LIQUEFACTION OF NATURAL GAS USING PROCESS-LOADED EXPANDERS

摘要

A process for the liquefaction of natural gas is disclosed wherein expansion valves for low-level multicomponent refrigerant and liquefied gas product streams are replaced with process-loaded turboexpanders (141, 151) having liquid inlet streams. Each turboexpander is coupled with a compressor or pump (142, 152) so that expansion work extracted from a given stream is used directly to compress or pump the stream prior to cooling and expansion. The use of process-loaded turboexpanders reduces the minimum work of liquefaction and increases the liquefaction capacity of the process.