Process analysis and optimization of high-N2 natural gas liquefaction

Abstract

The demand for natural gas (NG) is increasing rapidly due to the world energy crisis. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) technology is one of the most flexible and reliable supply solutions, which has already been a major research hotpot in energy use. However, NG with high-N2 content lowers the gas calorific value and value of the gas and increases the energy consumption for production and transport. To address this issue, this study established nitrogen removal from the NG process using a single-column cryogenic distillation process based on Aspen HYSYS® in this study. An expanding refrigeration process using N2-CH4 was selected to provide the required cold energy for this plant, and the process power consumption and LNG specific power consumption was used as evaluation indicators. Results from sensitivity analysis showed that by the increase of natural gas feed temperature T1, the distillation column operation pressure Pc, and refrigerant high pressure P3, the LNG specific power consumption also demonstrated an increasing trend. The variables of natural gas inlet pressure P1, the outlet temperature of natural gas from pre-cooler T2, the ratio of return RR, the methane content ZCH4, the temperature of refrigerant after pre-cooler T4 and refrigerant low pressure P5 had a negative impact on the LNG specific power consumption. After conducting an optimization algorithm, the minimum LNG specific power consumption was determined to be 56.17 kJ/mol. Exergy analysis demonstrated that the total exergy destruction was 2076.13 kW. The compressor and expander components accounted for 31.57% and 26.29% of the total exergy losses respectively. This research provides valuable insights into optimizing LNG production processes by mitigating the impact of high nitrogen content, and it contributes to the advancement of LNG technology and energy efficiency in the industry.