Liquefied Natural Gas

Liquefied Natural Gas is emerging technology in this decade. For Chemical Engineers, this will be the good field to learn and earn. I have added some points about LNG here.

LNG is natural gas (Predominantly methane) that has been converted into liquid form for ease of storage and transportation.
LNG takes up volume of 1/600th volume of NG. It is odorless, colorless, non - toxic, non - corrosive. Hazards include flammability, freezing and asphyxia.
The li           liquefaction process involves removal of certain components, such as dust, acid gases, helium, water, and heavy hydrocarbons, which could cause difficulty downstream. The natural gas is then condensed into a liquid at close to atmospheric pressure (Maximum Transport Pressure set around 25 kPa/3.6 psi) by cooling it to approximately −162 °C (−260 °F).
The reduction in volume makes it much more cost-efficient to transport over long distances where pipelines do not exist. Where moving natural gas by pipelines is not possible or economical, it can be transported by specially designed cryogenic ( cryogenics is the study of the production of very low temperature (below −150 °C, −238 °F or 123 K) and the behavior of materials at those temperatures. Rather than the familiar temperature scales of Fahrenheit and Celsius, cryogenicists use the Kelvin (and formerly Rankine) scales). sea vessels (LNG carriers) or cryogenic road tankers.
The energy density (Energy density is a term used for the amount of energy stored in a given system or region of space per unit volume, or per unit mass, depending on the context) of LNG is 60% of that of diesel fuel.
Flow path of LNG process:
                                                      Treatment            
  Transportaion -- Condensate removal / Dehydration ; CO2 removal / Mercury & H2S -                     Refrigeration -Liquefaction --Storage & loading -- Transportation

The density of LNG is roughly 0.41 to 0.5 kg/L, depending on temperature, pressure and composition, compared to water at 1.0 kg/L. The heat value depends on the source of gas that is used and the process that is used to liquefy the gas. The higher heating value of LNG is estimated to be 24 MJ/L at −164 degrees Celsius. This corresponds to a lower heating value of 21 MJ/L.

The natural gas fed into the LNG plant will be treated to remove water, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide and other components that will freeze (e.g., benzene) under the low temperatures needed for storage or be destructive to the liquefaction facility. LNG typically contains more than 90% methane. It also contains small amounts of ethane, propane, butane and some heavier alkanes. The purification process can be designed to give almost 100% methane. One of the very rare risks of LNG is Rapid phase transition (RPT is a phenomenon realized in liquefied natural gas (LNG) incidents in which LNG vaporizes violently when being in contact with water causing what's known as a physical explosion or cold explosion. During such explosions there is no combustion but rather a huge amount of energy is transferred in the form of heat from water to the LNG at a temperature difference of about 175 degree Celsius.) which arises from cold LNG being in contact with water