Study of mixed refrigerant natural gas liquefaction process using a mixture of non-flammable refrigerants.

Many small scale capacity natural gas liquefaction plants are based on mixed refrigerant cycles with hydrocarbons as a working fluid. Replacing hydrocarbons with non-flammable gases as a refrigerant may significantly improve the safety of operation and reduce the cost of equipment. The objective is to compare liquefaction cycles on hydrocarbon and non-flammable refrigerant. Mathematical modelling of the natural gas liquefaction process on the basis of a single-stage cycle with a phase separator based on hydrocarbon and nonflammable mixed refrigerants is made. The analysis of efficiency of the investigated cycles is made.
Description of setup and experimental procedure is given. The results obtained can serve as a first step to the creation of reliable tools for the analysis of processes based on mixtures of non-flammable refrigerants and the subsequent practical development of this technology.

诸多小规模天然气液化工厂均采用以碳氢化合物作为工质的混合制冷剂循环。若以不可燃气体替代烃类作为制冷剂，可显著提升运行安全性并降低设备购置成本。本研究旨在对比基于烃类与不可燃制冷剂的液化循环性能。针对搭载相分离器的单级循环，本研究分别构建了基于烃类混合制冷剂与不可燃混合制冷剂的天然气液化过程数学模型，并对所研究循环的运行效率开展了分析。文中详细给出了实验装置与实验流程的说明。本研究所得成果可作为构建基于不可燃混合制冷剂的过程分析可靠工具的第一步，同时为该技术的后续实际开发奠定基础。