Gasconsult awarded grant for Botswana LNG project

Gasconsult Limited, the UK based supplier of a proprietary and patented methane cycle liquefaction technology announced that is has been awarded a grant under the British Government’s Innovate UK scheme to co-fund a pre-feasibility study for use of its ZR-LNG liquefaction process for a coal seam gas (CSG) liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Botswana.

Courtesy of Gasconsult.

ZR-LNG requires no external refrigerants, using the methane feedgas as the refrigerant medium and eliminating refrigerant extraction or storage equipment. Refrigerant supply logistics to remote locations are eliminated and there are no refrigerant make-up costs. Other advantages include high energy efficiency, low capital and operating cost, higher project returns and simplicity of operation. The absence of a liquid hydrocarbon refrigerant inventory also reduces fire and blast risk, enhancing safety. The ZR-LNG design has been validated by BP and a number of leading engineering companies active in the LNG sector.

To support its activity on the study, Gasconsult placed two significant subcontracts in October 2017.

The first, to Owner Team Consultation (OTC), a Johannesburg based engineering company, will comprise a survey of the market size including identification of potential off-takers of LNG, identification of potential project partners, a capital cost estimate of the facility, upstream gas sourcing and development of a financial model for the project. OTC is comprised of former Sasol executives and has been active on a number of gas and energy related projects in Southern Africa.

A further subcontract has been placed by Gasconsult with Osomo Projects BV of the Netherlands. The work will comprise a pre-feasibility study for the liquefaction plant which will be based on Gasconsult’s ZR-LNG process combined with Osomo’s patented CO₂ “flash-to-sweep” membrane system and proprietary “Cryo-3-flash” 3 phase vapour liquid-solid separator for CO₂ freeze out. The combined process, designated ZR-iLNG, is jointly promoted by Gasconsult and Osomo and is particularly suitable for pipeline gas, CSG and biogas. ZR-iLNG allows an optimized low energy demand and low equipment count configuration for the challenging high CO₂ and high nitrogen content of the low-pressure Botswana CSG. 

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