Thermodynamic and Economic Evaluation of a Novel Mixed-Refrigerant Process for the Liquefaction of Natural Gas

LNG technology has been in use since the 1960s and is constantly evolving. During the last 20 years the total cost of LNG technology per unit of product has decreased by 30% due to improvements of the liquefaction processes and shipping. A novel process for the liquefaction of natural gas (LNG production) combines the advantages of the three large-scale LNG processes that use a mixed refrigerant: C3MR, DMR and AP-X. The novel process is a very promising one as it consists of the three stages: pre-cooling of natural gas, liquefaction, and sub-cooling. This paper discusses the development of the novel LNG process, its simulation, as well as the results from the energy, exergy and economic analyses.