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Heat exchangers at the core of liquefaction efficiency

US manufacturers will supply heat exchangers for new LNG export projects in Mozambique and the US, while the first Russian-made units are readied for domestic use

Mozambique’s first onshore LNG production facility, Mozambique LNG project, has selected US-based Air Products to provide its proprietary heater exchanger technology.

Mozambique LNG is being constructed by the multi-national engineering, procurement and construction contractor CCS JV, a joint venture comprised of affiliates of Saipem, McDermott and Chiyoda.

Supplying liquefaction technology for about 70% of the global operational capacity, NYSE-listed Air Products will provide two of its proprietary coil-wound main cryogenic heat exchangers (MCHE) for the project. Manufacturing will take place at its Air Products’ facility in Port Manatee, Florida. Some 55-m long and weighing 500 tonnes, the LNG heat exchangers will be transported by ship to the project site on the Afungi Peninsula in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique.

The Mozambique LNG Project will be the first onshore LNG project in Mozambique in southeast Africa. Air Products’ MCHEs will operate at the site as part of two separate LNG production trains designed to produce a nameplate capacity of 13 mta. Gas will be sourced from the Golfinho/Atum natural gas fields in Mozambique. Mozambique LNG anticipates commercial production in 2024.

Dr Samir Serhan (Air Products): Encouraged by the activity in the market

When the contract was announced in March amid the coronavirus outbreak, Air Products executive vice president Dr Samir Serhan said he was “encouraged by the activity in the market and customers should know that Air Products’ expanded manufacturing facility is capable of addressing their LNG technological needs anywhere in the world.”

CCS JV chairman Roberto Uberti said: “We have been tasked with building the first onshore LNG export facility in Mozambique and one of the most efficient facilities in the LNG space. We are carefully selecting reliable and experienced technology providers and under this perspective the benefits of Air Products involvement are clearly consistent.”

Total operates Mozambique LNG with a 26.5% interest alongside ENH Rovuma Área Um, SA (15%), Mitsui E&P Mozambique Area1 Ltd (20%), ONGC Videsh Ltd (10%), Beas Rovuma Energy Mozambique Limited (10%), BPRL Ventures Mozambique BV (10%), and PTTEP Mozambique Area 1 Limited (8.5%).

Air Products is also involved with the Coral South floating LNG (FLNG) project, the first offshore FLNG project in Mozambique, which is expected to begin production in 2022.

US LNG export projects

Noting the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in reporting the company’s Q1 2020 results, Chart chief executive Jillian Evanko said: “While big LNG projects are pushed to the right, we continue to see small-scale LNG projects progress on their original timelines, in particular for power generation applications.” Chart received a letter of intent for the process technology and associated equipment on Eagle’s small-scale Jacksonville LNG project.