(183g) SCV (Submerged Combustion Vaporizer) with Low Emission - Flameless Burner Technology

When designing today's LNG terminals, great care is given to selection of the vaporization technology best suited for the terminal's location and ambient conditions. A number of factors are taken into consideration: footprint, reliability, ambient conditions, capital expenses, operating expenses, and emissions. Increasingly, environmental issues such as air quality standards and impact on local marine life and ecosystems are influencing the selection process. Over the past five years, all four US terminals have undertaken significant expansions and in each case the terminals opted to continue with SCV as the preferred method for regasification. With these expansions, particular care has been taken to improve vaporizer emissions to meet new and tightening air quality regulations while maintaining the original design's high efficiency. During this period, emission control abatement technologies have been at the forefront of SFPC research and development efforts.

A relatively new technology employing a flameless oxidation process is being pursued as the most effective abatement technology yet. This in house flameless oxidation technology has been used to oxidize organic waste streams. Patented in 1989 by a subsidiary of SFPC, the process entails a lean pre-mixed air and fuel mixture introduced via dip tube under critical velocity profile into a bed of preheated inert media material; this stabilizes a reaction wave and provides the driver for the combustion process which will heat the water bath. A pilot unit with 50MM Btu/hr heat release is currently under construction at SFPC's technology center. The prototype unit is expected to enter the testing phase later this winter. Expectations are that the FTO burner technology will lower both NOx and CO emissions into the single digit range without post-combustion treatment and without compromising the simplicity, efficiency and robustness that SCVs are known for.