Japan liquefaction plants

Despite these difficulties and obstacles, there are several successful LNG operations in various parts of the world. Japan, which has no petroleum or natural gas reserves, has been particularly active in trying to import LNG and other products. As fuel costs rise, LNG inherently becomes more competitive. Additionally, LNG liquefaction plants are becoming more efficient and cost effective. The combination of these two effects indicate a bright future for tankered LNG. 

The best-known processes are the IGOR (Germany), HTI (America), and NEDOL (Japan). The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) finished a 1501 coal per day coal liquefaction pilot plant in 1998. Shenhua Group Corporation is building a 40001 coal per day (1 Mt oil/year) commercial plant in China. 

Britain and Germany had the most successful synthetic fuel programs. The others were either smaller-scale operations, such as France s three demonstration plants (two coal liquefaction and one F-T), Canada s bitumen liquefaction pilot plants, and Italy s two crude petroleum hydrogenating (refining) plants, or technological failures as were Japan s five commercial-size plants (two coal liquefaction and three F-T) that produced only about 360,000 barrels of liquid fuel during the World War II years [2]. 

In the past the liquefaction of natural gas used a classic cascade cycle. The process required 120,000 horsepower for liquefaction of over 150 million standard cubic feet per day. Provisions are made for some of these cycles to use seawater for cooling. Later, baseload LNG plants utilized mixed refrigerant cycles, such as Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. s propane precooled mixed refrigerant system. Baseload plant capacities range from about 70mmscf/day to about 350mmscf/day of LNG. Baseload plants move LNG from remote sites by ship to populated areas. For example, Indonesia supplies LNG to Japan for electric power generation. ... 

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