Burckhardt Compression has received an order for four Laby® compressors to be delivered to Isle of Grain, Kent, UK, for the LNG receiving terminal phase II expansion project.
Burckhardt Compression recorded an order from CB&I to deliver four Labys (labyrinth piston compressors) for the second phase expansion of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) receiving terminal at the Isle of Grain, Kent, UK. Burckhardt Compression (UK) Ltd. has taken a major role in securing the order. The responsible contractor for this plant is CB&I, a global speciality engineering, procurement and construction company. The facility is owned and operated by Grain LNG Ltd. a subsidiary of National Grid Transco plc.
The Laby has a unique ultra-low maintenance piston sealing design and is therefore the ideal solution for boil-off gas applications. The gastight casing reduces gas emission and losses to the environment to zero. For any LNG applications the Laby is the compressor to be used, since it is designed to easily manage these specific requirements.
Delivery of the first two compressors will take place in January 2007; the other two will be delivered in February 2007. The plant was originally commissioned in 1982 as an LNG peak shaving plant. In the first phase of the new project, the facility was converted to an LNG import and regasification terminal with an initial capacity of 3.3 million tons of LNG per year. The second phase of the project, for which CB&I has complete engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) responsibility, will increase the terminal’s capacity to 9.8 million tons per year, which equates to some 12% of the United Kingdom’s annual natural gas demand. The project is scheduled to be completed in late 2008.
Laby compressors are used for liquid gas transport and storage as well as in the chemical and petrochemical industries. Labys compress bone-dry, dirty, abrasive and other gases with no contamination and without oil, with a discharge pressure up to 300bar (4,350psi), flow up to 11,000Nm³/h (6,500scfm) and shaft power up to 2,200kW (3,000HP).
Laby compressors are extremely reliable machines with unexcelled availability, combining high performance with a unique cooling system. Burckhardt Compression’s Laby easily manages the compression of LNG boil-off gas at suction temperatures down to minus 160°C (250°F). The compressors will be used to reliquefy boil-off gas which forms during LNG unloading of the LNG carriers and to maintain the LNG storage temperature at minus 162°C.
