Chapter 8

Liquefied Natural Gas

Introduction
Out of all refrigeration systems, the vapour compression system is the most
important system from the view point of commercial and domestic utility. It is the
most practical form of refrigeration.
Simple vapour compression system:
In a simple vapour compression system fundamental processes are completed in
one cycle. These are:
1. Compression
2. Condensation
3. Expansion
4. Vaporization
The vapour is the working fluid in the cycle. The vapour at low temperature and
pressure (state'2') enters the "compressor" where it is compressed isentropically
and subsequently its temperature and pressure increase considerably (state '3'). The
vapour after leaving the compressor enters the "condenser" where it is condensed
into high pressure liquid (state '4') by rejecting the heat to the external hot body and
is collected in a "receiver tank". From receiver tank it passes through the "expansion
valve" where it is throttled down to a lower pressure and has a low temperature
(state '1'). After finding its way through expansion valve it finally passes on to
"evaporator" where it extracts heat from the cold body (circulating fluid being
refrigerated) and vaporizes to low pressure vapour (state '2').
Work is transferred into the system during compression and out of the system
during expansion at constant entropy. Heat is added during vaporization and lost
during condensation at constant temperatures. The net quantities of work and heat
are in proportions which provide the maximum amount of cooling for the minimum
amount of work. The ratio between the cooling effect and the input power of
compressor is called the Carnot coefficient of performance (COP) of the process. The
system COP is the ratio between the cooling effect and all the input power including
fans, pumps and the compressor. The ratio between system COP and Carnot COP
(for process) is called system efficiency index SEI. Ideal Carnot cycle is also called
reversed Carnot cycle.
Advantages of vapour compression system over air refrigeration system:-
1- COP is higher because working of cycle is close to that of reversed Carnot
cycle.
2- When used on ground level, running cost of vapour compression system is 1/5
the cost of air refrigeration system.
3- For the same refrigeration system, the size of evaporator is smaller.
4- The required temperature of evaporator can be obtained by adjusting the
throttling valve of the same unit.
Dis-advantages of vapour compression system over air refrigeration system:-
1- The initial cost is high.
2- Inflammability.
3- Toxicity.
4- Leakage of vapours.
Functions of parts of vapour compression system:-
1- Compressor: it takes vapour from the evaporator to raise its temperature and
pressure to a point such that is can be condensed by the available condensing
media.
2- Discharge line: it delivers high pressure and temperature vapour from the
compressor to the condenser.
3- Condenser: it provides a surface for heat transfer so that heat passes from
the refrigerant vapour to the condensing media.
4- Receiver tank: it takes liquid from condenser for storage so that a constant
supply is ready for the evaporator as required.
5- Liquid line: it takes liquid from receiver tank to the throttling valve
(refrigerant flow control).
 6- Throttling valve: it controls the proper amount of liquid that passes to the
evaporator and it reduces its pressure to be able to evaporate at low
temperature.
7- Evaporator: it provides a surface for heat transfer so that the heat passes
from the refrigerated body to the refrigerant liquid.
8- Suction line: it takes low pressure vapour from the evaporator to the suction
inlet of the compressor.
Pressure-Enthalpy (P-H) Chart:
Each condition of the refrigerant in any thermodynamic state can be represented as
a point on P-H chart and this point is located by knowing any two properties of the
refrigerant then the other properties can be determined from the chart.

The chart consist of three regions divided by two lines: saturated liquid line and
saturated vapour line. The area to the left of the saturated liquid line is the sub-
cooled region and the refrigerant is in the liquid phase at any point in this region.
The area to the right of the saturated vapour is called superheated vapour and the
refrigerant is superheated vapour at any point in this region. The middle region is
mixing of liquid and vapour. The constant pressure line is a horizontal line and the
distance between the saturated liquid line and the saturated vapour line equals the
latent heat of vaporization of the refrigerant at this pressure. The constant enthalpy
line is vertical. The constant temperature line in the sub-cooled region is vertical and
almost parallel to the constant enthalpy line then it becomes horizontal and parallel
to the constant pressure line in the middle region and in the superheated region it
falls off sharply towards the bottom of the chart. The lines that extend diagonally
through the superheated vapour region are the constant entropy and constant
volume lines.
Simple vapour compression cycle o n (P-H) Chart:

