The Bechtel-ConocoPhillips LNG Product Development Center is pursuing big ideas for a big global market. The center’s latest endeavor is to develop bigger and more cost-effective ways of liquefying natural gas. This quest started with construction of the Atlantic LNG facility in Point Fortin, Trinidad. There, the Bechtel-ConocoPhillips team built three LNG liquefaction trains, each producing approximately 3.3 million tonnes per year.
The fourth train, scheduled to go into production at the end of 2005, will produce approximately 5.2 million tonnes per year and will be the largest LNG train in the world.
How did the team do it? “By adding more refrigeration compressors and propane condensers,” says Amos Avidan, manager of technology and development, Bechtel Petroleum & Chemical. “At the same time, we improved the overall efficiency of the plant by making modest changes to other pieces of equipment. We scaled up individual pieces of equipment to minimize modifications to the basic process design.”
