Natural gas liquefaction vessel

Abstract

A natural gas liquefaction vessel including an increased deadweight tonnage, as compared to a liquefied natural gas carrier (LNGC) of a comparably-sized ship, is achieved by reducing the LNGC's cargo capacity. This difference creates room on the port and starboard sides of cargo tanks to increase the size of the adjacent wing tanks. The increased size of the wing tanks occupy the space created by the reduced cargo tank size of the vessel and may support a larger upper trunk deck. The ballast wing tanks and smaller cargo tanks increase the deadweight available. With this approach, the larger upper trunk deck of the vessel is able to support an efficient floating liquefaction plant that improves the LNG value chain because it is capable of producing 2.0-3.0 MTPA in the footprint of a standard vessel hull, such as for example a Q-Max hull.

1 . A natural gas liquefaction vessel comprising:
 the natural gas liquefaction vessel newbuilt on a Q-Max class hull, the Q-Max class hull comprising a cargo hold;   a plurality of membrane-type cryogenic cargo tanks installed within the cargo hold, the plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks each about 41 m wide;   at least one pair of ballast wing tanks, one each on a port side and a starboard side of the cargo hold and adjacent to at least one cryogenic cargo tank of the plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks, each ballast wing tanks about 7 m wide;   a trunk deck above the cargo hold, the trunk deck extending over the plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks and over the at least one pair of ballast wing tanks; and   a natural gas liquefaction plant on the trunk deck;   the natural gas liquefaction plant comprising a gas loading and reception manifold at a bow of the natural gas liquefaction vessel fluidly coupled to a source of natural gas; an amine module, the amine module comprising at least one compressor and acid gas removal pre-treatment equipment; the amine module fluidly coupled to a dehydration module and mercury removal equipment; the dehydration module and mercury removal equipment fluidly coupled to a liquefaction module; the liquefaction module and a Boil Off Gas (BOG) module both fluidly coupled to both the plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks; and   wherein the about 41 m wide cryogenic cargo tanks and about 7 m wide ballast wing tanks form a saved deadweight; and   wherein the saved deadweight is applied to the trunk deck and the natural gas liquefaction plant.   
     
     
         2 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 1 , wherein the liquefaction module comprises a cold liquefaction module and a warm liquefaction module. 
     
     
         3 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 1 , wherein the liquefaction module comprises a cold box module. 
     
     
         4 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 1  comprising a subsea natural gas well. 
     
     
         5 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 1  comprising a high-pressure hard arm and pipelines on a dock. 
     
     
         6 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 1 , comprising a dual-fuel generator set powering the natural gas liquefaction vessel. 
     
     
         7 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 6 , wherein the dual-fuel diesel generator set further comprises at least one propeller that propels the natural gas liquefaction vessel. 
     
     
         8 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 1 , comprising a weathervaning turret at the bow of the natural gas liquefaction vessel. 
     
     
         9 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks have a capacity of 180,000 m 3 . 
     
     
         10 . A natural gas liquefaction vessel comprising:
 a cargo hold in a hull of the natural gas liquefaction vessel;   a plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks in the cargo hold;   at least one pair of ballast wing tanks, one each on a port side and a starboard side of the cargo hold and coupled to at least one cryogenic cargo tank of the plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks;   a trunk deck above the cargo hold, the trunk deck extending over the plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks and over the at least one pair of ballast wing tanks; and   a natural gas liquefaction plant on the trunk deck.   
     
     
         11 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 10 , wherein the natural gas liquefaction vessel is a Q-Max vessel. 
     
     
         12 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 10 , wherein the natural gas liquefaction vessel is a Q-Flex vessel. 
     
     
         13 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 10 , wherein the liquefaction equipment on the trunk deck comprises: a gas loading and reception manifold at a bow of the natural gas liquefaction vessel fluidly coupled to a source of natural gas; an amine module, the amine module comprising at least one compressor and acid gas removal pre-treatment equipment; the amine module fluidly coupled to a dehydration module and mercury removal equipment; the dehydration module and mercury removal equipment fluidly coupled to a liquefaction module; and the liquefaction module and a Boil Off Gas (BOG) module fluidly coupled to the plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks. 
     
     
         14 . A natural gas liquefaction vessel system comprising:
 the natural gas liquefaction vessel comprising:   ballast wing tanks on a port side and a starboard side of at least one cargo tank;   an upper trunk deck extending over and supported by the ballast wing tanks; and   a liquefaction facility on the upper trunk deck; and   dual-fuel diesel generator sets that power the natural gas liquefaction vessel propulsion and the liquefaction facility.   
     
     
         15 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel system of  claim 14 , wherein the natural gas liquefaction vessel is a Q-Max vessel. 
     
     
         16 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel system of  claim 14 , wherein the natural gas liquefaction vessel is a Q-Flex vessel. 
     
     
         17 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel system of  claim 14 , wherein the extended upper trunk deck extends a full beam of the natural gas liquefaction vessel to both the port side and starboard side and over the wing tanks for a length of the natural gas liquefaction vessel. 
     
     
         18 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel system of  claim 17 , wherein the full beam of the natural gas liquefaction vessel is between seventeen and twenty meters. 
     
     
         19 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel of  claim 14 , wherein the liquefaction facility on the extended upper trunk deck comprises:
 a gas loading and reception manifold at a bow of the natural gas liquefaction vessel fluidly coupled to a source of natural gas;   an amine module, the amine module comprising at least one compressor and acid gas removal pre-treatment equipment;   the amine module fluidly coupled to a dehydration module and mercury removal equipment;   the dehydration module and mercury removal equipment fluidly coupled to a liquefaction module; and   the liquefaction module fluidly coupled to the plurality of cryogenic cargo tanks.   
     
     
         20 . The natural gas liquefaction vessel system of  claim 14 , wherein the at least one cargo tank is a membrane type cargo tank.