EP4111121A1

EP4111121A1 - Heat exchanger for the recovery of refrigeration capacity from the regasification of cryogenic liquefied gases

Info

Publication number: EP4111121A1
Application number: EP21708552.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Rainer Braun
Original assignee: Regascold GmbH
Current assignee: Regascold GmbH
Priority date: 2020-02-29
Filing date: 2021-01-27
Publication date: 2023-01-04
Also published as: WO2021170165A1; DE102020001338A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a heat exchanger for the recovery of refrigeration capacity from the regasification of cryogenic liquefied gases with the aid of adapted refrigerants. A pipe-in-pipe heat exchanger according to the invention consists substantially of an inner pipe and an outer pipe disposed as coaxially as possible with respect to the inner pipe, thereby forming a shell space. The liquefied gas to be regasified flows through the inner pipe, while the refrigerant flows through the shell space and thus transports the refrigeration capacity from the liquefied gas to be regasified to the refrigerating consumer. The heat exchanger is configurable in a straight pipe arrangement and in a u-shaped manner and can be operated continuously or intermittently. The used refrigerant is adapted such that heat flows can be managed over large temperature gradients that lead to low temperatures without the need for the integration of an intermediate medium contributing with additional heat transfers. The heat exchanger can be designed as a standardised module of a modular heat transfer system, thereby permitting freely selectable magnitudes of the mass flow to be regasified and of the temperature gradient to be managed and thus a universal application that is both scalable and individually configurable.

Description

description

title

Heat exchanger for the recovery of cooling capacity from the regasification of cryogenic liquefied gases

field of use

Liquefying gases by cooling them to low temperatures reduces you

Volume and makes them storable and transportable. Because of the very low temperature level required, for example, based on 1 bar, for oxygen (LO2) -183 ° C, for nitrogen (LN2) -196 ° C and for

Natural gas (LNG) is -162 ° C, is considerable for the liquefaction of the gases

Scope of cooling capacity to be used. Nevertheless, liquefaction is a technology used worldwide.

The final use of the cryogenic liquid requires its regasification. For this purpose, heat must be supplied to it, which in turn cools a heat emitter as a cooling power, whereby the exergy stored in the cryogenic liquid is transferred to it. The heat emitter during regasification can be the so-called refrigerant, with which the refrigeration capacity can be transferred to the various refrigeration applications. The lower the temperature level of the refrigerant below the temperature level of the environment, the higher its exergy content.

So far, the exergy available during regasification has been almost exclusively dissipated worldwide by using the environment, ie air or sea water, as a heat emitter. The available cooling capacity potential thus remains unused, although the global demand for cooling capacity is growing significantly and causing an increasing demand for electrical final energy, which today already accounts for 17% of the total electrical final energy used. This means that there is an opportunity to save large amounts of electrical final energy and thus fossil fuel or at great expense and therefore scarce renewable primary energy. State of the art

It is common practice to operate the large-scale regasification of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) using seawater, which initially cools down by approx original sea water temperature warmed. The fact that the coolant water does not freeze is achieved by an intermediate circuit that is operated with propane, which transports the heat in natural circulation through evaporation and condensation. This technology was first implemented in 2013 in an offshore project on a former LNG tanker off the coast of Tuscany. Using propane as an intermediate medium is advisable for two reasons: on the one hand because of its very good heat transfer properties and on the other hand because of the favorable position of the solidus line (triple point data: -187.7 ° C and 0.0002 Pa; data of the critical point:

96.7 ° C and 42.5 bar). The propane is filled in such a way that it evaporates and condenses at -7 ° C. The transport of heat from the seawater to the LNG has to overcome several thermal resistances, namely the heat transfer from the seawater to the surface of the propane evaporator, the heat conduction through the evaporator tube wall, the heat transfer to the evaporating propane, the heat transfer from the condensing propane to the surface of the LNG Pipes, the heat conduction through the walls of these pipes and finally the heat transfer to the evaporating LNG. At all thermal resistances, formulated in analogy to Ohm's law, the temperature drops proportionally to the size of the resistance. The sum of the temperature drops corresponds to the difference between the sea water temperature and the LNG temperature. The transport chain is designed in such a way that the temperature drop that occurs when the heat is transferred from the seawater to the water-wetted surface of the propane evaporator leads to surface temperatures greater than 0 ° C.

