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Liqueed natural gas storage tank stratication/ rollover alarm management

A U T H O R : P i e t e r Ve r s l u i j s , S a l e s M a n a g e r, W r t s i l W h e s s o e P C T, W r t s i l i n Fr a n c e

Liqueed natural gas (LNG) terminals need to be able to store multiple grades of LNG, and to have sufficient storage capacity available for all of them. Managing storage to ensure availability and to optimise the use of storage capacity is, therefore, essential. This article discusses ways of achieving these aims.

With the increasing diversication of LNG supply sources, an increase in short-term trade, and a general global trend towards the liberalisation of gas markets, reception terminals need to be able to deal with a greater variety of incoming LNG qualities. Furthermore, with the need to reduce capital and operating costs, the capacity of both existing and new storage tanks must be utilised to their fullest extent. At the same time, while the LNG is in storage, boil-o will result in a continuous change of its chemical composition. Consequently, storing dierent grades of LNG in receiving tanks, together with the ongoing modication of the chemical

characteristics, calls for certain proactive measures. In particular, monitoring for the possible development or creation of stratication is needed, and warning must be given in the case of unstable stratication that might evolve into a rollover of the layers being detected. History LNG Master is a powerful oine process simulation software used by site operators to prepare their site for new cargo deliveries, and to calculate the evolution of their storage in extreme detail. Gaz de France initiated development of LNG Master some 30 years ago at its research centre in Nantes.

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DCS operator workstation

LNG Expert

Ethernet network

DCS controller/ 10 modules

Fig. 1 LNG Expert linked to the distributed control system and liqueed natural gas tank instrumentation.

The availability of a full-blown pilot plant to run live tests, and to validate and ne tune the software for reliability was, and still is, essential to establish its undisputed status. The applied algorithms within the LNG Master software are well proven after many years of development in co-operation with other large LNG companies, such as Osaka Gas and Enagas, and a signicant number of validation runs on subject plants. Data from Gaz de Frances own receiving terminals, and studied cases of rollover events, have also been used. To comply with the markets call for online rollover predictive software, Wrtsil Whessoe PCT has obtained the relevant calculation module (CM) from Gaz de Frances LNG Master. Using this and an automated data gathering function, brought together within LNG Expert, an online, fully automatic rollover alarm system, has been compiled.

Stratication development The uploading of a dierent grade of LNG into a tank containing a previous cargo can result in a stratied tank. Even in cases where the existing and new loads of LNG originate from the same source, the actual chemical compositions will be dierent. Due to the continuous boil-o activity, the original chemical composition of the tank contents will have been altered, and thus also their associated density and temperature. Avoiding obtaining stratied tank contents is not always possible by applying alternative uploading methods (mixing through top or bottom lling, recirculation), and in any case might not be desirable in view of the boil-o compressor load. Depending upon the nitrogen content, boil-o activity, and heat leaks, stratication may also develop spontaneously within the homogeneous contents of the tank. An unstable stratication will evolve into rollover, a condition that must at all times be watched for and quickly identied via a warning in order to analyse its actual

impact, in view of the installed vapourhandling equipment. The stored LNG will show a continuous boil-o at the surface, whereby the lighter components will boil o rst, followed in turn by the heavier components. This boilo process will maintain a relatively stable temperature, although corrected due to the changing composition, while the average density will increase as a consequence of both boil-o and heat leaks. However, the lower (higher-density) layer is also subjected to heat leaks from the sides and bottom, and is isolated from the boilo surface by the top layer. Consequently, the bottom layer gradually warms up, causing the initial higher density to drop. The actual chemical composition of this lower layer is not aected at this stage. Although initially the bottom layer will be totally isolated from penetrating the top layer (and will thus be able to partially release some of its accumulated overheat), a slow but steady penetration of bottomlayer molecules into the top layer has been noticed. This zone is identied as the

