VAPORIZERS

Types of Vaporizers:Typical types of vaporizers that have been used worldwide for LNG regasification are:

Open Rack Vaporizers (ORV)

Submerged Combustion Vaporizers (SCV)
Ambient Air Vaporizers (AAV)
Intermediate Fluid Vaporizers (IFV)
Shell and tube vaporizers
Fired Heater Vaporization System

Selection of Vaporizers :Traditionally, base load regasification terminals have used following types of vaporizers: 70%
uses the Open rack Vaporizer (ORV), 25% uses the Submerged Combustion Vaporizer (SCV) and
the remaining 5% uses the Intermediate Fluid vaporizer (IFV).
In addition to these vaporizers, other types of vaporizers such as the Ambient Air Vaporizers
(AAV), Shell and tube vaporizers, Fired Heater Vaporization System have been used in smaller
regasification plants and peak shaving facilities.

Important factors that should be considered in the LNG vaporizer selection

process are: Site conditions and plant location
Availability and reliability of the heat source
Customer demand fluctuation
Emission permit limits
Regulatory restrictions with respect to the use of seawater
Vaporizer capacity and operating parameters

 Safety in design
Operating flexibility and reliability
Capital and the operating cost

Selection of vaporizer in terms of the Location of terminal:The countries where regasification terminals are located can be broadly classified into two
regions. First, there is the equatorial countries where the site ambient temperatures are fairly
constant and do not fall below 18C during winter. Second, there is the sub-equatorial region
where the site ambient temperatures can fall below 18 C during winter months.
The following countries fall under the equatorial region definition:
Asian Countries (Southern India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines)
North American Countries (Mexico)
South American Countries (Brazil)
Whereas following countries may fall under the subequatorial definition:
Asian Countries (China, Japan, Mid-West and Mid-East of India)
South American Countries (Chile, Argentina)
European Countries (Spain, UK, France)
Open rack vaporizers (ORV) and submerged combustion vaporizers (SCV) are the most common
vaporization methods in existing regasification terminals, which have generally been located in
the subequatorial region.
Recent LNG receiving terminal activities have been shifting to the equatorial region where the
weather is warmer, and the use of intermediate fluid vaporizers (IFV) is found to be attractive.

Regasification Facilities: Open Rack Vaporizer (ORV) :An Open Rack Vaporizer (ORV) is a heat exchanger that uses seawater as the source of heat. But
sea water generally contains lots of heavy metal ions, solid particles i.e. salts and also suitable

to algae growth. So, as a precaution desalination of sea water and injection of sodium
hypochlorite must be done before using sea water as source of heat.
The treated sea water is pumped to the top of the trough / water box and travelled down
contacting with the outer surface of the tube. LNG flows upward into the tube entering from
bottom and as successively moving upward into the tubes vaporization taking place.
The cooled sea water is collected on lower header of vaporizer and discharged. The vaporized
natural gas is collected from the top through upper header.

Advantages:

The construction and operation is very simple.

No direct air emission into environment
Easy to operate and maintain and lower operating cost

Disadvantage:

ORV requires large volume of sea water (25000-65000 m3 of water per hour) which
greatly affects marine life
Higher capital cost
Sea water is discharged back at 5-8 0 C cooler than intake that creates great potential
environment impact

 Submerged Combustion Vaporizers (SCV):Natural gas produced by the terminal is burnt and used as heating medium in SCV. LNG
vaporization using fuel gas for heating typically consumes approximately 1.5 % of the vaporized
LNG as fuel.
LNG flows through a stainless steel tube coil that is submerged in a water bath which is heated
by direct contact with hot flue gases from a submerged gas burner. Flue gases are sparged into
the water using a distributor located under the heat transfer tubes. The sparging action
promotes turbulence resulting in a high heat transfer rate and a high thermal efficiency (over
98%). The turbulence also reduces deposits or scales that can build up on the heat transfer
surface.
The bath water is acidic as the combustion gas products (CO2) are condensed in the water.
Caustic chemical such as sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate can be added to the bath
water to control the pH value and to protect the tubes against corrosion. The excess
combustion water must be neutralized before being discharged to the open water.

