russia), it is usually transported by land with the help of methane pipelines. Indeed, the Countries that do not have these possibilities must purchase the product from other Nations that transport natural gas by sea.
The transport of natural gas by sea is very delicate. Mind that we are talking about a product composed of 98% methane, which is highly flammable, and transporting it in large tanks installed on a ship can be particularly risky.
This is why natural gas must be brought from its gaseous state to a liquid state. Liquefied natural gas, also called LNG, is not as flammable as in the gaseous state. Moreover, the volume of the gas is reduced by 600 times, increasing the average single-journey transport capacity of LNG carriers. LNG carriers are special ships built specifically for the transport of methane and flammable gases.
Now let's focus on the natural gas distribution and treatment chain.
After the extraction of the product, with the help of methane pipelines, the gas is transported to special plants which will proceed to liquefy it. The plants can usually be located near the coasts, in port areas, or in floating structures anchored to the seabed, which are called ‘off-shore’ plants.
The process of bringing the gas to a liquid state starts with a treatment to remove carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, then a pre-cooling phase is carried out followed by the extraction of any heavy component. At this point, the gas temperature drastically drops to -163 ° C, below the boiling temperature of methane, the main component of natural gas.
Liquefied natural gas is injected through cryogenic tubes (located on loading docks) into tanks placed on LNG carriers. These particular ships can carry from 150 to 200 thousand cubic meters of methane, and they can be of two different types :
- The first example is that of a ship with integrated tanks developed by Gaztransport & Technigaz. For this type there are 2 versions: the Technigaz model is supplied with tanks consisting of an elastic primary barrier, formed by a membrane with ribs made of steel plates. The arrangement of the plates forms two sets of ribs orthogonal to each other having the function of reducing thermal stresses. The secondary barrier is made with a composite material called "triplex" consisting of an aluminum sheet in a wafer of glass fiber fabric. The tank is fixed to the inner hull with a polyurethane foam reinforced with glass fibers. The typology developed by Gaztransport instead provides two barriers consisting of flat welded planking, made of a particular metal alloy of steel and nickel, called invar. Between the two barriers there are insulating panels and air chambers, into which liquid nitrogen is injected to maintain the cryogenic temperature of the natural gas. In this case the tank is held to the inner hull with balsa wood thermal insulation boxes filled with perlite.
- The other example of a LNG ship with self-supporting tanks was developed by the Moss Rosenberg company. This firm faced the problem of resistance to the stresses induced by the weight of natural gas in the tank. To solve the issue, Moss Rosenberg designed LNG tankers with 4 or 6 spherical tanks. The spheres are insulated with a layer of insulating material, a gap filled with nitrogen is passed between them to increase the insulating capacity and keep the temperature of the tank low. Each sphere is supported by a cylindrical jacket which rests on the ship's hull; the latter is protected from any gas leaks with a secondary barrier placed at the base of the spheres.
The LNG carrier transports its LNG cargo to the regasification plant