Effect of the Array Type of Heat Exchangers on Performance of Refrigerated Warehouse for Utilization of LNG Cold Energy

When liquefied natural gas (LNG) is vaporized to form natural gas for industrial and household consumption, a tremendous amount of cold energy is transferred from LNG to seawater as a part of the phase-change process. This heat exchange loop is not only a waste of cold energy, but causes thermal pollution to coastal fishery areas by dumping the cold energy into the sea. This project describes an innovative new design for reclaiming cold energy for use by cold storage warehouses (operating in the 35 to $62^{\circ}C$ range). Conventionally, warehouse cooling is done by mechanical refrigeration systems that consume large amounts of electricity for the maintenance of low temperatures. Here, a closed loop LNG heat exchange system was designed (by simulator) to replace mechanical or vapor-compression refrigeration systems. The software PRO II with PROVISION V9.4 was used to simulate LNG cold energy, gas re-liquefaction, and the vaporized process under various conditions. The effects on sensible and latent heats from changes to the array type of heat exchangers have been investigated, as well as an examination of the optimum.

LNG 냉열활용을 위한 열교환기의 배열 형태가 냉동창고 성능에 미치는 연구