A proposed method for thermally assisted electric energy storage is intended for increase in round-trip efficiency through recovery of waste heat energy streams from the co-located power generation and industrial facilities, combustion of renewable or fossil fuels, or harnessing the renewable energy sources. In the charge operation mode, it is achieved by superheating and expansion of recirculating air stream in the liquid air energy storage with self-producing a part of power required for air liquefaction. In the discharge operation mode, it is attained through the repeated use of a stream of discharged air for production of an additional power in auxiliary discharge cycle.

In a cryogenic combined cycle power plant electric power drives a cryogenic refrigerator to store energy by cooling air to a liquid state for storage within tanks, followed by subsequent release of the stored energy by first pressurizing the liquid air, then regasifying the liquid air and raising the temperature of the regasified air at least in part with heat exhausted from a combustion turbine, and then expanding the heated regasified air through a hot gas expander to generate power. The expanded regasified air exhausted from the expander may be used to cool and make denser the inlet air to the combustion turbine. The combustion turbine exhaust gases may be used to drive an organic Rankine bottoming cycle. An alternative source of heat such as thermal storage, for example, may be used in place of or in addition to the combustion turbine.

A method includes receiving input corresponding to a proposed configuration of a liquefaction facility and identifying a plurality of components utilized to produce LNG and/or LIN at the facility. The method includes determining an alternative configuration that is different from the proposed configuration. Determining the alternative configuration may include identifying resources accessible to a proposed location for the liquefaction facility and whether at least one of the resources accessible to the proposed location corresponds to a resource generated by a component identified by the proposed configuration, and determining whether to omit at least one component of the plurality of components identified by the proposed configuration. The method includes omitting the at least one component from the alternative configuration, and generating a report based on the proposed configuration and the alternative configuration. The report includes information indicating a difference between the proposed configuration and the alternative configuration.

A data center is cooled by a cryogenic cooling system which is wind driven, and powered by energy stored in the cryogenic liquid. The cooling occurs through downwardly passing cryogenic liquid which is recycled and pushed back to a top of a system in a cyclic manner.

An air separation unit and associated method for separating air by cryogenic distillation using a distillation column system including a higher pressure column, a lower pressure column, an intermediate pressure kettle column, and an argon column arrangement is provided. The disclosed air separation unit and method is particularly suited for production of an argon product as well as several nitrogen products wherein a portion of the nitrogen overhead intermediate pressure kettle column is taken as an intermediate or elevated pressure nitrogen product. The present air separation unit and associated method employs a once-through kettle column reboiler, a once-through kettle column condenser while the argon condenser condenses an argon-rich vapor stream against a pumped oxygen stream from the bottom of the lower pressure column.

A process for recovering at least one fluid (e.g. argon gas and/or nitrogen gas, etc.) from a feed gas (e.g. air) can provide an improved recovery of argon and/or nitrogen as well as an improvement in operational efficiency. Some embodiments can be adapted so that at least a portion of a mixed nitrogen-oxygen fluid is at least partially vaporized and fed to a low pressure column.

The object of the present invention is to provide a different solution for revamping existing producing apparatuses so as to increase the production of low pressure pure nitrogen while controlling as far as possible the capital and operation expenditures. The revamping solution comprises increasing the diameter and/or height of a pure nitrogen column to thereby improve the production capacity thereof; choosing to switch the conduits where the waste liquid nitrogen and pure liquid nitrogen are passed through in the subcooler according to the increment of the low pressure pure nitrogen production; adding an additional heat exchanger to conduct a heat exchange between a portion of the medium pressure air and the increased low pressure pure nitrogen; or simultaneously switching the main parts of the conduits which transfer the pure liquid nitrogen and waste liquid nitrogen from a first column of higher pressure to a second column of lower pressure while performing the above revamping. The stepwise revamping solution of the present invention can be used not only to control the cost but also increase the low pressure pure nitrogen production while ensuring a stable operation of the air separation unit.

Enhancements to a dual column, nitrogen producing cryogenic air separation unit are provided. Such enhancements include an improved air separation cycle that uses multiple condenser-reboilers and recycles a portion of the vapor from one or more of the condenser-reboilers to the incoming feed stream and or the compressed purified air streams to yield improvements in such dual column, nitrogen producing cryogenic air separation units. The multiple condenser-reboilers preferably include an integrated condenser-reboiler arrangement comprising a heat exchanger having a set of nitrogen condensing passages, a first set and second set of boiling passages, and a phase separator.

A supply quantity adjustment device 500 comprises: a total demand quantity calculation unit 502 that calculates a total demand quantity used at a supply destination, based on plant information; an excess/deficit information setting unit 503 that compares the total demand quantity and a flow rate set value and sets a first calculated pressure value; a backup coefficient setting unit that sets a backup coefficient set value based on a reference gasholder pressure, the first calculated pressure value, a reference backup pressure set value, and a measured gasholder pressure value; and a production coefficient setting unit that compares a production pressure set value obtained by adding the reference gasholder pressure and a first pressure output value with the measured gasholder pressure value, and sets a production coefficient so as to modify a variation in the quantity of product gas produced by the air separation apparatus.

A system for storing or producing electricity, which allows stabilization of a power network under conditions of excess availability of electricity or lack thereof and for producing liquefied natural gas is provided.