A natural gas liquefying apparatus is provided. At least a part of a cooling region, in which a precooling unit and a liquefaction unit are arranged, and at least a part of a compression region, in which first and second compressors compressing refrigerants to be used in the precooling unit and the liquefaction unit are arranged, are arranged to be opposed to each other across a long side of a second refrigerant cooler group arrangement region in which a liquefying refrigerant is cooled. A first refrigerant cooler group arrangement region, in which a precooling refrigerant is cooled, is arranged so that a long side of the first refrigerant cooler group arrangement region is opposed to one side of a rectangular region including the compression region, the one side being different from a side of the rectangular region opposed to a long side of the second refrigerant cooler group arrangement region.

A natural gas liquefying apparatus includes: a precooling unit, which is a treatment unit configured to precool natural gas; a liquefying unit, which is a treatment unit configured to liquefy the natural gas; a refrigerant cooling unit, which is a treatment unit configured to cool a liquefying refrigerant; a compression unit configured to compress vaporized refrigerants; and a pipe rack including air-cooled coolers arrayed and arranged on an upper surface. The treatment units and the compression unit are separately arranged in a first arrangement region and a second arrangement region arranged opposed to each other across a long side of the pipe rack. The pipe rack interposed between the first and second arrangement regions has a region in which no air-cooled cooler is arranged in order to arrange a plurality of pipes, through which refrigerants are allowed to flow, in a direction of a short side of the pipe rack.

Methods and apparatus for the efficient cooling within air liquefaction processes with integrated use of cold recovery from an adjacent LNG gasification process are disclosed.

A system for the regeneration of nitrogen energy within a closed loop cryogenic system is described. A liquid nitrogen storage is provided in fluid communication with a first flow line. A pump pumps liquid nitrogen from the liquid nitrogen storage to the first flow line. At least one cryogenic cooling loop is provided in fluid communication with the first flow line. The cryogenic cooling loop has an nitrogen intake and a nitrogen outlet with the nitrogen outlet being positioned downstream of the nitrogen intake. The cryogenic cooling loop has a heat exchanger between the nitrogen intake and the nitrogen outlet. A turbo expander used for re-cooling the nitrogen flowing through the first flow line and the at least one cryogenic cooling loop has an inlet and an outlet. The inlet is provided in fluid communication with the first flow line. The turbo expander is connected to a power source. A second flow line connects the outlet of the turbo expander to the liquid nitrogen storage.

The present invention relates to a method and system for producing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from a stream of pressurized natural gas which involves a combination of mechanical refrigeration.

A method for large-scale offshore LNG production from natural gas gathered from an onshore gas pipe network is described. The natural gas is pre-treated on an onshore facility for removal of mercury, acid gas, water and C5+ hydrocarbons, and then compressed and piped to an offshore platform for further compression and cooling before being transferred to a floating liquefaction, storage and offloading vessel for liquefaction of the natural gas.

Systems and methods for liquefying a gaseous hydrogen that include a first refrigeration stage and a second refrigeration stage. The first refrigeration stage includes a first heat exchanger configured to flow a first refrigerant to pre-cool the gaseous hydrogen. The second refrigeration stage includes a second heat exchanger configured to flow a second refrigerant to liquefy and sub-cool the hydrogen. The second refrigerant is split into two streams that flow through two compressor-expanders and multiple passes through the second heat exchanger before being recombined to repeat the second refrigeration stage circuit.

Systems and methods for liquefying a gaseous hydrogen that include a first refrigeration stage and a second refrigeration stage. The first refrigeration stage includes a first heat exchanger configured to flow a first refrigerant to pre-cool the gaseous hydrogen. The second refrigeration stage includes a second heat exchanger configured to flow a second refrigerant to liquefy and sub-cool the hydrogen. The second refrigerant is split into two streams that flow through two compressor-expanders and multiple passes through the second heat exchanger before being recombined to repeat the second refrigeration stage circuit.

Described herein are systems and processes for precooling hydrogen or helium gas streams for liquefaction using liquid nitrogen having reduced energy consumption and amount of liquid nitrogen usage. The systems include a stream of pressurized liquid nitrogen, at least one turboexpander, and at least one heat exchanger.

A drive system for liquefied natural gas (LNG) refrigeration compressors in a LNG liquefaction plant. Each of three refrigeration compression strings include refrigeration compressors and a multi-shaft gas turbine capable of non-synchronous operation. The multi-shaft gas turbine is operationally connected to the refrigeration compressors and is configured to drive the one or more refrigeration compressors. The multi-shaft gas turbine uses its inherent speed turndown range to start the one or more refrigeration compressors from rest, bring the one or more refrigeration compressors up to an operating rotational speed, and adjust compressor operating points to maximize efficiency of the one or more refrigeration compressors, without assistance from electrical motors with drive-through capability and variable frequency drives.