Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Feasibility study of environmental relative humidity through the

thermodynamic effects on the performance of natural gas liquefaction
process
Muhammad Abdul Qyyum a, Le Quang Minh a, Wahid Ali a, Arif Hussain a, Alireza Bahadori b,
Moonyong Lee a,⇑
a
School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 712-749, Republic of Korea
b
Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

Effects of relative humidity on the

performance of SMR was investigated
successfully.

Compression energy for SMR process
was reduced significantly.

Compression power has a linear SMR
PROCESS
relation with the relative humidity.

The UA value of LNG cryogenic
exchanger increases as 4th-order
polynomial function.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study examined the thermodynamic effects of relative humidity (RH) on the performance of the nat-
Received 11 March 2017 ural gas liquefaction process. A single mixed refrigerant (SMR) liquefaction process was chosen for this
Revised 13 May 2017 study because of its simplicity and compactness. In addition, it is considered the most promising process
Accepted 18 August 2017
for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit. The SMR pro-
Available online 24 August 2017
cess was optimized using a modified coordinate descent methodology, which resulted in 13.6% energy
savings. Subsequently, an interface between commercial software Aspen HysysÒ and MS-Excel VBA
Keywords:
was carried out to study the effects of RH. The results showed that RH has pronounced effects on the per-
LNG
Natural gas liquefaction
formance of the LNG cycle by affecting the enthalpy balance around the air coolers, which ultimately
MCD optimization affects the overall compression power, LNG exchanger performance, and other design and operational
SMR parameters. Furthermore, when the RH was increased from 0% to 95%, the UA value (product of overall
Thermodynamic effects heat transfer coefficient and heat transfer area) of the air coolers and the overall compression power
Relative humidity decreased and increased linearly, respectively. Moreover, the heat transfer coefficient of the LNG cryo-
genic exchanger increased as a 4th order polynomial function in terms of the log-mean enthalpy differ-
ence. The results can provide insight into the selection of the appropriate design and operational
parameters for the LNG plants associated with the regions of low or high relative humidity.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mynlee@yu.ac.kr (M. Lee).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2017.08.090
1359-4311/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
52 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63
Nomenclature
SMR single mixed refrigerant
DMR dual mixed refrigerant
C3MR propane precooled mixed refrigerant
S molar entropy
H molar enthalpy
RH relative humidity
MCD modified coordinate descent
LNG liquefied natural gas
1. Introduction
The location of natural gas reserves has key importance in the
economics of natural gas transportation either in gaseous form
(through pipelines) or in liquid form (LNG). A reduction of physical
volume (1/600th) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) compared to gas-
eous natural gas can reduce the transportation costs by allowing
delivery using cargo ships or transport trucks instead of pipelines
[1]. Ideally, LNG plants are located near the seashore to minimize
the delivery distance between the liquefaction plant and the LNG
cargo terminal [2]. In addition to the transportation, other factors,
such as high energy density and high purity compared to the gas-
eous form, also motivates the liquefaction of natural gas. Therefore,
the worldwide demand for natural gas is increasing rapidly. To sat-
isfy this requirement, the LNG industry is growing and expanding
into new natural gas sources in different climatic zones ranging
from the North Pole to the South Pole [3]. The regions associated
with climate (with respect to natural gas sources and LNG plants)
can be classified into three categories, i.e. Desert (e.g. Qatar), Trop-
ical (e.g. Island of Borneo), and Arctic (e.g. Yamal Peninsula). Fig. 1
presents the statistical result of a NG reservoir [4], where countries
north and south of the equator have different seasonal air proper-
ties, such as temperature levels, wind velocity, precipitation, and
relative humidity.
In fact, these different seasonal air properties have an impact on
the energy performance of air-cooled LNG processes. In this study,
the thermodynamic effect (due to a change in enthalpy) was inves-
tigated at LNG production, overall compressor power, overall air-
coolers, and LNG exchanger duty when varying the RH. Further-
more, this study analyzed the impacts of relative humidity on
the overall transfer coefficient (U) of a LNG cryogenic exchanger
for air-cooled LNG plants. A commercial simulator, Aspen HYSYSÒ
V9 [5], was used to study the announced effects on the single
mixed refrigerant liquefaction process by varying the relative
humidity.
Fig. 1. Natural Gas proven reserves in the world in 2015 [4].
MR mixed refrigerant
MITA minimum internal temperature approach
NG natural gas
BOG boil-off gas
TDCC temperature difference between composite curves
THCC temperature-heat flow composite curves
TD dry-bulb temperature
TW wet-bulb temperature
1.1. Air-cooled LNG plants and the impact of the relative humidity
Natural gas liquefaction is an energy intensive process, which
requires 1188 kJ of energy to liquefy one-kilogram of natural gas
[6]. This liquefaction energy depends on the selected liquefaction
cycle (such as SMR, DMR, Cascade and C3MR etc.) and the climatic
site conditions. The operational and design parameters can differ
from site to site for the same liquefaction cycle. For example, after
an evaluation of more than 20 locations based on the environmen-
tal and climatic conditions, ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips, and
TransCanada choose a site in the Nikiski area on the Kenai Penin-
sula for the proposed Alaska (North of Equator) LNG project [7].
Fig. 2 presents the graphical data [8] of the average relative humid-
ity according to the months of the Kenai Peninsula.
In addition, Western Australia Inc. currently operates three LNG
export projects: the North West Shelf (Karratha), Pluto, and Gorgon
[9]. Table 1 lists the annual average temperature, average morning
relative humidity percentage, and average evening relative humid-
ity percentage for the corresponding sites of the North West shelf
LNG plant (Karratha) and the Gorgon LNG plant (Barrow Island),
which are located in Western Australia (South of the Equator)
[10]. Similarly, Equatorial Guinea (EG) LNG (known as the Punta
Europa LNG) plant is located at Malabo [11], which is also an air-
cooler LNG plant. Fig. 3 shows the climatic conditions at the Mal-
abo LNG site [12].
For LNG plants, seawater or air is mainly used as the cooling
medium to cool the compressed mixed refrigerant and is some-
times used to reduce the temperature of the natural gas before
entering the liquefaction section. The selection of cooling medium
depends strongly on the site climatic conditions. Table 2 lists the
countries (here classified in the northern and southern of the equa-
tor) with air-cooled LNG plants [13].
1.2. Thermodynamics of the relative humidity
Recently, Park et al. [14] examined the effects of varying ambi-
ent air temperatures on the performance of a single mixed refrig-
erant (SMR) liquefaction cycle and presented the optimal design
and operational solutions for the SMR under various ambient tem-
peratures. Xu et al. [15] investigated the correlation between the
mixed refrigerant composition and ambient conditions in the
SMR process. Many factors can influence the ambient air tempera-
ture [16]. This variation in the ambient air temperature (also refer
as Dry-bulb temperature [17]) is a significant factor that affects the
relative humidity of the air. This does not mean that the ambient
air temperature and the relative humidity have the same effect
on the LNG cycle at the same site or at the different sites. Accord-
ingly, the general and common definition of the relative humidity
is shown as follows
Pw Actual water v apor pressure
RH ¼ ¼ ð1Þ
PS Saturation water v apor pressure
 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63 53