The pressure-enthalpy chart that indicates the vapour and liquid state of the fluid is
sometimes called Mollier chart. The saturated vapour at point 2 is compressed
isentropically so its pressure increases from P1 to P2 at point 3 and its temperature
increases so it becomes superheated vapour. It's condensed at constant
temperature and pressure until it becomes a saturated liquid at point 4 then it
passes through the throttling valve to reduce the pressure to P1 again and some
vapour is produced so the mixture is evaporated until it becomes saturated vapour
at point 2 and the cycle is repeated.
The net heat extracted (net refrigerated effect produced) Rn= h2 – h1
The net work done W= h3 – h2
COP= Rn/ W = (h2 – h1)/(h3 – h2)
Factors affecting the performance of vapour compression system:
1- Effect of suction pressure
If it decreases, refrigeration effect decreases, work increases and COP decreases.
 2- Effect of delivery pressure
If it increases, refrigeration effect decreases, work increases and COP decreases.
It has the same effect of decreasing the discharge pressure. The only difference is
that the effect of decreasing the discharge pressure is more predominant than the
effect of increasing the delivery pressure.
Note that:- 1) The discharge temperature in Summer is higher than that in Winter
so the machine will give less refrigerant effect.
2) The increase in the delivery pressure is necessary for high condensing
temperature and decrease in suction pressure is necessary for obtaining low
temperature in the evaporator.

3- Effect of super heating

If the vapour out of the evaporator is superheated, refrigeration effect increases but
the work increases too so the overall effect is to give a low value of COP.
 4- Effect of sub-cooling of liquid
If the liquid out of the condenser becomes sub-cooled, refrigeration effect
increases, work doesn't increase so COP increases.
The sub-cooling may be done by:- 1) Inserting a special coil between the condenser
and the throttling valve. 2) Using water cooler than the main circulating water.
3) Circulating greater quantity of cooling water through the condenser.

5- Effect of vaporizing temperature and condensation temperature

As temperature of vaporization increases and condensation temperature decreases,
refrigeration effect increases and work decreases so COP increases. Thus the
refrigeration system should be designed to the highest possible vaporizing
temperature and the lowest possible condensation temperature. The vaporizing
temperature has the greater effect.
Actual vapour compression cycle:
It differs from the theoretical cycle in some ways
1) The liquid entering the expansion valve is sub-cooled to make sure there's no
vapour in the liquid line doing to the expansion valve as this may cause
excessive pressure drop and reduction in performance of the system.
2) The vapour entering the compressor is superheated due to pick up of heat in
the suction line between evaporator and compressor and this is important to
make sure there's no liquid with vapour entering the compressor as this may
cause damage.
3) Compression is assumed to be isentropic but actually it's not isentropic or
polytropic.
4) Although isentropic compression means no heat transfer between the
refrigerant and the cylinder walls, the walls are hotter than gases out of the
evaporator and cooler than compressed gases discharged from the
condenser.
5) The inlet and outlet valves of the compressor depend on pressure difference
so the suction pressure must be below the evaporator pressure and the
discharge pressure must be above the condenser pressure.
6) Any pressure difference in suction line or liquid line or any vertical difference
in heat is created by locating the evaporator and condenser at different
elevations.
The effect of heat exchanger size
 Lager evaporator:
Higher suction pressure gives a denser gas to the compressor, increases the
refrigeration effect and decreases the compression ratio and power required.
  Larger condenser:
Lower condensing temperature gives cooler liquid for the expansion valve which
increases the refrigeration effect. Lower discharge pressure gives lower compression
ratio and less power required.

Notes to solve problems:

 Cooling Load = (h2-h1)
 Refrigerator COP = (h2-h1)/(h3-h2)
Ideal properties of refrigerant:
1) High latent heat of vaporization
2) High gas suction density
3) Chemically stable and miscible in lubricants
4) Non-corrosive, non-toxic and non-flammable
5) Low cost
6) High dielectric strength
7) Friendly for the environment
8) Critical temperature and triple point are outside the working range
9) Positive but not excessive pressures at condensation and vaporization
conditions
Choice of refrigerant:
Choice of the practical refrigerant depends on the one which has the desirable
physical properties and will vaporize and condense at reasonable pressures, at the
temperature levels desired. The cost must be considered.

LNG liquefaction techniques:

Liquefaction depends on removal of energy in the form of sensible and latent heat
through any of these techniques
1) The cascade cycle
It depends on using more than one pure refrigerant. The desired degree of
refrigeration is obtained in many stages. We use a lower temperature refrigerant in
each stage.
2) The mixed refrigerant cycle
It depends on using a mixture of two or more pure refrigerants as the refrigerant.
Dual mixed refrigerant cycle depends on using two refrigerants, each of them is a
mixture of pure components.
3) The expander cycle
It depends on using the turbo-expander for cooling the natural gas but it has a low
efficiency so two expanders maybe used with precooling of the feed gas.