Feasibility Study on Multiphase Pump Application in LNG Industry

As demand for energy continues to grow, the importance of increasing recovery from existing process units and developing new alternative system has become essential. Processing vapor-liquid system in this current situation, which the energy available is decreasing, is becoming more challenging because vapor-liquid system requires much more energy requirement and higher cost of equipment. LNG industry is one of the industries that processes vapor-liquid system, therefore the application of new technology for LNG industry in order to increase LNG production and reduce the energy requirement and expensive cost is required. One of the technologies in this past 15 years that is currently widely used in petroleum industry to improve energy recovery and increase production rate is multiphase pumping. The objective of this project is to analyze the feasibility of the application of multiphase pumping technology in LNG industry. End flash LNG section is taken as a base case. The objectives of this project are achieved by developing base case modeling of end flash LNG section and modifying the base case by employing multiphase pump into the existing system. Both simulations, base case and modified case, are done using Aspen HYSYS process simulation software. The analysis of the multiphase pump is also done by study literature which is available in open resources. The results show that by implementing multiphase pump into end flash section, LNG production rate increases by 13%. Besides, it reduces the power consumption and saves up to 85% of power consumed per tonne LNG. In conclusion, the application of multiphase pumping technology in LNG industry especially in end flash section has the potential to increase LNG production rate and to reduce power consumption per tonne LNG produced.