Fig. 2. Average relative humidity by month at Kenai, Alaska, USA [8].

Table 1
Meteorological data of the two different LNG plant sites (Western Australia) [10].

Month Karratha LNG plant Gorgon LNG plant

Temperature (°C) RH% Temperature (°C) RH%
Min Max 9 AM 3 PM Min Max 9 AM 3 PM
Jan 26.7 36.0 59 51 25.8 33.2 70 58
Feb 26.7 35.8 64 55 26.3 33.7 72 59
Mar 25.9 36.1 54 46 26.5 33.2 69 59
Apr 22.7 34.3 47 40 24.6 31.1 62 53
May 18.3 30.0 45 42 21.3 27.4 60 55
Jun 15.1 26.5 47 44 18.8 24.3 61 56
Jul 13.8 26.2 45 40 17.6 23.7 65 58
Aug 14.3 28.3 39 35 17.8 25.2 61 52
Sep 16.9 30.8 40 36 19.5 27.0 62 51
Oct 20.8 34.1 40 38 21.8 29.6 64 51
Nov 23.1 35.0 43 41 23.0 30.5 65 52
Dec 25.5 35.8 51 47 24.4 32.1 67 54

Table 2
Air-cooled LNG plants [13].

Globe equator poles Countries

North Malaysia
Nigeria
Equatorial Guinea
Alaska
Russia
Egypt
South Australia
Trinidad

constant temperature. In this study, the Aspen HysysÒ V9 [5]

built-in stream saturator (SAT) was used to investigate the thermo-
dynamic properties, such as the heat flow, enthalpy, and entropy of
Fig. 3. Climatic conditions at the site of Equatorial Guinea (EG) LNG plant [12].
air under various relative humidity. The mathematical equations for
the thermodynamic properties of humid air are given below.
Or, From the ideal gas law,
PV ¼ nRT ð3Þ
Actual amount of water v apor in air at specified Temperature
RH ¼
Saturated amount of water v apor at same specified Temperature If P = Pw, n = actual moles of water, Nactual, and V = volume of
ð2Þ humid air, the above definition of the relative humidity at the con-
stant temperature is,
where PS is the saturated vapor pressure of water, which is a func-
Pw :V ¼ Nactual :RT ð4Þ
tion of the dry bulb temperature. In other words, there is an inverse
relationship between the RH and temperature. An increase or
Pw :V ¼ ðNS ÞðRH%Þ:RT ð5Þ
decrease in RH has a significant effect on the enthalpy change at a
54 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63

