Plant-wide control for the economic operation of modified single mixed refrigerant process for an offshore natural gas liquefaction plant

The marine operation of floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) demands process compactness, flexibility, simplicity of operation, safety, and higher efficiency. The modified single mixed refrigerant (MSMR) process satisfies the FLNG process requirements and is accepted as a suitable technology for FLNG operation. The aim of this study was to develop a plant-wide control structure or strategy that can sustain the economic efficiency of the MSMR process. The NGL recovery and liquefaction units were integrated in the MSMR process to provide a compact plant structure with an efficient operation. Steady-state optimality analysis was intensively conducted in a rigorous dynamic simulation environment to determine the correct variable to sustain the economic efficiency of MSMR process. The results showed that the flow rate ratio of heavy and light mixed refrigerant (HK/LK ratio) is a promising self-optimizing controlled variable. Controlling this variable can sustain the MSMR optimality, even when the process is operated under off-design operating conditions or in the presence of disturbances. Based on the control structure tests, the control configuration with the HK/LK ratio loop showed excellent performance, maintaining the process stability against a range of disturbances. The proposed approach can also be applied to any cryogenic liquefaction technology for determining a possible optimizing controlled variable.