How do Industrial Heat Exhangers work? For Example in the Conoco Phillips process to turn nat gas into LNG they use 3 cooling stages. The first using propane, then ethane then methane. How do these heat exchangers turn gas into liquid? And why propane ethane and methane? @bioramani looking forward to your response on this.
As far as I am aware, the Conoocoophillips process is a patented cascade cooling technology, which is in contrast to the popular propane precooled mixed refrigerant technology. Natural gas when cooled to -160 C remains a liquid at ambient pressure. If this liquefaction can be done offshore there are major advantages in handling. The cascade technology achieves this liquefaction by progressive cooling. Propne has the highest, ethane the middle and methane the lowest temperature. While theoretically one can use methane directly, overall efficiency and economics favours the cascade process. Other than that I do not think that there is anything special in the heat transfer unit operation itself. http://lnglicensing.conocophillips.com/EN/Documents/ConocoPhillipsLNG_Brochure.pdf http://www.ivt.ntnu.no/ept/fag/tep4215/innhold/LNG Conferences/2007/fscommand/PS2_5_Pillarella_s.pdf
How are heat exchangers used for cryogenic applications (for eg. Liquefaction of natural gas) different from normally used heat exchangers??? Is there any change in the construction or working???
