CRYOGENIC HEAT EXCHANGER UNIT IN

THE LIQUEFACTION SECTION OF AN LNG PLANT

Arranged to Complete Course Assignments

Created by

Nitya YatashaDewi 13017107

Cherannisa Clarissa Maulidza 13017115

STUDY PROGRAM OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

FACULTY OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY

BANDUNG INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

2019
I. LITERATURE

Natural gas is a fossil energy source that formed deep beneath the earth's surface. Natural gas contains many
different compounds. The largest component of natural gas is methane, a compound with one carbon atom and four
hydrogen atoms (CH4). Natural gas is used all over the world as raw material to aid equipment for cooking, heating,
electricity generating, and other industrial uses. Due to the high demand of natural gas around the world, it is
transported daily from one place to another. Thus, to make this task possible natural gas should be liquefied since
transporting liquid is much easier due to its compact state. Liquefied natural gas (LNG), as given by its name, is a
liquefied form of natural gas consisting mainly of methane (CH ) and a mixture of ethane (C H ). Since Liquefied
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natural gas (LNG) is difficult to handle in large quantities at a temperature range of -161°C-153°C, a specific type
of heat exchanger is required to handle such conditions. This is where the cryogenics industry contributes to the issue.
Cryogenic is a production and application of low-temperature phenomena. The cryogenic temperature range has been
defined as from −150 °C to absolute zero, the temperature at which molecular motion comes as close as theoretically
possible to ceasing completely. The cryogenics industry made it possible to have an equipment to meet the
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requirements of transporting LNG. This type of heat exchanger is called a main cryogenic heat exchanger.

Figure. 1 Cryogenic Heat Exchanger in LNG Plant Industry

The general heat exchanger is used to transfer heat from one source to another. In LNG plants, Main
Cryogenic Heat exchangers are the main equipment used in the liquefaction of natural gas to in LNG plants. This
equipment is used to cool down elements to prevent volatile substances or equipment from overheating. 1 A commonly
used Main cryogenic heat exchanger is very large with a diameter of 16.5 feet, a height of 180 feet, and a weight of
500 tons. The large size of this heat exchanger results in simple piping and control systems. Also, it reduces the cost
of operation and maintenance.1

The Primary function of a main cryogenic heat exchanger is to exchange heat between two fluids, which is
accomplished via a set of tube that are in casing. The tubes are supported by other components, such as fans,
condensers, coolants, etc. These various components help improve flow and cooling efficiency of the
MCHE. Cryogenic heat exchangers are also known as indirect contact heat exchangers, since they separate the hot
and cold fluids. The fluids will pass through a series of pipes; each pipe is dedicated to one fluid. This is done to
ensure that the fluids do not contaminate each other.
 Warm gas will enter the bottom of the exchanger tube and will exit at the top in a sub-cooled liquid state.
The Main Cryogenic Heat Exchanger will convert gas temperatures to -160 degrees Celsius. This liquefied gas will
then be shipped to overseas markets in tankers.2

II. TYPICAL OF DESIGN FEATURES

Cryogenic plant is used to separate liquefaction of gasses in process conditions. The cryogenic plant is
process in very low temperature, that’s operated at temperature between 165 degrees Celsius until 195 degrees Celsius
which is the coldest point of cryogenic plant process. However, there is some operating of cryogenic plant that operate
at temperature below -296 degree Celsius. The conservation of cold will be the dominant features from the process.
The heat exchanger is focus in the highly efficient of the heat. However, a typical cryogenic process has many elements
to it, the cryogenic section being only a part of the whole flow scheme. The typical of cryogenic plant process is
consist of many equipment, these are a pretreatment section, cryogenic section, and the compressor or expander
section, that will be provided by the refrigeration in the process. There are so many examples, feed compression may
be required as in the case of air separation.

The pre-purification section is usually needed upstream of a cryogenic plant because most feed gases will
contain constituents that may freeze inside or even corrode the cryogenic equipment and will therefore require
removal. For the cold section in cryogenic plant process, it used aluminum and stainless steel to avoid embrittlement
problems encountered with carbon steel. To feed the compression and refrigeration section cycles in the cryogenic
plant, the reciprocating and rotating compression equipment is used. This process occurs at ambient pressure on the
natural gas side but the refrigerant that travels through the heat exchanger may not operate at this pressure depending
on the type of process utilized. Therefore, the stress due to pressure difference must be considered along with the
thermal conductivity of the tubing material.