A solution operated alternatively with the intermediate medium propane is described in publication DE 102016006 121 and in PCT / DE2016 / 000253. The aim here is to recover small and medium-sized exergetically high-quality cooling capacities from the regasification of cryogenic liquids, especially in connection with storage tanks for LNG, LN ₂ and L0 ₂ , whose atmospheric evaporators, which are usually used and operated with ambient air as the heat source, are then supplemented or replaced to save energy.

The coolant, preferably a synthetic heat transfer fluid suitable for low temperatures, is operated with a view to the applications that are mainly in demand, such as low temperature storage, shock freezing, cold storage with phase change material and any process cooling temperature close to -60 ° C.

The appropriate temperature of the evaporating and condensing propane can be determined in advance by weighing the corresponding mass into the closed cylindrical heat transfer container. The fact that only two coiled tubing fastened on one side are used for heat transfer provides security against impermissible mechanical stresses that can occur during operation as a result of the large local and temporal temperature changes.

Another solution achieved alternatively with the intermediate medium propane is described in DE 10 2017 007 009.1 and PCT / DE201 / 000352. They in turn relate to the generation of high-quality cooling capacity, but now large outputs, for example those that apply to large LNG terminals. Here the use of two expensive tube bundle heat exchangers is necessary for the evaporation and condensation of the intermediate medium that takes place in natural circulation. _{The use of C0 2} as a refrigerant, which transports the refrigeration capacity in liquid and supercooled form to the refrigeration demand point to be supplied without a phase change, has a cost-effective effect, whereby even large distances can be bridged inexpensively. The risk of solidification of the C0 ₂ , the triple point of which has the coordinates 5.19 bar and -56.6 ° C, is controlled by restricting the cooling to the minimum value -50 ° C, which is done by controlling the LNG supply. In PCT / DE2018 / 000360 it is proposed to replace the thermal resistance caused by an intermediate medium that evaporates and condenses at an adjustable temperature level with a stationary gas layer that is operated without a phase change in order to ensure that the temperature of the heat transfer surface wetted by the refrigerant does not change sets below the solidification temperature. A heat transfer device for the provision of cold in refrigerated vehicles whose motor vehicle engine is powered by LNG is presented. A synthetic liquid that does not freeze down to - 85 ° C and is pumpable is used as the coolant. It cools the cold room air via a finned tube heat exchanger. The thermal resistance of the dry gas, preferably air or nitrogen, hermetically enclosed between coaxial tubes takes over the necessary temperature drop contribution to the overall temperature gradient.

An additional function is that the pressure of the gas is selected to be significantly lower than the minimum LNG pressure, so that the pressure increase that occurs in the event of a leak as a result of the ingress of natural gas triggers the safety pressure switch provided for this purpose, and this triggers the blocking of the LNG supply.

Task

The energy recovery possible with the regasification of cryogenic liquefied gases has so far remained almost unused worldwide.

It is limited to a few versions assigned to LNG port terminals, which take on valuable cooling capacity at a low temperature level by means of large systems and complex, costly process engineering. The use of smaller and medium-sized cooling capacities, as can be obtained from the numerous decentralized tank systems available, in particular tank systems for L0 ₂ , LN ₂ and LNG, with the help of a heat exchanger and a coolant, replacing the previous regasification facility or immediately has been completely neglected until today. The reason given is that the technology is not sufficiently economical. The heat transfer devices offered according to the prior art are too complex and therefore uneconomical because it takes too long to amortize the investment costs with the yields that can be achieved for the recovered refrigeration capacity.

The object of the invention is derived from the prior art described above, in particular from its disadvantages. It focuses on cooling capacities that are intermittently available and also intermittently retrievable from decentralized tank and regasification systems, on the cooling capacities that are particularly extensive in the temperature range - 40 ° C to + 10 ° C and, under these boundary conditions, are designed to be as simple and cost-effective as possible Heat transfer. The latter assumes that the dangers resulting from the low temperature level and the large local and temporal temperature differences are mastered: namely the occurrence of impermissible mechanical stresses, the impermissible increase in the viscosity of the refrigerant and its impermissible transition into the solid phase. The aim of the invention, namely to recover the refrigeration capacity available from regasification of cryogenic liquefied gases both technically and economically, is seen as the task of developing a tube-in-tube heat exchanger which constructively overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art described above.

Solution of the task

The solution to the problem is given in claim 1.

The subordinate claims contain expedient developments.