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mixed zone. This evolution of the stratication will lead to a point where both layers will reach equilibrium in terms of density, and where the bottom layer is able to reach the actual surface. This phenomenon is referred to as rollover. Rollover Rollover itself is triggered by the evolution of the above-mentioned stratication. The dierent initial grades of LNG (dierent temperature/density/chemical composition characteristics) eventually reach a state of density equalisation, where the lower layer will quickly be able to mix with the upper layer, thus allowing all of the accumulated overheat in the lower layer to be released via free surface evaporation. This results in the generation of excess boil-o, which can lead to overpressures in the tanks gas phase, the latter being dependent on actual vapour handling equipment load and additionally released boil-o. Because of this phenomenon, an online rollover alarm system, the LNG Expert, is required by LNG receiving terminals. LNG Expert This system is triggered by the leveltemperature-density (LTD) gauges that monitor the temperature and density throughout the LNG column in a single tank. The rollover software is designed to run in live sites, regardless of ongoing LNG operations. The software runs while any of the tanks (connected to the same vapour treatment plant) are being lled and/or discharged, and takes such dynamic changes into consideration. However, the development of 58

Fig. 2 Normal operation no rollover expected within 30 days.

Fig. 3 Alarm generation rollover expected in 17 days, 6 hours.

stratication of the tank contents, which eventually leads to a rollover, is inuenced by many factors far beyond the measurement capabilities of an LTD gauge. Factors that aect the creation, evolution and manageability of LNG stratication and rollover include both xed (constructional) data and actual, live process data. Constructional data that are taken into consideration when calculating the exact rollover onset data are: the inner tanks physical height and diameter overall tank insulation factors (heat

leaks) of the walls, bottom and roof the type of lling devices and capacities maximum pump capacity compressor and air capacity the capacity of safety devices the total number of tanks connected to the same vapour space the total volume of (shared) vapour space, inclusive of all piping, etc. The variable process data that are taken into consideration when calculating the exact rollover onset data are: the latest density prole the initial chemical composition of the stored LNG/tank (the corrected

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Fig. 4 Details of rollover characteristics for a specic tank.

actual chemical composition of LNGs to be calculated by the software) the actual level per tank (tank contents) the actual send-out rate of the pumps/tank to a re-gas unit real time compressor and air load (actual boil-o of all connected tanks) the actual availability of the safety devices (some equipment may be out for maintenance, etc.).

Rollover alarm system set-up Since rollover prediction and the alarm software require, in addition to the LTDs temperature and density evolution data, multiple site and process data, direct access to the terminals distributed control system (DCS) platform, for example via an open connectivity (OPC) link, is needed. The software is independent of DCS vendors (see Figure 1). From the DCS system all actual variable process data are available, including the availability of vapourhandling equipment (safety relief valves and/or compressors might be out of service). Description of the rollover alarm software LNG Expert is specically congured for the site for which it is intended. The software consists of two major parts: the interface module (IM, developed by Wrtsil Whessoe PCT), and the calculation module (CM, developed by Gaz de France). Its xed database is preprogrammed and stored within the CM. At regular intervals (typically every four

hours), the IM acquires all variable process data and communicates them to the CM, which rst veries whether site-specic details have altered with respect to the database. Based on the newly collected and veried data, the CM will then run a series of calculations, including but not limited to: determining whether the tank contents are stratied calculating such stratication evolution calculating the actual chemical compositions of the LNG layers calculating the stability of the stratication indicating whether a rollover could occur within the next 30 days in the case of a predicted rollover, calculating the expected boil-o gas (BOG) level and maximum pressure reporting the outcome back to the DCS via the IM and OPC link. The outcome may be any of the three following conditions: No rollover is expected within the next (maximum) 30 days. Status: normal. A rollover is expected within the next 30 days. Status: alert, plus indication of expected BOG, plus rollover onset time and date. A rollover is expected within the next X days (X is congurable). Status: alarm, plus indication of expected BOG, maximum vapour pressure, rollover onset time and date.