Heat exchanger that used in cryogenic plant process divided in two types of heat exchanger; spiral wound
and fin and plate heat exchanger are used. The substantial material is commonly used in industry for these two types
of heat exchanger is aluminum and titanium alloys. There are several constraints to choose the material and the
designing of the heat exchanger. From the ductility so tubing can be bent until to concern the material doesn’t corrode
due to the working fluids by products. Spiral wound is the modification of shell and tube heat exchanger, is used to
increase the surface area to be the very high tube surface, but is far more complex than a typical shell and tube heat
exchanger. While, the fin and plate heat exchanger is able to withstand high pressures. Plates are sandwiched together
with small fins in between to further increase the surface area. To manufacturing complications, the increased surface
area makes the fluid pathways very small. This can lead to an increase in clogging depending on the working fluids
being used.

Figure.2 Plate and Fin Heat exchanger Figure.3 Spiral Wound Heat Exchanger
 Wire drawing was chosen for its wider range of available cross sectional areas. This process is also simpler
than roll forming, which makes it less expensive. Wire drawing also consists of one process done in steps unlike rol
l forming which would require an extra welding step. Wire drawing allows a range of cross sectional areas of .01 to
10 mm with an excellent tolerance range of 0.01 to 0.04 mm. The process is also continuous which allows for the pr
oduction of very long tubes, this is ideal due to a typical heat exchanger being 500 m in length.

Wire drawing is the process that best fits the requirements for making small thin walled tubes while still ha
ving low costs when compared to other methods. As an added benefit there will be no additional processes required
other than the final assembly. After researching current materials and process we found that the methods and materi
als selected for the cryogenic heat exchanger are similar to what is currently used.

III. TYPE OF MATERIAL IN INDUSTRY

There is another constraint that we need to selective again to choose the material for the cryogenic heat
exchanger tubes, objectives and constraints had to be defined. The main constraints associated with the heat exchanger
tube material are minimum elongation of 20% strain, maximum service temperature less than ‐163 °C, good thermal
conductor, and excellent tolerance to cryogenic temperatures. Start to classified the material with list the top material
that can be used to maximize the heat flow per unit area and to maximize the heat flow per unit mass. Aluminum alloy
that hardened wrought, brass, copper, and nickel are the five best top material that usually use to maximize the ability
of the cryogenic plant process. These material are choosing by level 2 CES Edupack, but when we do some more
research by level 3 CES Edupack, copper and brass were rejected from the material selectin process because it’s not
resistance with H2S which is a byproduct of the liquefaction process. Specific types of aluminum and nickel that use
in industry are shown below, these sequence is based on the types that have highest performance index:

1. Aluminum, 2026, wrought, T3511

From all these material, that we already classified base on our constraint, the performance of the material,
the resistance of corrosion so we can conclude, the most desirable materials were all age hardened aluminum alloys
which are low in cost, have high yield strength and high thermal conductivity. Aluminum is also ductile so it can be
bent into the spiral shapes once it has been manufactured into thin walled tubes. Perhaps the most important constraint
that aluminum met was its low minimum operating temperature (below ‐200°C). Aluminum alloys will not react with
any of the coolants, natural gas or by products from the liquefaction so there is no risk of corrosion. Aluminum is also
readily available and inexpensive material that is widely used in heat exchangers and other mechanism and also in
industry these material is the suitable material for cryogenic plant process.

However, behind all of the excellence qualification from aluminum, this material has also disadvantages that
the industrial must be concern. Aluminum can be bent to create complex piping networks without breaking and is
compatible with the process selected, wire drawing. Aluminum has lower yield strength than nickel alloys but the
2000 series aluminum alloys will be sufficient for this function. Typically, the heat exchangers used to liquefy natural
gas are 5m in diameter and range between 200m and 500m long.

