Once the LNG has been shipped to its final destination and offloaded to storage, it will require regasification to allow
distribution to the consumer. Direct and indirect heat transfer processes utilized in LNG regasification are dissipative in nature. It is estimated that over 80% of the global cold energy in imported LNG is wasted. The LNG regasification process can be changed to an energy efficient process if this cold LNG energy would only be utilized in existing industrial facilities.
Applications for current and potential cold energy utilization include:
- Inlet air cooling (IAC) to gas turbines
- Cold power generation
- Air separation or other low temp fractionation
- Air conditioning, Cold storage & warehousing
- Cooling media for the adjacent refineries/petrochemical plants
- Chilled water for industry
- Dry ice manufacturing
There are several methods of regasification currently in use, and most fall into one of two categories:
- Ambient temperature systems – heat from surrounding air or from seawater is used to vaporize the LNG
- Above-ambient temperature systems – fuel is burned to heat an intermediate fluid bath which is used to vaporize the LNG
The most common systems for regasification are:
- Open rack vaporizers
- Submerged combustion vaporizers
- Shell & Tube vaporizers
- Intermediate fluid vaporizers