For the rst condition described above, the operator has the normal mode reading (Figure 2) on his or her screen, giving an immediate overview of all tanks connected to and supervised by LNG Expert, indicating that all is normal. For the second and third conditions, if a rollover is detected as likely to occur within a congurable number of days, an alert or alarm, respectively, will be generated. Since a rollover predictive calculation is automatically carried out every four hours, LNG Expert will detect a rollover a maximum of 30 days in advance. From the alert point onwards, the operator should have sucient time to take corrective actions to avoid rollover. In view of the rollover onset time moving forward as the tank is discharged, the X days of alert before the alarm stage must be appropriately selected so that operators will have sucient time to take corrective actions. As soon as the rollover alarm software has detected a potential rollover risk in any of its connected tanks, it will identify in which tank, at what date and time, and what the expected BOG level and tank pressure would be, for such an event. These values may be such that they fall well within the capacity of the plants BOG compressors and that no special actions by the operators are required (see Figure 3). Once an alarm has been generated by LNG Expert on a specic tank, the operator has the possibility of further zooming in on the subject tank and analysing the anticipated rollover conditions in greater detail (see Figure 4).

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Fig. 5 Evolution of a liqueed natural gas stratication in a 500 m3 storage tank.

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Interface

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Boil-off gas

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0 Day 2 Day 3 Time 300

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Interface Upper layer

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Scientic Validation LNG Experts CM is at the heart of the entire rollover alarm software platform, as it carries out the essential role of predicting, for a given tank farm conguration, whether or not rollover will occur in any connected tank and, if so, giving the occurrence date and time, as well as the intensity (BOG and pressure peaks) of the rollover event. Therefore, a sound validation basis for the CM is an important element in ensuring that the rollover alarm software provides an accurate evaluation of the LNG storage tanks rollover potential. Figure 5 shows the evolution of an LNG stratication created in a 500m3 LNG storage tank during a Gaz de France experimental campaign conducted between 1987 and 1989 on its cryogenic testing station in Nantes, France. This evolution can be broken down into four distinct phases, each governed by its own phenomenology: 60

phase 1: thermal evolution of the lower layer phase 2: interpenetration of the layers phase 3: hydrodynamic overturning of layers (rollover) phase 4: return to thermodynamic equilibrium. During the rst phase, the stratication layers can be considered as being insulated from one another, both heat- and masswise, and only the lower layer heats up progressively. The upper layer remains essentially in a thermal pseudo-steady state, as the heat ingress into the upper layer can be released through free surface boil-o. This results in a progressive decrease in the density dierence between the two layers over time. During the second phase, interlayer penetration takes place between the two layers, reducing even further the layers density dierence.

During the third phase, density equalisation occurs, which results in a rapid hydrodynamic mixing of the two layers, producing the rollover event. The rollover itself is characterised by a sudden liberation of overheat accumulated in the lower layer that can now be evacuated at the free surface through evaporation. During the fourth phase, which takes place after the rollover event, the homogeneous LNG resulting from the mixing of the two layers of the stratication progressively loses its superheat and returns to a thermodynamic equilibrium state. The BOG rate decreases and the temperature and density of the LNG reach new equilibrium values. The above also shows the dierence in nominal BOG rates between the stratied tank and the homogeneous tank after rollover and return to equilibrium has occurred. In the trial shown, the stratication reduced the nominal BOG by a factor of 5. This and other examples show the advantages of using stratications whenever possible to decrease electrical power consumption for BOG gas compression during LNG ageing, and thus terminal operating costs. However, LNG stratications need to be managed in total safety, and software such as rollover alarm software can help operators achieve this goal. The CM validation data must be submitted and checked.
CONCLUSION

Boil-off gas (m3(n)/h)

It is easily understood from the above that simply monitoring the temperature and density evolution as measured by an LTD gauge is far from truly safe, if the focus is to be on rollover prediction. An LTD gauge by itself is simply not capable of doing this. Therefore, in order to be capable of making the right decisions at the right time to manage LNG storages in a safe, timely and optimal way, LNG Expert is an essential tool for operators.

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