New liquefaction technology reduces power consumption by 40%
Customer
Innovation Fund Denmark
The customer's challenge
The customer wanted us to develop technology that can reduce the energy consumption involved in the liquefaction of natural gas.
Our solution
We carefully designed a liquefaction solution with just the right balance of refrigerants.
The outcome
Our new approach to liquefaction reduced the energy consumption by up to 40%, costs little to build, saves space and scales with capacity requirements.
"Find a way to liquefy natural gas using less energy" – that was the mission when Innovation Fund Denmark awarded its research grant in 2016 to KC LNG and the Danish Technical University (DTU).
The project was part of the larger Blue INNOship project that focuses on the development of green and energy-efficient solutions for the Danish maritime sector. Our technical experts teamed up with researchers from DTU Mechanical Engineering to develop new, more efficient methods for the cooling of natural gas.
A fruitful collaboration
In order to turn natural gas into a liquid, it has to be cooled to approx. minus 162°C (minus 260°F) which can take considerable energy. Through a meticulous design process, with extensive calculations and testing, we managed to produce a solution that can liquefy natural gas using 40% less power than the European target.
The solution has many added bonuses: it can be built locally, takes up significantly less space than normal, is cheap to build and operate and has a modular design that scales with production demands.
“This is an example that it is a good investment for society to invest in maritime research. Specifically, we can now look forward to more environmentally friendly shipping, new global market opportunities for the companies and, potentially, more jobs –not the worst combination!”
Peter Høngaard Andersen, Director, Innovation Fund Denmark.
