A system and method for the co-production of a densified, liquid oxidant and a densified liquid methane fuel to a space vehicle launch facility is provided. In one embodiment, a low pressure gaseous oxygen stream is piped from a nearby air separation unit to the space vehicle launch facility where it is then liquefied and densified in a two-stage, integrated liquefaction/densification system that also densifies a source of liquid methane. In an alternate embodiment, a liquid oxygen stream produced at an air separation unit is densified in a two-stage, integrated densification system configured to densify both the liquid oxygen as well a source of liquid methane at or near the air separation unit with the resulting densified liquid products transported via truck/trailer to a nearby space vehicle launch facility.

A liquefaction system is capable of sequentially or simultaneously liquefying multiple feed streams of hydrocarbons having different normal bubble points with minimal flash. The liquefying heat exchanger has separate circuits for handling multiple feed streams. The feed stream with the lowest normal boiling point is sub-cooled sufficiently to suppress most of the flash. Feed streams with relatively high normal boiling points are cooled to substantially the same temperature, then blended with bypass streams to maintain each product near its normal bubble point. The system can also liquefy one stream at a time by using a dedicated circuit or by allocating the same feed to multiple circuits.

Provided is a production facility for liquefied hydrogen and a liquefied natural gas from a natural gas, including: a first heat exchanger configured to cool a hydrogen gas through heat exchange between the hydrogen gas and a mixed refrigerant for liquefying a natural gas containing a plurality of kinds of refrigerants selected from the group consisting of methane, ethane, propane, and nitrogen; a second heat exchanger configured to cool the mixed refrigerant through heat exchange between the mixed refrigerant and propane; and a third heat exchanger configured to cool the hydrogen gas through heat exchange between the hydrogen gas and a refrigerant containing hydrogen or helium, wherein the first heat exchanger has a precooling temperature of from 100 C. to 160 C.

A drive system for liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. A standardized machinery string consisting of a multi-shaft gas turbine with no more than three compressor bodies, where the compressor bodies are applied to one or more refrigerant compressors employed in one or more refrigerant cycles (e.g., single mixed refrigerant, propane precooled mixed refrigerant, dual mixed refrigerant). The standardized machinery strings and associated standardized refrigerators are designed for a generic range of feed gas composition and ambient temperature conditions and are installed in opportunistic liquefaction plants without substantial reengineering and modifications. The approach captures D1BM (Design 1 Build Many) cost and schedule efficiencies by allowing for broader variability in liquefaction efficiency with location and feed gas composition.

A cooling system is provided for cooling a motor that drives a compressor in a liquefaction system. The coolant used for cooling the motor includes portions of a discharge from a compressor. The coolant for the motor is generated from a vapor component of the discharge from the compressor. The discharge from the compressor is cooled and the vapor component is separated from a liquid component and treated prior to being introduced into the motor. Remaining portions of the discharge from the compressor are routed to cold boxes producing a compressed refrigerant.

Systems, devices, and methods for recovering mixed refrigerant and/or nitrogen within liquefaction systems are provided. The systems, devices, and methods facilitate recovering mixed refrigerant (MR) and/or nitrogen vapor that can leak from a compressor, separating the MR from the nitrogen, and reusing the MR and/or the nitrogen within the liquefaction system. Recovering and reusing MR and/or nitrogen can minimize loss of MR and nitrogen which can lower the total operating cost of a liquefaction system. Additionally, recovering the MR, rather than burning it, can reduce environmental emissions by reducing the amount of MR that is burned.

A method for producing liquefied natural gas and a stream of liquid nitrogen including step a): producing gaseous nitrogen in an air separation unit; step b): liquefying a stream of natural gas in a natural gas liquefaction unit including a main heat exchanger and a system for producing cold; step c): liquefying the nitrogen stream resulting from step a) in the main exchanger of the natural gas liquefaction unit in parallel with the liquefied natural gas in step b); wherein all the cold necessary for liquefying the stream of nitrogen and for liquefying the natural gas is supplied by the system for producing cold of the natural gas liquefaction unit.

The present invention relates to a gas storage apparatus and method, and more specifically to liquid air energy storage and its use to facilitate both Demand Side Reduction (DSR) and the use of reduced-cost electricity by industrial compressed-air users. A related electricity generating apparatus and method is also disclosed. The apparatus and method use a first sensible heat coolth store and second latent heat coolth store to first reduce the gas in temperature and then to change it into a liquid phase. Coolth top up devices are also disclosed.

A liquefier device which may be a retrofit to an air separation plant or utilized as part of a new design. The flow needed for the liquefier comes from an air separation plant running in a maxim oxygen state, in a stable mode. The three gas flows are low pressure oxygen, low pressure nitrogen, and higher pressure nitrogen. All of the flows are found on the side of the main heat exchanger with a temperature of about 37 degrees Fahrenheit. All of the gasses put into the liquefier come out as a subcooled liquid, for storage or return to the air separation plant. This new liquefier does not include a front end electrical compressor, and will take a self produced liquid nitrogen, pump it up to a runnable 420 psig pressure, and with the use of turbines, condensers, flash pots, and multi pass heat exchangers. The liquefier will make liquid from a planned amount of any pure gas oxygen or nitrogen an air separation plant can produce.

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.