h i
where NS is the saturated amount of water vapor at a specified T W ¼ T D atan 0:151977ðRH% þ 8:313659Þ0:5
temperature.
The above equation states that at the constant saturated þ atanðT D þ RH%Þ  atanðRH%  1:676331Þ
amount of water vapor there is a linear relationship between the
þ 0:00391838ðRH%Þ1:5 atanð0:023101RH%Þ  4:686035 ð6Þ
relative humidity of air and the product of the partial pressure,
Pw and the volume of humid air. Fig. 4 presents a graphical presen- where, TW and TD denote the wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperature,
tation of this relationship. respectively.
The wet-bulb temperature is considered as an important Furthermore, the enthalpy of humid air, H, kJ/kg mole, is given
parameter where direct-contact cooling/heating through air is as
involved such as cooling tower operations. The wet-bulb tempera-
H ¼ Ha þ ðwÞðHv Þ ð7Þ
ture correlation with dry-bulb temperature and RH can be
expressed as in [18]: where ‘‘w” is the molar mixing ratio, kgmole-H2O/kg mole-Dry air.
The molar mixing ratio in terms of the relative humidity is
expressed

60 1:002ðPw Þ ð1:002ÞðRHÞðP S Þ
w¼ ¼ ð8Þ
Pa  Pw Pa  ððRHÞðPS ÞÞ
50

40
Ha, the enthalpy of the dry air (only sensible heat is involved), is
calculated as follows:
(P wV) kPa.m3 /h

30 From the 1st law of thermodynamics,

U ¼Q W ð9Þ
20
At a constant pressure, W = PV, thus,
10
U ¼ Q  PV ð10Þ
0
Q ¼ U þ PV ð11Þ

0 20 40 60 80 100 From the definition of enthalpy,

Re lative Hum idity %
H ¼ U þ PV ð12Þ
Fig. 4. Relative humidity and PV of air.

(a) (b)
0.0
0
-0.2
Enthalpy (kJ/Kmole)

-0.4
Heat Flow (kW)

-2000
-0.6

-4000 -0.8

-1.0
-6000 -1.2

-1.4
-8000 -1.6
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Relative Humidity % Relative Humidity %
0.025 121.5
(c) (d)
121.0
0.020
Moles of humid air (kmole/h)

Entropy (kJ/Kmole-C

120.5
0.015
120.0
0.010
119.5
0.005
119.0

0.000 118.5

118.0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Relative Humidity % Relative Humidity %

Fig. 5. Effect of relative humidity on the thermodynamic properties of air.

 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63 55

Table 3 Heat transfer at a constant pressure,

Stream saturator conditions.

Name Dry air Humid air

Q ¼ C P ðDTÞ ð13Þ
0% RH 10% RH 90% RH Therefore,
Vapor fraction 1 1 1
Ha ¼ U þ PV ¼ Q ¼ C Pa ðT  T ref Þ
Temperature (°C) 25 25 25
Pressure (bar) 1.01325 1.01325 1.01325
Hv, which is the enthalpy of water vapor (sensible and latent
Molar flow (kmol/h) 0.6908 0.6931 0.7107
Mass flow (kg/h) 20 20.04 20.36
heat), is expressed as,
Enthalpy (kJ/kmol) 6.504 776.7 6767
Entropy (kJ/kmol °C) 118.2 118.6 120.8 Hv ¼ C Pa ðT  T ref Þ þ k ð14Þ
Heat flow (kW) 1.248e003 0.1495 1.336
At similarity, the molar entropy of humid air is, kJ/kgmole °C,

