(130a) New TREND: Ethane Transportation with LNG, a Case Study

Demand for ethane for ethylene production is growing worldwide while the USA and other LNG producing regions have surplus ethane available. On the other hand there is a severe short fall of ethane in many countries producing petrochemicals. This paper describes a significant market opportunity for transporting ethane co-mingled with LNG and Ethane recovery at the LNG regasification terminal.

The paper discusses the economics of transporting Ethane with LNG as well as technical challenges in recovery of ethane from LNG. Several different configurations of the regasification terminal and options to minimize changes and cost including Technip Energies Dual Column process (US Patent 7,530,236 B2) are presented.

A comparison is also illustrated with an alternate route of pure ethane liquefaction & transportation which provides marketing flexibility but requires significantly higher investment cost for dedicated terminals and shipping.