Large liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas production process

Abstract

A process for co-producing a liquid oxygen and a liquefied hydrocarbon stream, including introducing a gaseous hydrocarbon stream and a gaseous nitrogen stream into a liquefier, thereby producing a liquefied hydrocarbon stream and a liquid nitrogen stream, liquefying a gaseous oxygen stream, wherein at least a portion of the required refrigeration is obtained from the liquid nitrogen stream. Wherein the liquefied hydrocarbon stream and the liquefied gaseous oxygen stream have mass flow rates. The liquid oxygen stream may be produced in an aft separation unit, wherein at least a portion of the required refrigeration is obtained from the liquid nitrogen stream.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A process for co-producing a liquid oxygen and a liquefied hydrocarbon stream, comprising:
 introducing a gaseous hydrocarbon stream and a gaseous nitrogen stream into a liquefier, thereby producing a liquefied hydrocarbon stream and a liquid nitrogen stream,   liquefying a gaseous oxygen stream, wherein at least a portion of he required refrigeration is obtained from the liquid nitrogen stream, wherein the liquefied hydrocarbon stream and the liquefied gaseous oxygen stream have mass flow rates.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of mass flow rates of the liquefied gaseous oxygen stream and the liquefied hydrocarbon stream is between 2 to 5. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the ratio of mass flow rates of the liquefied gaseous oxygen stream and the liquefied hydrocarbon stream is between 3 to 4. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the liquefier uses a dual refrigerant liquefaction process, comprising a first refrigerant and a secondary refrigerant. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 4 , wherein the first refrigerant is nitrogen or neon or a mixture of neon and nitrogen. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 4 , wherein the secondary refrigerant is a hydrocarbon mixed refrigerant. 
     
     
         7 . A process for co-producing a liquid oxygen and a liquefied hydrocarbon stream, comprising:
 introducing a gaseous hydrocarbon stream and a gaseous nitrogen stream in a liquefier, thereby producing a liquefied hydrocarbon stream and a liquid nitrogen stream,   producing a liquid oxygen stream in an air separation unit, wherein at least a portion of a required refrigeration is obtained from the liquid nitrogen stream,   wherein the liquefied hydrocarbon stream, the liquid nitrogen stream, and the liquid oxygen stream have mass flow rates.   
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 7 . wherein the ratio of mass flow rates of the liquid oxygen stream and the liquefied hydrocarbon stream is between 2 to 5. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 7 , wherein the ratio of mass flow rates of the liquid oxygen stream and the liquefied hydrocarbon stream is between 3 to 4. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 7 , wherein the ratio of mass flow rates the liquid nitrogen stream to the liquid oxygen stream is 0.5 to 1.1. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 7 , wherein the liquefier uses a dual refrigerant liquefaction process, comprising a first refrigerant and a secondary refrigerant. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 11 , wherein the first refrigerant is nitrogen or neon or a mixture of neon and nitrogen. 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 11 , wherein the secondary refrigerant is hydrocarbon mixed refrigerant. 
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 7 . wherein at least a portion of the refrigeration required to liquefy the oxygen is from an auxiliary refrigeration produced within the air separation unit. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 14 , wherein the auxiliary refrigeration is produced within the air separation unit with a main air compressor and/or a booster air compressor. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 15 , wherein the auxiliary refrigeration is produced from at least 10% of the combined main air compressor and/or booster air compressor energy. 
     
     
         17 . The process of  claim 7 . where the pressurized gaseous oxygen and/or gaseous nitrogen stream are produced by pumping of liquid and vaporizing. 
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 7 , wherein at least a portion of the liquid oxygen stream is subcooled by heat exchange in the air separation unit with a nitrogen stream. 
     
     
         19 . The process of  claim 7 , wherein the air separation unit produces both a liquid oxygen stream with a mass flowrate and a gaseous oxygen stream with a mass flowrate, the liquid oxygen stream mass flowrate is added to the gaseous oxygen stream mass flowrate to produce a total oxygen mass flowrate, and wherein at least 90% of the of the total oxygen mass flowrate is liquid oxygen.