S ¼ Sa þ ðwÞðSv Þ ð15Þ

where Sa is an entropy of dry air; while Sv is the entropy of water

Table 4 vapor.
Feed conditions and simulation basis [19].
From the 2nd law of thermodynamics,
Property Conditions
dQ rev
Natural gas (Stream-0) dS ¼ ð16Þ
Temperature (°C) 32 T
Pressure (bar) 50
Flow rate (kg/h) 1.0 and,
Composition Mole fraction Z
Nitrogen 0.0020
T
C P ðTÞ
Methane 0.9133 S ¼ So ðT ¼ 0KÞ þ dT ð17Þ
T¼0 T
Ethane 0.0536
Propane 0.0214
where So is the entropy at the reference state.
i-butane 0.0046
n-butane 0.0047 The reference state was chosen at 0 K [5], and
i-pentane 0.0001
def
n-pentane 0.0001 So ðT ¼ 0KÞ ¼ 1 kJ=kg K ð18Þ
Pressure drops across LNG-exchangers
Stream-0 to Stream-6 (bar) 1.0
For heat flow, Q, kW,
Stream-2 to Stream-3 (bar) 1.0
Stream-4 to Stream-5 (bar) 0.1 Q ¼ Qa þ Qv ð19Þ
Compressors isentropic efficiency (%) 75.0
Fig. 5 shows the changes in enthalpy, heat flow, and entropy by
After-coolers outlet temperature (°C) 40.0
MITA for air-coolers (°C) [20] 22.0 varying the relative humidity. The observations were examined
using only the air saturator. These observations imply that air
LNG (Stream-7)
Pressure (bar) 1.209 under varying RH has some key effects on the performance of
Boil-off gas (vapor fraction) 0.08 LNG operation which is essential to be addressed. Note that the
negative enthalpy and heat flow indicate that increase in RH

Fig. 6. Schematic diagram of the SMR process.

56 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63
(humidification) is an exothermic phenomenon. As seen in Fig. 5d,
the higher percentage of RH leads to higher irreversibilities
(entropy generation).
Table 3 lists the characteristics of the dry air (0% RH) and humid
air at 10 and 90% relative humidity.
In particular, at 90% relative humidity, a negative change in
enthalpy is significantly higher compared to that at 10% relative
humidity. Table 3 clearly shows the effect of the percentage of
RH on the thermodynamic properties of the air. The variation of
the enthalpy, entropy, and heat flow due to an increase or
decrease in RH% provides an opportunity to investigate the ther-
modynamic effects on the operational and designing parameters
of LNG cycles by varying the RH. The RH of the air has a pro-
nounced effect on the performance of air-cooled LNG plants that
are located or currently under construction in the areas of the
north and south of the equator. To the best of the authors’
knowledge, there are no reports that considered the effects of
the environmental relative humidity on the design of the lique-
faction process.
Table 5
Decision variables with lower and upper bounds.
Decision variables Lower bound
Condensation pressure of MR, P13 (bar) 35.0
Evaporation pressure, P5 (bar) 1.1
Flow rate of nitrogen, mN2 (kg/h) 0.02
Flow rate of methane, mC1 (kg/h) 0.10
Flow rate of ethane, mC2 (kg/h) 0.20
Flow rate of propane, mC3 (kg/h) 0.95
2. Methodology for studying the effects of relative humidity
The methodology adopted for examining the effects of relative
humidity on the performance of the SMR LNG process is as follows:
1. The SMR process was simulated using the conditions in a previ-
ous study [19] with the assumption of negligible heat losses to
the environment.
2. The process optimization was carried out using the modified
coordinate descent methodology with the minimum consump-
tion of energy as an objective function and MITA constraint of
3 °C.
3. The optimal values of UA for air coolers obtained through pro-
cess optimization were then used to replace the air-coolers with
stream saturators under the assumptions of 95% relative
humidity and a 30 °C dry bulb temperature.
4. The knowledge based-optimization algorithm was used to find
the optimal flow rate of air with respect to the MITA value for
air-coolers 22 °C [20].
5. Thermodynamics effects of the environmental relative humid-
ity were conducted under various relative humidity and con-
stant air flow rates and dry-bulb temperatures.
Upper bound
2.1. Process simulation
85.0
3.5
The SMR process, which is also known as the PRICO (poly refrig-
0.35
0.70
erant integrated cycle operation) process, was chosen because it is
0.85 the simplest small-scale LNG liquefaction processes and one of the
2.5 most promising candidates for a FLNG-FPSO unit, because it has
low equipment cost and a small area. The SMR process consists
Fig. 7. MCD optimization algorithm.
 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63 57