The heat is transported directly from the refrigerant to the cryogenic liquefied gas. The otherwise usual complex integration of additional heat transfer steps leading via an intermediate medium is deliberately avoided. A tube-in-tube heat exchanger, which is preferably designed as a U-tube, is used as a purposefully minimalist solution. The cryogenic liquefied gas to be regasified by evaporation and overheating is transported in the inner tube. The outer tube surrounds the inner tube coaxially and thus forms the flow channel for the refrigerant. Both tubes end in the tube sheet, have a fixed connection with it and are also firmly and tightly connected to one another here. The free protrusion of the pipes prevents inadmissible mechanical stresses arising as a result of the temporal and local temperature differences.

The tube-in-tube heat exchanger can alternatively be designed in a straight tube arrangement, the inner tube and the outer tube likewise being aligned as coaxially as possible. The outer tube is supported at its ends by tight and tight connections and, if necessary, supported by additional sliding spacer elements, which prevents vibrations and reduces turbulence in the jacket space that impairs the transfer of heat.

The outer tube, which is less pressure and temperature stressed than the inner tube, is advantageously equipped with a compensator that compensates for the thermal changes in length.

An important component of the above-described recovery system according to the invention is the refrigerant, which is to be selected differently under two conditions, adapted to the temperature level of the refrigeration power requirement. Restrictions are in each case that, as a result of the cooling of the refrigerant, its solidus line and thus its phase change that prevents the flow is reached, and further that its viscosity increases to such an extent that it is no longer pumpable.

The first way of choosing the coolant is based on the assumption that neither too high viscosity values nor the risk of the formation of a solid phase arise if, for example, mixtures of water with ethylene glycol or synthetic, low-temperature heat transfer fluids are used and at the same time appropriate values of the heat transport parameters such as pipe wall thickness, duct dimensions and Ensures flow velocities.

The second way of choosing the refrigerant requires specific and defined solidification in order to gain thermal resistance with the solid layer forming on the outside of the inner tube, which contributes the required temperature drop on the transport route to the cryogenic liquefied gas. This solidified layer, on the surface of which the solidification temperature of the refrigerant prevails, reaches a stationary thickness after the transient formation process has taken place and replaces the costly solutions available with the prior art in a cost-effective manner. The disadvantage is that the solidified layer reduces the heat transfer, which is, however, at least partially compensated for by the increase in the flow velocity and the enlargement of the heat transfer surface associated with the reduction in the flow cross section.

The enlargement of the heat transfer surface must, if it does not come about automatically through the formation of the solidified layer, take place constructively.

The decisive factor for the heat transfer and thus for the required heat transfer area is in any case the heat transfer from the flowing coolant to the surface of the solidified layer. The invention provides for this, which can be implemented very easily and indirectly, to be monitored by measurement and, if the value falls below a threshold value, the supply of the liquid to be regasified is stopped in order to intermittently apply the solidified layer, which acts like a cold accumulator, with the refrigerant flowing further defrost.

The aim, which is important in the effort to achieve technical and at the same time economic effectiveness, is to make the heat transport, which leads to low temperatures over large temperature gradients, as user-friendly as possible. The practiced simplicity of the tube-in-tube heat exchanger as a U-tube offers the best prerequisites for this. It enables the use of a modular system so that the heat exchanger can be used universally as a standardized component based on the principle of modularity.

Both small and any large liquid gas throughputs can be used efficiently in a scalable manner. The space required is small, since the heat exchanger can be set up horizontally or vertically as an individual component or in a group arrangement in the area of a liquid gas tank system or in the area of a cold consumption point. It can be operated in the bypass to the existing regasification facility heated with ambient heat, or it can replace it. Embodiment

The heat exchanger according to the invention for the recovery of cooling power from the regasification of cryogenic liquefied gases is explained in more detail below with reference to a drawing (FIG. 1).

The heat exchanger chosen as the exemplary embodiment is designed as a tube-in-tube heat exchanger in a U-shape. The inner tube 2 and the outer tube 3 are aligned as coaxially as possible, whereby a jacket space 9 is formed.

The outer tube 3 is supported at its ends by a firm and tight connection in the form of a tube sheet 4.

The inner tube 2 is freely cantilevered relative to the outer tube 3 from its ends located on the tube sheet side. This means that there is no need for a compensator to compensate for thermal changes in length.

Due to these structural requirements, liquefied gas to be regasified can flow from the inlet 5 to the outlet 6 through the inner tube 2.

