Described herein are methods and systems for the liquefaction of natural gas to produce a LNG product. The methods and systems use an apparatus for separating a flash gas from a liquefied natural gas (LNG) stream to produce a LNG product and recovering refrigeration from the flash gas. The apparatus includes a shell casing enclosing a heat exchange zone comprising a coil wound heat exchanger, and a separation zone. The heat exchange zone is located above and in fluid communication with the separation zone. Flash gas is separated from the LNG product in the separation zone and flows upwards from the separation zone into the heat exchange zone where refrigeration is recovered from the separated flash gas.

Systems and methods for multi-stage refrigeration in mixed refrigerant and cascade refrigeration cycles using one or more liquid motive eductors in combination with a pump.

A system for cooling a gas includes a pre-cool heat exchanger and a liquefaction heat exchanger. The pre-cool heat exchanger uses a pre-cool refrigerant to pre-cool a feed gas stream prior to the stream being directed to a liquefaction heat exchanger. The liquefaction heat exchanger uses a mixed refrigerant to further cool the pre-cooled gas. The pre-cool heat exchanger also pre-cools the liquefaction mixed refrigerant used by the liquefaction heat exchanger.

A core-in-shell heat exchanger, a method of fabricating the core-in-shell heat exchanger, and a method of exchanging heat in a core-in-shell heat exchanger disposed on a slosh-inducing moving platform are described. The method of exchanging heat includes introducing a shell-side fluid into a shell of the core-in-shell heat exchanger and introducing a fluid to be cooled into each of one or more cores of the core-in-shell heat exchanger, the one or more cores being arranged along an axial length of the shell with a plurality of baffles disposed on either side of the one or more cores along the axial length of the shell to reduce slosh of the shell-side fluid. The method also includes draining excess shell-side fluid using a plurality of drains, at least two of the plurality of drains being disposed on opposite sides of one of the plurality of baffles.

A system and method for producing liquefied natural gas from a natural gas source is provided. The method may include feeding natural gas provided by the natural gas source to a liquefaction module. The method may also include flowing the natural gas through a product stream of the liquefaction module. The method may further include flowing a process fluid through a liquefaction stream of the liquefaction module to cool at least a portion of the natural gas flowing through the product stream to produce the liquefied natural gas.

A compressor system is disclosed, including a first compressor unit having: at least a first gas inlet at a first gas pressure level; a second gas inlet at a second gas pressure level; and a gas discharge; a second compressor unit having: at least a third gas inlet at a third gas pressure level; a fourth gas inlet at a fourth gas pressure level; and a gas delivery. The gas discharge of the first compressor unit is fluidly coupled to one of the third gas inlet and fourth gas inlet of the second compressor unit.

Processes for purifying and liquefying natural gas in conjunction and integration with cryogenic processing natural gas to recover natural gas liquids (NGL) is disclosed. In the process, the natural gas stream to be purified and liquefied is taken from top outlet stream of demethanizer in the cryogenic NGL recovery plant, first purified and then cooled under moderate pressure to condense it as a liquefied natural gas (LNG) product stream. Some of the cooling required for the demethanizer reflux stream is provided by natural gas liquefaction section before supplied to top of the column to serve as reflux. The top outlet stream from the demethanizer preferentially contains up to 3 mole percent of CO.sub.2 and the majority of methane and small portion of any hydrocarbon heavier than methane, a split portion of this stream is taken and routed to cryogenic CO.sub.2 removal section, in which a molecular sieve that forms a physical adsorption column is used to extract pure CO.sub.2 as a product stream, then purified stream is routed to the liquefaction section where only two stages of coil-wound exchangers with a Semi-C3-MR cycle are used to liquefy natural gas. This present invention process is suited for LNG production in small-scale. This zeolite-based small-scale LNG process can be integrated with the design of any new natural gas facility and the technology can also be retrofitted to existing natural gas liquid (NGL) recovery plants, allowing for co-production of LNG and CO.sub.2 with high purity.

A method for controlling the flow of natural gas and refrigerant in the main heat exchanger of a natural gas liquefaction facility. The method provides for the automated control of a flow rate of a natural gas feed stream through a heat exchanger based on one or more process variables and set points. The flow rate of refrigerant streams through the heat exchanger is controlled by different process variables and set points, and is controlled independently of the flow rate of the natural gas feed stream.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a natural gas liquefaction system (100) is provided. The system comprises an integrally-geared turbo-compressor (150) with a plurality of compressor stages; a prime mover (160) for driving the compressor; a pre-cooling loop (110), through which a first refrigerant is adapted to circulate, wherein one or more first compressor stages (151) of the plurality of compressor stages are adapted to pressurize the first refrigerant; a cooling loop (130), through which a second refrigerant is adapted to circulate, wherein one or more second compressor stages (155) of the plurality of compressor stages are adapted to pressurize the second refrigerant; a first heat exchanger device (170) for transferring heat from a natural gas and/or from the second refrigerant to the first refrigerant; and a second heat exchanger device (180) for transferring heat from the natural gas to the second refrigerant. A further aspect relates to a compressor arrangement for a natural gas liquefaction system. A yet further aspect relates to a method of liquefying natural gas.

A core-in-shell heat exchanger, a method of fabricating the core-in-shell heat exchanger, and a method of exchanging heat in a core-in-shell heat exchanger disposed on a slosh-inducing moving platform are described. The method of exchanging heat includes introducing a shell-side fluid into a shell of the core-in-shell heat exchanger and introducing a fluid to be cooled into each of one or more cores of the core-in-shell heat exchanger, the one or more cores being arranged along an axial length of the shell with a plurality of baffles disposed on either side of the one or more cores along the axial length of the shell to reduce slosh of the shell-side fluid. The method also includes draining excess shell-side fluid using a plurality of drains, at least two of the plurality of drains being disposed on opposite sides of one of the plurality of baffles.