mainly of a cryogenic exchanger, expansion valves, compressors,
and air coolers. A simulation model was developed in Aspen HYSYS
V9.0 to investigate the thermodynamic effects of the RH on the
performance of the SMR process. Table 4 provides information on
the base case. Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of the SMR
process.
2.2. Process optimization
Minimization of the specific compression power for the SMR
process was chosen as an objective function that was constrained
to a MITA value of 3 °C. The variables in terms of the flow rate of
the individual components of the SMR and the operating pressures
(evaporation and condensation pressures) have a major impact on
the energy consumption (the objective function). Therefore, these
variables were selected as the key decision variables in the opti-
mization. The decision variables are listed with the lower and
upper bounds in Table 5.
Mathematically, the objective function as the specific compres-
sion power relative to the key decision variables and constraints
are defined as:
( Hot composite curve
X
4 Cold composite curve
Minimize f ðXÞ ¼ Ws ¼ wi
i¼1
Subjected to:
DT ðminÞ ðXÞ P 3
T 6 ðXÞ > T 6;Dew ðXÞ
the MCD algorithm was used to optimize the SMR process. Micro-
soft Visual Studio (MVS) was used to develop an optimizer with a
user-friendly interface. The algorithm was coded in the MVS envi-
ronment and then linked to the ASPEN HYSYSÒ V9 using COM
functionality.
The MCD algorithm is based on the idea that the multivariable
function is optimized by minimizing the objective function along
one coordinate [21]. The significant advantages of the MCD over
the conventional coordinate descent (CD) methodology are the
simplicity of each iteration, easy implementation, and high effi-
ciency [22]. Accordingly, this algorithm is one of the best candi-
dates to solve nonlinear interaction optimization problems. Fig. 7
presents a schematic diagram of the MCD algorithm.
2.4. Optimization results
Referring to Khan’s report [19], the result of using the MCD opti-
mization algorithm shows that the specific compression power can
(a) 60
ð20Þ 50
Approach temperature ( C)
o
40
ð21Þ
30
ð22Þ

X lb < X < X ub ð23Þ 20

where X is the vector of decision variables, X ¼ ðP 13 ; P5 ;

10
mN2 ; mC1 ; mC2 ; mC3 Þ, and T6 is the temperature of stream 6 or the
temperature of the recycled mixed refrigerant before entering the
compressor K-1 (see Fig. 6). Note that the temperature of other 0
-150 -100 -50 0 50
compressors associated with intercoolers are reduced up to 40 °C,
Temperature (oC)
which is sufficiently higher than the dew point. However, the com-
pressor K-1 includes no additional cooling/heating system to adjust
the temperature of inlet stream above its dew point. For this, the (b)
temperature of stream 6 was considered as a required constraint.

2.3. Modified coordinate descent (MCD) optimization algorithm

The SMR process is considered a nonlinear system due to the

nonlinear interactions between constraints, objective function,
and decision variables. Optimizing a highly nonlinear system is a
very difficult and challenging task using commercially available
process simulation software. Therefore, external optimization
techniques need to be linked with process simulators. In this study,

Table 6
Optimization results.

KBO optimization MCD

[19] optimization
Condensation pressure of MR, P13 (bar) 49.97 62.49 Fig. 8. Composite curves of: (a) Optimized TDCC; (b) Optimized THCC.
Evaporation pressure, P5 (bar) – 2.03
Post-expansion temperature, (°C) 152.7 –
Flow rate of nitrogen, mN2 (kg/h) 0.2276 0.2587
Flow rate of methane, mC1 (kg/h) 0.5343 0.4625
Flow rate of ethane, mC2 (kg/h) 0.6312 0.7655 Table 7
Flow rate of propane, mC3 (kg/h) 2.728 2.267 Simulation conditions for stream saturators.
MITA (°C) 3.0 3.0 Conditions SAT-1 SAT-2 SAT-3 SAT-4
Specific compression power (kJ/kg-LNG) 1556.64 1344.24
Total intercoolers duty (kW) 0.6571 0.5980 RH% 95.0 95.0 95.0 95.0
Temperature (°C) 30.0 30.0 30.0 30.0
Relative compression energy saving (%) – 13.6
Pressure (bar) 1.01325 1.01325 1.01325 1.01325
Relative intercoolers energy saving (%) – 9.0
Air mass flow (kg/h) 8.0 8.5 9.0 17.5
58 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63

Fig. 9. Optimized SMR Process with the addition of the Aspen HYSYS Stream Saturator.

25 25
Air-cooler-1 Air- cooler-2
20
20

15
15
10
MITA (°C)

10
MITA (°C)

5
5
0

0
-5

-5 -10

-10 -15
4 6 8 10 12 14 4 6 8 10 12 14

Air mass flow (kg/h) Air mass flow (kg/h)

25
30
Air- cooler-3 Air- cooler-4
20
20

15
MITA (°C)

10
MITA (°C)

10

0
5

-10 0

-5
-20
10 12 14 16 18 20
4 6 8 10 12 14
Air mass flow (kg/h)
Air mass flow (kg/h)

