Where is lng found

The blocks cast a slight grey shadow just in front of them against a white background. As a result, global energy demand is expected to double by when compared to Aerial view of gridlined surface as a simulation of a rotating globe of the earth emerges from the surface, continents visible in a mustard colour and the oceans between in pale blue, the globe casting a faint grey shadow in a south-easterly direction. But some natural gas resources are in remote locations: transporting the gas long distances by pipeline can be costly and impractical.

The solution? The simulation of the globe morphs into a teardrop of blue liquid against the white, gridlined background. The drop of liquid rolls downwards and disappears. We liquefy the gas by cooling it, which shrinks its volume for easier, economical and safe transportation by ship.

Zoom in on a vertical cylindrical shape, a simulated pipeline, as it emerges out of the white, gridlined background. Pan down to oblique, horizontal angle of the pipeline as coloured particles flow frame left to frame right, all still against the white background with grey gridlines and shadows. Pull back to an aerial view of a network of pipes along which particles are flowing, all stemming from one pipe, similar to the shape of a fork, but with many tines.

So, how is liquefied natural gas produced? Natural gas extracted from the ground contains impurities, water and other associated liquids. First it is processed to clean it. It goes through a series of pipes and vessels where gravity helps separate the gas from some of the heavier liquids.

Pull back and pan to an aerial view of the whole plant, one of the large towers displaying the Shell logo. Zoom to another section of the plant, showing a single pipeline, through which multi-coloured particles are flowing into a tank. Zoom to close-up of particles, showing the yellow particles, representing carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, being absorbed into the background, disappearing, leaving green, blue, turquoise and purple particles flowing from frame-left to frame-right.

Blue particles, representing water, next veer towards a faint, grey circular opening in the background, disappearing from the simulated flow of particles. Turquoise particles, representing mainly propane and butane, also veer towards yet another circular opening in the background, leaving many green and some purple particles, representing methane and ethane respectively. Pull back to rear view of green and purple particles flowing away and disappearing to the top of frame as a bright white section slowly opens up at the top of the pipeline, still indicated by the white gridlined background.

Markets that are too far away from producing regions to be connected directly to pipelines have access to natural gas because of LNG. In its compact liquid form, natural gas can be shipped in special tankers to terminals around the world.

At these terminals, the LNG is returned to its gaseous state and transported by pipeline to distribution companies, industrial consumers, and power plants. For large-volume ocean transport, LNG is loaded onto double-hulled ships, which are used for both safety and insulating purposes. Once the ship arrives at the receiving port, LNG is off-loaded into well-insulated storage tanks, and later regasified for entrance into a pipeline distribution network.

LNG can also be shipped in smaller quantities, usually over shorter ocean distances. Through autorefrigeration any additions of heat are offset by the energy lost from the LNG vapor, vented out of the storage and used to power the tanker.

LNG has little to no chance of igniting or exploding should a spill occur. Additionally, LNG and the vapors associated with it do not explode in an open environment. Once it has reached its destination, the LNG is offloaded from the tanker and either stored or regasified. The LNG is dehydrated into a gaseous state again through a process that involves passing the LNG through a series of vaporizers that reheat the fuel above the degree Fahrenheit degrees Celsius temperature mark.

The fuel is then sent via established transportation methods, such as pipelines, to the end users. Although limited because of the number of liquefaction and regasification facilities located worldwide, LNG is gaining momentum. European countries also import a large percentage of the LNG produced globally. Emerging markets for the fuel are China and India, although those countries are currently pursuing major pipeline deals in an effort to increase their natural gas imports.

The LNG process was first discovered in by British scientist Michael Faraday who successfully chilled natural gas to turn it into a liquefied form. These were quickly established around the world to meet energy demand without the need for pipelines. To create LNG, natural gas must go through several stages of processing at liquified natural gas plants. These can be both onshore and offshore facilities. If offshore, these plants are called Floating LNG facilities.

Offshore facilities can also include regasification units, so the whole LNG process can be done at sea. The first step is to clean the natural gas at a liquefaction plant. Natural gas is most commonly made up of methane, however it can include other compounds and gasses such as butane, propane, CO2 and even oil and water.

There are a range of processes involved in order to remove the different contaminate gasses that might be present in the raw feed gas natural gas. Unwanted propane and butane can be removed and then recovered and processed to create usable products called natural gas liquids NGLs. The next step is the liquefaction of the cleaned gas. At this stage, the gas is processed through an LNG train. Here, the gas is cooled, turning it into a liquid. The process of cooling the gas is like that used in fridges.