IV. MATERIAL SELECTION FOR HEAT EXCHANGER TUBES

In selecting the material used for cryogenic heat exchanger, the focused parameters are on maximizing the
heat transfer flow per unit area, maximizing the heat transfer flow per unit mass, and maximizing the heat transfer
flow per unit cost. Some other requirements for this heat exchanger is that it needs to be able to withstand temperatures
as low as -163°C, it need to be have a good conductor or insulator and a high tolerance to cryogenic temperatures.
Good materials that are suitable for these conditions are: Age-hardening wrought Al-alloys, brass, bronze, copper,
lead alloys, etc. specifically the materials that pass the requirements of each parameters are as follows:

Table 1. Materials Selection for Different Parameters

Maximize Heat Flow per Maximize Heat Flow per Maximize Heat Flow per
Unit Area Unit Mass Unit Cost
 Aluminum, 2026,  Aluminum, 2026,   Aluminum, 2026,
wrought, T3511 wrought, T3511 wrought, T3511
 Aluminum, 2024,  Aluminum, 2024,  Aluminum, 2024,
wrought, T4 wrought, T4 wrought, T4
 Aluminum, 6082,  Aluminum, 6082,  Aluminum, 6082,
wrought, T4 wrought, T4 wrought, T4
 Nickel, Duranickel  Nickel‐Fe‐Cr alloy,  Aluminum, S520.0:
Alloy 301, anneal UDIMET 630, bar LM10‐TB, cast
and aged  45Ni-3Mo-Fe soft  45Ni‐3Mo‐Fe soft
 Nickel-Co-Cr magnetic alloy magnetic alloy
alloy, UDIMET
700, bar
 45Ni-3Mo-Fe soft
magnetic alloy

From the table we can conclude that there are four materials that are suitable to fit all three parameters, which
are Aluminum, 2026, wrought, T3511; Aluminum, 2024, wrought, T4; Aluminum, 6082, wrought, T4; 45Ni‐3Mo‐Fe
soft magnetic alloy.

Figure. 3 Alumunium 2024, wrought T4 Figure. 4 Alumunium 6082, wrought T4

Previously in section III, the parameters of material selection for heat exchangers are to maximize the heat
transfer flow per unit area, maximize the heat transfer flow per unit mass, and to maximize the heat transfer flow per
unit cost. The conclusion was that Aluminum, 2026, wrought, T3511; Aluminum, 2024, wrought, T4; Aluminum,
6082, wrought, T4; 45Ni‐3Mo‐Fe soft magnetic alloy were the suitable materials used to build this cryogenic heat
exchanger. The other materials were not as suitable because, copper and brass were associated with high corrosion
with hydrogen sulfide, which is a by-product of natural gas. Next wire drawing was chosen for its wide range of cross
sectional areas, also wire drawing is simpler than roll forming which makes it lower in cost.
The future of cryogenics materials will be very exciting and dynamic. It will be driven by traditions, trends,
costs, performance, legislation. Of these, the most critical issue is costs. Logical, creative and inovative ideas will
have little chance of success if the economics are not positive. Cryogenics materials will be part of the dynamic future.
We must not only continue to make incremental improvements in present materials but develop whole new
technologies of manufacturing and processing for to achieve the highest performance in cryogenics materials field.

VI. REFERENCES

1: The Staff at Didion’s Mechanical. Understanding Main Cryogenic Heat Exchangers. [online]
http://www.didionsmech.com/blog/understanding-main-cryogenic-heat-exchangers/ (accessed on 14 April
2019)

2: LNG World News Staff. Main Cryogenic Heat Exchanger at PNG LNG site successfully Lifted. [online]

https://www.lngworldnews.com/main-cryogenic-heat-exchanger-at-png-lng-site-succesfully-lifted/
(accessed on 14 April 2019)

3: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Cryogenics Physics. [Online]

4: James et al. (2012). Materials and Process Selection for a Cryogenic Heat Exchanger. [online]
https://www.scribd.com/document/235480678/LNG-Cyrogenic-Heat-Exchanger-Design-Report (accessed
on 14 April 2019)

5: Isalski,W.H (2011). Thermopedia Cryogenic Plant [ Online]

http://www.thermopedia.com/content/677/ (accesed 15 April 2019)

6:Ashby, M. F. (2011). Materials Selection in Mechanical Design 4th Ed. Burlington: ButterworthHeinema
nn

7:David, E. Materials for cryogenics applications [Online]

http://jamme.acmsse.h2.pl/papers_amme03/1240.pdf (accesed 15 April 2019)