Fig. 10. Optimal air mass flow for air-coolers through ASPEN stream saturator.
 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63 59

save up to 13.6% compared to the base case. Table 6 lists the opti- gas to liquid. In Fig. 8, the small gap between the TDCC curves and
mization results. Furthermore, each hot and cold composite curve the constraint temperature of 3 °C in the temperature interval from
of natural gas and the mixed refrigerant should be located as clo- 160 °C to 70 °C indicate that enhancing the energy efficiency in
sely as possible to achieve an energy efficient liquefaction process this region is challenging. Nevertheless, optimal flowrates of the
with low specific compression energy. Fig. 8 presents the compos- low boiling point components of MR, such as nitrogen, methane
ite curves (TDCC and THCC) of the SMR. and ethane could further improve the heat transfer performance
The TDCC plot reveals the impact of each individual refrigerant by reducing the gap in this region. Meanwhile, the region in the
component on the performance of the liquefaction process. Simi- temperature range from 50 °C to 40 °C (Fig. 8a) leads to a large
larly, the THCC matching technique is normally used to address approach temperature inside the main cryogenic heat exchanger.
the energy efficiency of the process. The optimal flow rates of the This large approach temperature can be efficiently reduced by pre-
MR ingredients were optimized to overpower the infeasibility cooling the NG feed and MR streams before entering the main
and reduce the driving force for phase change of natural gas from exchanger to improve the efficiency of SMR process.

50 50
Cooler-1 Cooler-2
45 45

40 40

UA(kJ/C.h)
UA(kJ/C.h)

35 35
At 32 C dry bulb Temp At 32 C dry bulb Temp
At 24 C dry bulb Temp At 24 C dry bulb Temp
30 At 18 C dry bulb Temp 30 At 18 C dry bulb Temp

25 25

20 20

15 15
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Relative Humidity % Relative Humidity %
60 140
Cooler-3 Cooler-4

50 120
UA(kJ/C.h)
UA(kJ/C.h)

40 At 32 C dry bulb Temp

100
At 24 C dry bulb Temp
At 18 C dry bulb Temp At 32 C dry bulb Temp
At 24 C dry bulb Temp
30 80 At 18 C dry bulb Temp

20 60

10 40
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Relative Humidity % Relative Humidity %

Fig. 11. Effect of relative humidity on the UA of air-coolers.

-3180 0.67
(a) (b)
Enthalpy difference (kJ/kmole)

-3185
0.66
Overall Coolers duty (kW)

-3190
0.65
-3195

-3200 0.64

-3205
0.63
-3210

0.62
-3215

-3220 0.61
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 20 40 60 80 100
Relative Humidity%
Relative Humidity%

Fig. 12. Effect of relative humidity on (a) the enthalpy balance of air coolers and (b) the air coolers duty.
60 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63

2.5. Addition of stream saturators steady-state cooling duty of air cooled heat exchanger is calculated
as:
To introduce the air under different relative humidity, the
Q ¼ ðnÞðDHÞ ð24Þ
ASPEN HYSYSÒ built-in stream saturators (SAT) were used at the
inlet of air-coolers in the optimized SMR model. Table 7 lists the The overall duty for air-coolers can be calculated as:
simulation conditions for the SAT. Fig. 9 presents the SMR process  
Qoverall ¼ ðnÞ fðDHÞ1 þ ðDHÞ2 þ ðDHÞ3 þ ðDHÞ4 g ð25Þ
with the addition of SAT. The sensitivity analysis was done to find
the optimal value of air mass flow by keeping the overall compres- Fig. 12a shows the negative change in enthalpy, which has a lin-
sion power and the overall duty of air coolers constant. Fig. 10 ear relationship with a RH of the inlet air. The negative sign
shows the result of optimal air mass flow for air-coolers through denotes the heat removed by the cooling process. Fig. 12b presents
ASPEN stream saturator in terms of MITA value. The MITA value the effect of relative humidity on overall air-coolers duty, which
of 22 °C was chosen as an optimal design criterion [20] for each shows the direct relationship between the negative decrease in
air cooler. enthalpy with the cooling duty.

3. Effects of relative humidity on the overall liquefaction 3.3. Overall compressors power
process
The compressor power is strongly dependent on the gas or
To examine the thermodynamic effects of the environmental vapor inlet temperature [25]. As shown in Fig. 9, the heat content
relative humidity on the performance of the SMR LNG process, or temperature of the mixed refrigerant stream is reduced by air-
the optimized SMR process was linked with Excel VBA. The overall coolers before introducing the next consecutive compressors. On
performance was observed in terms of the following main impor- the other hand, the compression power is affected by the change
tant parameters of the process: in enthalpy (indirectly by the RH of the air inlet to air-coolers) of
the inlet mixed-refrigerant. The compression process is endother-
a. Overall UA of air-coolers mic. Therefore, the change in enthalpy will be positive and the
b. Overall duty of air-coolers compression power can be calculated as
c. Overall compression power Power ¼ ðnÞðDHÞ ð26Þ
d. LNG-Exchanger duty
e. Overall heat transfer coefficient of the LNG-Exchanger Power ¼ ðnÞðH2  H1 Þ ð27Þ
f. LNG Production (Natural gas liquid fraction)

3.1. Overall UA of air-coolers

The overall heat transfer coefficient was reported to be affected

by the environmental RH [23]. The fouling resistance parameter of
the UA depends very strongly on the environmental conditions
[24]. RH is one of the environmental parameters that affect the
UA of air-coolers largely. Fig. 11 shows the effect of RH on the
UA of the inter-stage coolers of the SMR refrigeration cycle. The
analysis was conducted at different dry bulb temperatures for
the installed four coolers. As a result, there is a linear decrease in
the relationship between the RH and UA of coolers.

3.2. Overall duty of air-coolers

The change in enthalpy is a driving force for heat transfer

Fig. 14. Schematic diagram of the LNG cryogenic exchanger.
through air-cooled heat exchangers [24]. On the other hand, the
Enthalpy at Compressor inlet (kJ/kmole)

-85350 0.384
(a)
(b)
-85400
Compression Power (kW)

0.382
-85450

0.380
-85500

-85550 0.378

-85600
0.376
-85650

-85700 0.374
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100

RH% at interstage cooler inlet Relative Humidity%

Fig. 13. Effect of RH% (a) on the inlet compressor enthalpy; (b) on the compression power.
 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63 61

Accordingly, if the negative value of H1 decreases with increas-
ing relative humidity, the compression power increases with
increasing relative humidity of air at the inlet of the pre-cooler of
the compressor. Fig. 13a shows the effects of the relative humidity
on the enthalpy of mixed refrigerant before entering the first
compressor (through the inlet air to the air-cooler). As a result,
the overall effects of the RH on the overall compression power is
also a linear relationship, as shown in Fig. 13b. The higher percent-
age of RH requires higher compression energy due to increased
irreversibilities (entropy generation by increased RH as seen in
Fig. 5d). The trend in Fig. 13b also indicates that the air-fin
cooler will be a more suitable candidate for the geographic location
of NG reserves where the relative humidity is low in most of the
year.
3.4. LNG-Exchanger duty
Fig. 14 illustrates a schematic diagram of a LNG cryogenic
exchanger with the input and out streams. The steady-state heat
balance around the LNG cryogenic exchanger can be expressed as
ðnNG ÞðHLNG  HNG Þ þ ðnSMR ÞðH4  H14 Þ ¼ ðnSMR ÞðH6  H5 Þ
This mathematical expression states that the heat gained by the
mixed refrigerant is related directly to the change in enthalpy of
the mixed refrigerant. When the RH is varied, it ultimately affects
the performance of the cryogenic exchanger in terms of the cooling
duty, as shown in Fig. 15.
3.5. Overall heat transfer coefficient of LNG-Exchanger
The LNG cryogenic exchanger is considered as a backbone in the
natural gas liquefaction process. The overall heat transfer coeffi-
cient, U, (of the LNG cryogenic exchanger) is also dependent on
the enthalpy [26] of the cold fluid (the compressed SMR) and the
hot fluid (natural gas) for a constant heat transfer area. The relative
humidity is strongly affected by the enthalpy balance of air-
coolers. Therefore, due to the variation of the RH, this change in
the enthalpy of the compressed SMR has an impact on the heat
transfer coefficient of the LNG exchanger and the overall perfor-
mance of the liquefaction process. On the other hand, to examine
the thermodynamic effects of the RH on the performance of the
SMR process, the UA for the LNG cryogenic exchanger was
assumed to be a variable (due to U, i.e. affected by SMR enthalpy).
As shown in Fig. 16b, a polynomial regression demonstrates the
effects on the overall heat transfer coefficient of the LNG-
Exchanger. This suggests that the enthalpy of the MR is varied by
the change in RH. This is the fourth-order polynomial effect, where
the overall heat transfer coefficient (U) is calculated by the follow-
ing mathematical relation (from the general energy balance
equation):
ð28Þ
UA Q
¼ ð29Þ
CP DHLMHD
where DHLMHD is the log-mean difference in enthalpy, which is
analogous to the log-mean difference in temperature. Referred in
Fig. 14, DHLMHD can be expressed as

-12000 25800
(a) (b)
-12500 25600
(HLNG-HLNG) kJ/kmole

(H6 -H5 ) kJ/kmol

-13000 25400

-13500 25200

-14000 25000

-14500 24800

-15000 24600
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100

Relative Humidity% Relative Humidity%

0.800 0.800
(c) (d)
0.795 0.795
LNG exchanger duty (kW)

LNG exchanger duty (kW)

0.790 0.790

0.785 0.785

0.780 0.780

0.775 0.775

0.770 0.770

0.765 0.765

0.760 0.760
24600 24800 25000 25200 25400 25600 25800 0 20 40 60 80 100

(H6 -H5 ) kJ/kmol Relative Humidity%

Fig. 15. Effect of relative humidity on the enthalpy balance around the LNG cryogenic exchanger and LNG exchanger duty.
62 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63

500
5500
(a) 450 (b)
5000
(LMHD)LNG exchanger

400
4500

UA/Cp
350
4000

300
3500

250
3000

200
2500

150
2000
0 20 40 60 80 100
0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Relative Humidity% Relative Humidity%

Fig. 16. Effect of relative humidity (a) on the LHMD; (b) on the UA of LNG cryogenic exchanger.

-12000 -19020
(a) (b)
-19030
-12500
(HLNG–HNG) kJ/kmole

-19040
(H4–H14) kJ/kmole

-13000
-19050

-13500 -19060

-19070
-14000
-19080
-14500
-19090

-15000 -19100
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Relative Humidity% Relative Humidity%

0.95
25800
(d)
(c) 0.90
LNG production (kg/h)

25600
(H6–H5) kJ/kmole

0.85
25400

0.80
25200

0.75
25000

0.70
24800

0.65
24600 0 20 40 60 80 100
0 20 40 60 80 100
Relative Humidity%
Relative Humidity%

Fig. 17. Effect of relative humidity on LNG production.

ðHNG  H6 Þ  ðHLNG  H14 Þ transfer coefficient. As shown in Fig. 16a, this relation is also a
DHLMHD ¼ ð30Þ
ln ðHðHLNG
NG H 6 Þ
H14 Þ
fourth-order polynomial under various RH.

3.6. LNG production

where H14, is the accumulative enthalpy of a mixed refrigerant
before entering the main cryogenic heat exchanger and is mostly To produce a high liquid fraction of the LNG, according to ther-
affected by the variation in the RH. There is an inverse relation modynamics, it should satisfy the given condition of a change in
between the log-mean enthalpy difference and the overall heat enthalpy within the LNG-Exchanger at their higher values.
 M.A. Qyyum et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 128 (2018) 51–63
ðDHÞ14  ðDHÞNG  ðDHÞ5
Because DH14 is affected by the relative humidity, it is impor-
tant to investigate that how DH14 affects the enthalpy of the other
streams (the enthalpy of LNG and the enthalpy of low-pressure
MR). Therefore, when the enthalpy of LNG stream changes, the liq-
uid fraction of the natural gas (after the end-flash valve) is affected.
Ultimately, LNG production decreases when BOG (boil-off gas) rate
increases. The study shows that there is a linear relationship
between the relative humidity and the change in enthalpy of a
mixed-refrigerant. The relative humidity also correlated linearly
with LNG production, as shown in Fig. 17.
4. Conclusion
This study analyzed the thermodynamic effects of varying the
relative humidity on the SMR natural gas liquefaction process in
terms of the design and operational parameters of the process.
The efficiency of the SMR process with respect to the overall duty
of the air-coolers, compressors, and LNG cryogenic exchanger, was
also investigated. The results show that at the regions where the
relative humidity is mostly high most of the year, air-fin coolers
are not preferred over water-coolers due to the high compression
power required.
According to the results, the outlet temperature of the air-
coolers, flowrate of air, and operating pressures of the process need
to be adjusted with respect to the wide variations of RH to main-
tain high performance of the liquefaction process. The UA value
of the air-coolers decreases linearly and the UA value of the LNG
cryogenic exchanger increases as a fourth order polynomial associ-
ated with the increasing percentage of RH. For plants that are built
with air-fin coolers, a constant UA value of the cryogenic exchanger
and air-coolers restrict the improvement of the process efficiency
at low or high relative humidity. This work will help the process
engineers to choose the appropriate cooling medium (air/water)
for inter-stage cooling of mixed refrigerant compression units
especially for offshore applications. This study will also contribute
to design the equipment of SMR-LNG plant for the location associ-
ated with different humidity.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by Basic Science Research Program
through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded
by the Ministry of Education (2015R1D1A3A01015621) and by Pri-
ority Research Centers Program through the National Research
Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education
(2014R1A6A1031189).
63
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