Advantages:

High thermal efficiency over 95 %

Smaller in size so required less space
There is no danger of explosion, due to the fact that the temperature of the water bath
always stays below the ignition point of natural gas.

Disadvantages:

LNG vaporization using fuel gas for heating typically consumes approximately 1.5 % of
the vaporized LNG as fuel, which reduces the plant output and the revenue of the
terminal
SCV creates air emission by producing NOX around 30-80 ppm
Bath water will required treatment before disposal

Ambient Air Vaporizers (AAV) :Air is another source of "free" heat and would avoid the use of fuel gas and the generation of
greenhouse gas from SCVs. AAV consists of direct contact, long, vertical heat exchange tubes
that facilitate downward air draft. This is due to the warmer less dense air at the top being
lighter than the cold denser air at the bottom. Ambient air vaporizers utilize air in a natural or
forced draft vertical arrangement.
To avoid dense ice buildup on the surface of the heat exchanger tubes, deicing or defrosting
with a 4-8 hour cycle is typically required. Long operating cycles lead to dense ice on the
exchanger tubes, requiring longer defrosting time. Defrosting requires the exchanger to be
placed on a standby mode, and can be completed by natural draft convection or force draft air
fans.

Advantages:

In the environmental sensitive parts of the world, the use of sea water may not be
allowed and could also be difficult to permit. In this case, the use of ambient air heat is
the next best choice.
Ambient air heater is advantageous in hot climate equatorial regions where ambient
temperature is high all year round.
Water condensation and melting ice can also be collected and used as a source of
service/potable water.

Disadvantage:

Fog around the vaporizer areas can pose a visibility problem, which is generated by
condensation of the moist air outside.

Intermediate Fluid Heating:The LNG vaporizing via intermediate fluid utilizes Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) in a closed loop to
transfer heat to vaporize LNG. Two types of Heat Transfer Fluids are typically utilized for LNG
vaporization:
Glycol-Water
Hydrocarbon Based HTF (Propane, Butane or Mixed Refrigerant)

Glycol-water Intermediate Fluid Vaporizer (IFV):This system typically uses glycol-water as an intermediate heat transfer fluid. Ethylene glycol or
propylene glycol or other low freezing heat transfer fluids are suitable for this application. Heat
transfer for LNG vaporization occurs in a shell and tube exchanger. Warm glycol-water flows
through the intermediate fluid vaporizers where it rejects heat to vaporize LNG. The IFV is a
conventional shell and tube exchanger which is also known as Shell and Tube Vaporizer (STV).
There are several options to warm the glycol-water solution prior to recycling it back into the
shell and tube LNG vaporizers, such as:
Air heater
Reverse cooling tower
Seawater heater
Waste heat recovery system or fired heater

Intermediate Fluid (Hydrocarbon) in Rankine Cycle:This system uses propane, butane or other hydrocarbon refrigerant as an intermediate heat
transfer fluid (HTF). The use of a hydrocarbon avoids the potential freezing problems
encountered with seawater. This vaporizer arrangement allows the use of cold seawater as low
as 1C to minimize fuel consumption in the downstream trim heater.
LNG heating is achieved using two heat exchangers operating in series: a first evaporator
exchanger that uses the latent heat of propane condensation to partially heat LNG, and a

second heat exchanger using seawater to further heat the LNG to the final temperature. The
second exchanger is also used to vaporize propane that is recycled to the first exchanger.
Since the heating by seawater only occurs in the second exchanger, it avoids direct contact with
cryogenic LNG, and hence freezing of seawater can be avoided. For this reason, seawater close
to freezing can be used in this configuration.

Disadvantages:

As IFV is using sea water as heat transfer agent, environmental issues arises during
operation.
Increased cost from use of intermediate fluid
As the processed sea water is discharged back to sea, the sea water become entrained
& possesses a risk to the marine life.