FEATURES OF CHOOSING ISOTHERMAL TANKS FOR STORAGE OF LIQUEFIED NATURAL GASES

Abstract

Introduction. Nowadays, natural liquefied gas is very popular in all spheres of life – heating, cooking, transport and many others. And there are many reasons for this – environmental cleanliness, ease of use, low cost, and others. Natural gas deposits are not found in all corners of the Earth, so the problem of its transportation has arisen. As you know, gas under normal conditions is in the gaseous phase and occupies significant volumes. Liquefied natural gas or abbreviated LNG, as it is commonly called in the energy industry (Liquefied Natural Gas, abbreviated LNG) is ordinary natural gas cooled to a temperature of -162 ° C (the so-called liquefaction temperature) for storage and transportation in liquid form in the form. Goal. This article expands the analysis of the features of the selection of tanks for the storage of liquefied gases. Since liquefied gas is stored in isothermal tanks at the boiling temperature, which is maintained due to the evaporation of LNG, the choice of containers for LNG storage plays an important role in the transportation chain – gas delivery. Therefore, it is important to choose a safe and efficient LNG storage method. The results. The work presents the research of scientists on the problems of designing and operating storage facilities for LNG, statistical parameters of research, the dynamics of gas market development and the structure of changes in global capacity for LNG export, the issue of choosing a method of storing significant volumes of liquefied natural gases and the practice of building complexes, the classification of containers is characterized. The analysis of the tanks that are currently used in the implemented international projects showed that among the large-sized tanks, the most common designs are full sealing, but isothermal tanks with single sealing are in some cases no less competitive, providing the necessary level of storage security at a lower cost. Conclusions. This article shows that the choice of tank type must be made at the design stage, taking into account the issues of occupational safety and hazard identification. At the same time, identifying the dangers of isothermal storage of LNG requires an analysis of operating experience and design features.