The coolant, on the other hand, flows from inlet 7 to outlet 8 through the flow channel formed by the jacket space 9 and thus transports the refrigeration capacity from the liquefied gas to be regasified to the refrigeration consumer.

Further possible configurations are given in the description.

List of reference symbols

1 tube-in-tube heat exchanger (in U-tube design),

2 inner tube, 3 outer tube,

4 tube sheets,

5 Entry of the liquefied gas to be regasified,

6 exit of regasified liquefied gas,

7 inlet of the secondary refrigerant, 8 outlet of the secondary refrigerant

9 jacket room.

Claims

1. Tube-in-tube heat exchanger for the recovery of cooling capacity from the regasification of cryogenic liquefied gases, characterized in that a heat exchanger (1) consists essentially of an inner tube (2) and an outer tube (3) which is guided as coaxially as possible to this, whereby a shell space (9) is formed that the liquefied gas to be regasified flows from the inlet (5) to the outlet (6) through the inner tube (2) while the coolant flows from the inlet (7) to the outlet (8) through the from the shell space ( 9) flows and thus transports the refrigeration capacity from the liquefied gas to be regasified to the refrigeration consumer, that the heat exchanger (1) is configured in a straight pipe arrangement or, alternatively, in an equivalent U-shape, so that the refrigerant is adapted so that heat flows over large, too deep Temperatures leading temperature gradients are manageable without the integration of an intermediate med It is necessary that the heat exchanger (1) can be acted upon both uniformly and intermittently, and that the heat exchanger (1) can be designed as a standardized module of a modular heat transfer system, which means that the mass flow to be regasified and the temperature gradient to be controlled can be freely selected allows a universal, scalable and individually configurable application.

2. Tube-in-tube heat exchanger according to claim 1, characterized in that the heat exchanger (1) is designed in a straight tube arrangement, the inner tube (2) and the outer tube (3) being aligned as coaxially as possible, that the outer tube (3) supported at its ends by tight and tight connections and, if necessary, supported by additional sliding spacer elements, which prevents vibrations and turbulence in the jacket space that hinders heat transfer, and that the outer tube (3), which is less pressure and temperature stressed than the inner tube (2), is equipped with a compensator that compensates for the thermal changes in length.

3. Tube-in-tube heat exchanger according to claim 1, characterized in that the heat exchanger (1) is U-shaped, the inner tube (2) and the outer tube (3) being aligned as coaxially as possible and the outer tube (3) is firmly and tightly connected at its ends to the inner tube (2), and that the inner tube (2) can move freely out of the tube sheet (4) cantilevered relative to the outer tube (3) from its ends located on the same side, namely at There is no need for a compensator to compensate for thermal changes in length.

4. Tube-in-tube heat exchanger according to the preceding claims, characterized in that a refrigerant used for the mass flow to be regasified and for the refrigerant transferring, preferably liquid, but also gaseous mass flow applicable flow parameters volume flow and flow cross-section precisely which is suitable for transferring exergetically valuable cooling capacity at a low temperature level as required, without a phase change occurring or the ability to be pumped without inadmissibly decreasing due to excessively high viscosity.

5. Tube-in-tube heat exchanger according to the preceding claims, characterized in that a liquid refrigerant is used, which partially freezes at a defined solidification temperature and thus the required temperature drop to the cryogenic surface of the through the formation of a solidified layer acting as a thermal resistance The thickness of the resulting solidified layer, on the surface of which the solidification temperature of the refrigerant prevails, is roughly inversely proportional to the heat transfer coefficient of the heat dissipation of the refrigerant, which, however, is due to the increased available heat transfer area and due to the increased flow velocity with a reduced flow cross-section increases.

6. Tube-in-tube heat exchanger according to claim 5, characterized in that the coolant adhering in the solid phase as a solidified layer on the inner tube (2) can be used as a cold store, which when the mass flow of the cryogenic liquefied gas is switched off by the liquid flowing further Cold carrier brought about transition of the solid to the liquid phase can be discharged.

7. tube-in-tube heat exchanger according to claims 1 to 6, characterized in that its inexpensive, simple use as a standardized building block according to the principle of modularity, scalable and position-independent in series and parallel circuits allows any design heat transfer systems, both for evaporation as can also be used to overheat the fluid to be regasified and ensure universal applicability in terms of refrigerant, temperature level, cooling capacity and continuous or intermittent mass flow rates.

A sheet of drawing follows (Figure 1)!