LNG carrier
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An LNG carrier is a ship designed for transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG). As the LNG market grows rapidly, the fleet of LNG carriers continues to experience tremendous growth.
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[edit] History
The first ship Methane Princess was taken into operation in 1964 and remained in operation until it was scrapped in 1998. Until the end of 2005 a total of 203 vessels has been built, of which 193 are still in service.
[edit] New building
At the moment there is a boom in the fleet, with a total of more than 140 vessels on order at the world's shipyards. Today the majority of the new ships under construction are in the size of 120,000 m³ to 140,000 m³. But there are orders for ships with capacity up to 260,000 m³.
[edit] Containment systems
Today there are four containment systems in use for new buildings. Two of the designs are of the self supporting type, while the other two are of the membrane type and today the patents are owned by Gaz Transport & Technigaz's (GT&T).
There is a trend towards the use of the two different membrane types instead of the self supporting storage systems. This is most likely due to the fact that the investment required by the shipyards is lower.
When transporting natural gas the gas is cooled down to approximately -163 degree Celsius where it will condense to a liquid kept at atmospheric pressure. The tanks onboard the LNG carriers function as giant thermoses where the liquid will be kept cold during storage. No insulation is perfect, however, and so the gas is constantly boiling during the voyage.
[edit] Moss tanks
This design is owned by the Norwegian company Moss Maritime and it is a spherical aluminum tank.
[edit] IHI
Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries has developed a self supporting tank type. This tank type is very similar to the ones used on the first ship, Methane Princess. The tank is made of aluminum
[edit] TGZ Mark III
This design is originally by Technigaz and it is of the membrane type. The membrane consists of stainless steel with 'waffles' to absorb the thermal contraction when the tank is cooled down.
[edit] GT96
This is Gaz Transport's tank design. The tanks consists of a primary and secondary thin membrane made of the material Invar which has almost no thermal contraction. The insulation is made out of plywood boxes filled with perlite.
[edit] Reliquifaction and Boil Off
The Liquid Methane is carried at -159 deg C. Because of the design of the tanks there is very little Boil off. (Boil off is the gas being released from the liquid). The Methane gas produced in boil off is diverted to the engines and used as a fuel for the vessel, This can be 100% gas or a percentage gas and oil firing. Recent advances in technology have allowed Reliquifaction plants to be fitted to vessels, thus allowing the boil off to be reliquified and returned to the tanks. Because of this the vessels' operators and builders have been able to contemplate Diesel engines. Previously all LNG cariers have been steam turbine powered.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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