Comparative Study Of Various Chemical Refrigerants For Natural Gas Hydrates Production As Alternative Media For Natural Gas Transportation

Ario Guritno (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia Kampus Baru UI, Depok 16424, Indonesia)
Slamet Slamet (Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia Kampus Baru UI, Depok 16424, Indonesia)

Jurnal Kimia dan Kemasan
Vol. 40 No. 2 Oktober 2018

Indonesia has been facing natural gas declining problem since 2003, and one of the alternative solutions which can be proposed is by producing gas from the stranded area. Stranded gas is not much developed due to its remote location and a small number of gas reserves. Natural Gas Hydrates or NGH is one of promising alternative medium for natural gas transportation, but it is not much developed yet. Transportation of NGH requires neither cryogenic temperature as LNG does nor high pressure as CNG does. This theoretical study will suggest a simulation scheme to produce synthetic NGH. Production of synthetic NGH utilizes a refrigeration cycle as a cooling source. Based on proposed proses for converting natural gas to NGH, various design parameters for a refrigeration cycle have been investigated. Results obtained suggested that propane as a refrigerant with a specific operating parameter can be a good alternative for the production of NGH.