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What is LNG Turning natural gas into liquid _ Natural Gas

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Kind: captions
Language: en

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The world’s population is growing
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and, for many, living standards will continue to improve.
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As a result, global energy demand is expected to double by 2050 when compared to 2000.
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To help meet this demand, gas will form an increasingly important role.
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Natural gas is plentiful, and it’s the cleanest-burning fossil fuel.
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But some natural gas resources are in remote locations:
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transporting the gas long distances by pipeline can be costly and impractical.
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The solution? We liquefy the gas by cooling it,
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which shrinks its volume for easier, economical and safe transportation by ship.
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So, how is liquefied natural gas produced?
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Natural gas extracted from the ground, contains impurities, water and other associated liquids.
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First it is processed to clean it.
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It goes through a series of pipes and vessels where gravity helps separate the gas from some of the heavier liquids.
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Other impurities are then stripped out.
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The natural gas passes through a water-based solvent that absorbs carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide.
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These would otherwise freeze when the gas is cooled and so cause blockages.
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Next any remaining water is removed, as this would also freeze.
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Finally, remaining lighter natural gas liquids – mainly propane and butane –
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are extracted to be sold separately or used as refrigerant later in the cooling process.
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Traces of mercury are also filtered out.
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Now the purified natural gas – methane with some ethane – is ready to be liquefied.
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This happens in heat exchangers.
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A coolant, chilled by giant refrigerators, absorbs the heat from the natural gas.
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It cools the gas to –162°C, shrinking its volume by 600 times.
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This turns it into a clear, colourless, non-toxic liquid - liquefied natural gas, or LNG –
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that is much easier to store and transport.
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The LNG is kept in insulated tanks
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until it is ready for loading into a specially designed LNG ship or carrier.
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When the ship arrives at its destination, the LNG is transferred to a re-gasification plant
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where it is heated, returning it to its gaseous state.
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The gas is then transported via pipelines to customers,
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providing energy for homes and industry.
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Shell continues to help meet growing energy demand with cleaner-burning natural gas.

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