Conceptual Design of Single Mixed Refrigerant Natural Gas Liquefaction Process Considering Load Variation = Conceptual Design of Single Mixed Refrigerant Natural Gas Liquefaction Process Considering Load Variation

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study presents a comprehensive design approach to determine optimal equipment size and operating conditions while considering process load variation. We applied the suggested approach to PRICO^® Single Mixed Refrigerant (SMR) process to take account of the feed gas load reduction owing to depletion of natural gas fields. The suggested approach differs from a traditional one in that it performs design and optimization with several steady-state operation regimes depending on the load variation. The economics of each design approach is evaluated by the economic assessment model that reflects the annual profit under the varying production rate according to the actual production profiles of the gas field wells, Maui and Kapuni in New Zealand. The proposed design approach makes a loss in the compressor equipment cost. However, it reduces the operation cost over a wide range of operations, leading to the overall improvement of economics in a gas well along its lifetime production.