Natural gas is definitely a viable option in bridging our energy gap to the next century of renewable
energy. Natural gas is recognized as a safe and environmental responsible fuel and has reduced
emissions in many parts of the world. Liquefied natural gas (LNG), being a denser fluid, is an
economical way to transport and store natural gas, whether via LNG cargo ships or trucks from remote
locations to the consumers. LNG continues to increase its share of year-on-year growth in the global
natural gas trade and remains one of the fastest growing sectors of the energy industry.
The LNG supply chain extends from upstream production, LNG production plant, shipping,
storage, and regasification to supply to sales gas pipelines and power plant users. LNG production is
capital intensive and the recent costs have deterred the commitment of most investors, and any future
LNG production plant owners must reevaluate the current technologies for a “fit-for-purpose” design
to reduce the life cycle costs.
This book is written for the complete LNG supply chain, from liquefaction to regasification, for
LNG plant designers, engineers, and operators, as well as LNG project developers and managers. This
book provides an overview of the LNG industry’ fundamentals, engineering and design principles. It
can be used as a textbook for students in petroleum and chemical engineering curricula or as a
reference guide to engineering and operating companies. The first chapter addresses the fundamentals
of LNG from liquefaction to regasification and LNG commerce and the later chapters include more
advanced topics, such as liquefaction cycle optimization, control and automation, safety and security,
and LNG innovations. We believe this book has assembled a “first of a kind” collection of materials
that address the full spectrum of the technologies in the LNG supply chain.
The materials used in this book are obtained from different sources including distinguished papers
and publications in recent years, standards and recommendations published by several research institutions, and our own research papers. These references are listed in the back of each chapter for
those readers interested in learning more on the subjects. We wish to thank chapter authors for their
contributions. We also appreciate the patience and assistance of the editorial staff at Elsevier Science
& Technology. Finally, we wish to express gratitude to our families and friends for their support and
patience during the preparation of this book.
We understand that LNG technologies are evolving and the LNG business is changing. We accept
the contents of this work may not be perfect, but we believe that the publication of this book is timely
as natural gas is a favorite topic in today’s news. We also hope that the materials of this book will be
updated with newer and better technologies and innovations as the LNG industry progresses to the next
millennium