Lng Technology

Turning Stranded Natural Gas Fields into Profit

The world has enormous quantities of natural gas, but most of it is far from where the gas is needed. To move this environmentally friendly fuel across oceans, natural gas must be converted into liquefied natural gas LNG. After arriving at its destination, LNG is vaporized (warmed) to return it to its gaseous state and delivered to natural gas customers through local pipelines. Until recently LNG plants have been built to export, by tankers, large quantities of LNG from producing nations to consuming nations, with one LNG tanker holding the equivalent of 80 to 160 million cubic meters of gas.

With the advent of the fracking technology, the North American natural gas production is higher than the demand. This oversupply situation might be temporary, due to a mild winter and to bottlenecks in the distribution system；however， many stranded natural gas reserves are and might remain under-exploited for some time.

Modular and mid-size LNG plants, such as the ones offered by EAJV, that can process the production of such stranded gas fields appear as a very viable solution which can be implemented very rapidly.

EAJV will help you turn stranded natural gas into profit.

Skid-Mounted Small-size LNG Plants

For stranded natural gas fields where the reserves are rapidly depleted as is the case with many shale gas fields, EAJV has designed and made available for the North American market a series of skid-mounted modular LNG plants with a capacity starting at 50,000 Nm3/day.

Such skid-mounted LNG plants can be easily dismantled and moved to other gas fields when one is depleted. This approach eliminates the requirement for expensive pipeline infrastructure which often requires long environmental impact studies before implementation.

The skid-mounted, small-size LNG plant approach allows for the rapid and profitable exploitation of stranded gas fields.

Mid-Sized LNG Plants

Mid-size LNG plants with capacities from 200,000 to 1 million Nm3/day are specifically designed for stranded gas fields and for the local transportation fuel market. As such plants cannot be re-located, long-term availability of low cost natural gas is the main factor in the selection of the plant size and location.

Typically a 1 million Nm3/day plant has the capacity to fuel 4,000 Class 8, heavy duty trucks, based on 8 hours of truck operation per day.

LNG Process

After compression, the natural gas passes through a purification system where in a multi-stage process, humidity, carbon dioxide, mercury and hydrocarbons are removed to leave only methane. The resulting clean gas is then liquefied in the refrigerant and the cold box sections. The liquefied natural gas is then stored or transported to filling stations. LNG is natural gas that has been cooled to -260°F or -162°C, changing it from a gas into a liquid 1/600th its original volume. This dramatic reduction allows it to be stored or shipped safely and efficiently aboard tankers or specially designed LNG vessels.

LNG as Transportation Fuel is Here to Stay

California has already a sizable LNG distribution network. According to the California Energy Commission, because of LNG’s increased driving range, it is mostly used in heavy-duty vehicles, typically the vehicles that are classified as Class 8 (33,000 -80,000 lbs. gross vehicle weight). According to Forbes (April 12), in Chongqing (China), 85% of taxis and 92% of buses are using an LNG engine. In Shanghai, Chengdu, Xi’an, Xinjiang and Hebei, these percentages are above 90%.

Long-Term Technical Assistance

Natural gas purification media and technical assistance are available from EAJV on a long-term contract basis. With this contractual arrangement, the latest advances in LNG technology and adsorbent media developments are transmitted to the client on a regular basis to ensure that all LNG plants supplied by EAJV Technology benefit from the highest carbon and energy efficiency as well as the highest plant availability.