Natural gas liquefaction employing independent refrigerant path
First Claim
1. A method of liquefying natural gas, the method comprising:
- cooling a compressed gaseous refrigerant stream of a refrigerant loop in a channel of a heat exchanger to form a partially gaseous refrigerant stream comprising a gaseous phase and a liquid phase;
separating the gaseous phase from the liquid phase in a separation vessel downstream of the channel of the heat exchanger to form a gaseous refrigerant side stream and a liquid refrigerant stream;
expanding the gaseous refrigerant side stream in an expansion device downstream of the separation vessel;
combining the expanded, gaseous refrigerant side stream with the liquid refrigerant stream in a mixer downstream of the expansion device to form another partially gaseous refrigerant stream; and
directing the another partially gaseous refrigerant stream into another channel of the heat exchanger downstream of the mixer prior to modifying a temperature of the another partially gaseous refrigerant stream to extract heat from a natural gas process stream of a natural gas processing path fluidly separate from the refrigerant loop to liquefy at least a portion of the natural gas process stream and form a gaseous refrigerant stream.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of liquefying natural gas. The method comprises cooling a gaseous natural gas process stream with a refrigerant flowing in a path isolated from the natural gas process stream. The refrigerant may differ in composition from a composition of the natural gas process stream, and the refrigerant composition may be selected to enhance efficiency of the refrigerant path with regard to a specific composition of the natural gas process stream. The refrigeration path may be operated at pressures, temperatures and flow rates differing from those of the natural gas process stream. Other methods of liquefying natural gas are described. A natural gas liquefaction plant is also described.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of liquefying natural gas, the method comprising:
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cooling a compressed gaseous refrigerant stream of a refrigerant loop in a channel of a heat exchanger to form a partially gaseous refrigerant stream comprising a gaseous phase and a liquid phase; separating the gaseous phase from the liquid phase in a separation vessel downstream of the channel of the heat exchanger to form a gaseous refrigerant side stream and a liquid refrigerant stream; expanding the gaseous refrigerant side stream in an expansion device downstream of the separation vessel; combining the expanded, gaseous refrigerant side stream with the liquid refrigerant stream in a mixer downstream of the expansion device to form another partially gaseous refrigerant stream; and directing the another partially gaseous refrigerant stream into another channel of the heat exchanger downstream of the mixer prior to modifying a temperature of the another partially gaseous refrigerant stream to extract heat from a natural gas process stream of a natural gas processing path fluidly separate from the refrigerant loop to liquefy at least a portion of the natural gas process stream and form a gaseous refrigerant stream. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of natural gas liquefaction, the method comprising:
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compressing a gaseous refrigerant stream in a refrigerant loop received from a first channel of a multi-pass heat exchanger; cooling the compressed gaseous refrigerant stream in a second channel of the multi-pass heat exchanger to form an at least partially gaseous refrigerant stream; directing the at least partially gaseous refrigerant stream through a separation vessel downstream of the second channel of the multi-pass heat exchanger to separate a gaseous phase of the at least partially gaseous refrigerant stream from a liquid phase of the at least partially gaseous refrigerant stream; expanding the gaseous phase of the at least partially gaseous refrigerant stream in an expansion device downstream of the separation vessel and upstream of the first channel of a multi-pass heat exchanger to form at least one expanded, at least partially gaseous refrigerant stream; directing at least a gaseous phase of the expanded, at least partially gaseous refrigerant stream into the first channel of the multi-pass heat exchanger prior to modifying a temperature of the gaseous phase to extract heat from a gaseous natural gas process stream in a path separate from the refrigerant loop passing through a third channel of the multi-pass heat exchanger and form a cooled gaseous natural gas process stream and the gaseous refrigerant stream; expanding the cooled gaseous natural gas process stream to form a multi-phase natural gas process stream exhibiting a liquid phase and a gaseous phase; and directing a portion of the liquid phase of the multi-phase natural gas process stream into a fourth channel of the multi-pass heat exchanger to extract additional heat from the gaseous natural gas process stream and form a gaseous natural gas side stream. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification