Introduction

1.1 Natural gas

Natural gas is a fossil fuel. This means it originates from the remains of
plants and animals that lived many millions of years ago. These
organisms were buried and exposed to heat as a result of being highly
compressed underneath thousands of meters of soil and rock. These
forces transformed the once living organisms into natural gas. It is found
in reservoirs beneath the surface of the earth. Large layers of rock trap the
natural gas as it tries to float to the surface. Although the areas where the
gas is trapped are referred to as pools, the natural gas molecules are
actually held in small holes and cracks throughout the rock formation.[1]

Natural gas is one of the cleanest, safest, and most useful forms of energy in
our day-to-day lives. It is a hydrocarbon, which means it is made up of
compounds of hydrogen and carbon. The simplest hydrocarbon is methane;
it contains one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Natural gas can be
found by itself or in association with oil. It is both colorless and odorless and
is in fact a mixture of hydrocarbons. It is mainly methane, the other
hydrocarbons include ethane, propane, and butane. Water, oil, sulphur,
carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and other impurities may be mixed with the gas
when it comes out of the ground. These impurities are removed before the
natural gas is delivered to our homes and businesses. The fact that natural
gas is combustible and burns more cleanly than some other energy sources
helps reinforce its position as one of the most highly used energy sources.
[2] typical properties of raw natural gas are outlined in figure 1.1 .

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 Figure 1-1 Components of raw natural Gas [3]

1.2 Liquefied natural gas, properties and uses

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is the liquid form of natural gas, the main
component of which is methane.
In the liquefied form, at atmospheric pressure, LNG occupies only
1/600th of its volume at gaseous state under normal temperature and
atmospheric pressure and, is therefore more economical to store and
transport over long distances.
LNG is produced by cooling natural gas to -162 °C (-260 °F) through a
liquefaction process. Prior to cooling and condensing the natural gas into
LNG, impurities such as carbon dioxide, water and sulfur are removed.
The result of this process is an odorless, colorless product consisting
mostly of methane (approximate range 85% to 99%) with small amounts
of ethane, propane, butane and pentane.
LNG gas is one of the cleaner and more efficient transportation forms for
energy available. There are a number of environmental and safety
benefits to using LNG.
Regasified LNG is clean burning, producing virtually no particulates and
less NOx and CO2 than other fossil fuels. Since sulphur is almost entirely
removed in the liquefaction process, combustion of regasified LNG emits
negligible amounts of sulphur dioxide. [3]

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LNG is stored at near atmospheric pressure, reducing the storage hazard
compared with pressurized fuels (e.g. Liquefied Petroleum Gas – LPG).
In the unlikely event of an unconfined release of LNG vapour to the
atmosphere, the vapour is not explosive in nature.
LNG, when released to the atmosphere, will evaporate at normal
temperatures and disperse quickly, leaving no residue behind and
therefore requiring no environmental cleanup.
1- By warming LNG it vaporizes to become lighter than air and therefore
rises when released.
2- LNG is non-corrosive and non-toxic.
3- LNG cannot ignite without first being vaporized, mixed with the right
amount of air to result in a mixture of 5 to 15 % methane in air, and
provided with an ignition source.
4- LNG is converting to gas phase after resaving in LNG terminal in
destination to transport through pipeline, where it is ready to use as
natural gas fuel to produce energy.

Natural gas industry has generated billions of dollars in revenue, and as

the cleanest burning fossil fuel, has the potential to reduce the harmful
emissions generated by oil and coal. Abundant supplies of this domestic
resource will provide a secure and stable energy future while reducing
greenhouse gas emissions for generations to come. Its versatile energy
source, and has many applications including:
1- Domestic uses like home heating and cooling, cooking, fuel for
transportation.
2- Steam heat production.
3- Electrical generation.

Manufacturing and industrial uses like producing steel, glass, forest

products, clothing, cement, fertilizer and petrochemicals.

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Creating polyethylene polymers, which is the most widely used plastic.[2]

1.3 Worldwide natural gas consumption

The worldwide liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade has increased

steadily (over 5 % per year) since the industry began with consumption
increasing from 113.0 trillion cubic feet in 2010 to 185.0 trillion cubic
feet in 2040. [4]
Natural gas continues to be favored as an environmentally
attractive fuel compared with other hydrocarbon fuels. It is the fuel of
choice for the electric power and industrial sectors in many of the world’s
regions, in part because of its lower carbon intensity compared with coal
and oil, which makes it an attractive fuel source in countries where
governments are implementing policies to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. In addition, it is an attractive alternative fuel for new power
generation plants because of relatively low capital costs and the favorable
heat rates for natural gas generation. In the reference case, total world
consumption of natural gas for industrial uses increases by an average of
1.5 percent per year through 2040, and consumption in the electric power

sector grows by 2.0 percent per year. [4] The industrial and electric power
sectors together account for 77 percent of the total projected increase in
natural gas consumption, and together they account for 74 percent of total
natural gas consumption in 2040, up slightly from 73 percent in 2010. [4]

1.4 Sudan energy consumption and plans for new source

As the main source of energy, oil plays a major role in the

Sudanese economy, where power plants and most industrial sector
depend completely on the refinery fuel product.
Gasoline and diesel heart of transportation, and LPG for domestic
consumption, where some produced in refinery and rest imported to satisfy

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the demand, there were announcements of natural gas discoveries in
different fields, but these have yet to be determined commercially viable.
Now oil production in Sudan is declining because of natural declines at
maturing fields, and suffers severe financial crisis with the eminent demise
of 75% of its oil revenues that represented over 90 % of its foreign currency
after the secession of its Southern part after a constitutional referendum.
Sudan has set ambitious goals to increase production from new fields and
to increase recovery rates at existing fields, but production continues to
fall short of Sudan’s goals because the demand of energy increased daily,
another in 2012 a snapshot of the North Sudan macro-markets indicates
the industrial production is negatively growing.
Early in 2011, the Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity
Government identified potential shortfalls in fuel supplies as being a
major issue for the future economic growth of the region, particularly in
periods of peak energy demand.
In February 2012, Sudan government approached SUNA Gas (Sudan
Natural Gas Company) with an interest in implementing the Sudan
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Regasification Project. Where SUNA Gas
will be exclusive gas supplier for Sudan users. The project encompasses
the use of a receiving terminal, which would be offshore or onshore in
Sudan red sea waters in state of Portsudan.
The need for a regasification project plays big issue in solving fuel
shortage and its only possible solution will be through finding new energy
sources, another it can replace diesel and heavy fuel due to more
expensive and less environmentally friendly alternative to natural gas. In
addition, natural gas will be source of fuel in new power station and other
industrial sector specifically cement factories.
The Sudan LNG Regasification Project will enable the shortfall in Sudan
gas supplies to be covered through importing LNG. This will ensure that

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natural gas can continue to be used as the main fuel for power generation
in the region and prevent potential degradation in air quality, another
allows sustainability of energy and able to export excess fuel that produce
by the refinery to introduce hard currency to the country.
LNG is a natural gas that has been converted to liquid form by cooling it
to approximately –163°C. The cooling process reduces the gas to less
than 0.2% of its original volume, thereby improving the ease of storage
and transportation. Once natural gas is converted into LNG, it requires
storage in insulated tanks (at atmospheric pressure) to maintain the low
temperatures. When the gas is required, the LNG is heated back into gas
(regasification) and introduced into the existing gas pipelines. Today,
LNG regasification plants are common throughout the developed world,
particularly in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the USA.
According to the feasibility study, Sudan LNG Regasification Project will
involve onshore terminal in Marssa Atta north of port-Sudan state. The
terminal will be supplied with LNG from carrier vessels for storage and
regasification. The terminal will be connected to cement plant in Atbara
and power station in Khartoum via a high-pressure export pipeline. It will
have the capacity to deliver 6.17 MMTPA of gas to Atbara and
Khartoum. Soforgas Consultant Company estimated the natural gas
demand as it will be 1.23 MMTPA in first 2018 and it will increase until
6.17 MMTPA in 2040. Figure 1.2 show Sudan natural gas demands

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 Figure 1-2 Sudan Natural Gas Demand

1.5 Objectives

In the LNG terminal project, the regasification process is

considered heart of the overall terminal process. The vaporizer selection
is project specific and is typically selected on the basis of different
criteria. The vaporizer must carefully the designed, as it has a major
impact on operation costs. The main objective of this research is to select
the appropriate regasification technology, which has a low Operating cost
to suit Portsudan site conditions.