The Prelude FLNG

FLNG is the acronym of Floating Liquefied Natural Gas and refers to floating production unit of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Floating Liquefied Natural Gas is not the chemical derivative of any form of natural gas, this wording was invented to describe the manufacturing process to produce LNG.

For more than a decade, the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas producers led by Royal Dutch Shell Plc plotted how to move their $170 billion industry onto barges at sea to tap remote fields. Now they’re finally doing it.
 
Shell will forge the hull of a floating LNG plant in South Korea by year-end that will be the world’s largest vessel, weighing six times the biggest aircraft carrier, a Nimitz-class warship. Some 5,000 workers will build the factory to produce LNG off Australia’s northwest coast in a $13 billion project that also will shield Shell from escalating costs it would have to pay at the country’s onshore plants.

Facts:

The Prelude FLNG facility will be 488m long, 74m wide and will displace around 600,000 tonnes of water. It will be the largest floating offshore facility in the world.

Over 1.6 million man hours were worked for the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) phase of development for the Prelude FLNG Project.

It will be the largest floating structure ever built and will be permanently moored about 200km from the coast during its 25 years of production.

The vessel, to be built by South Korea's Samsung Heavy Industries, will be six times heavier than the world's biggest aircraft carrier and designed to withstand severe category 5 cyclones.

Prelude is expected to produce 3.6 million tonnes per annum of LNG, and 1.3 million tons of gas condensate a year.

Once operational, the Prelude FLNG facility will produce at least 5.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquids: 3.6 mtpa of LNG, 1.3 mtpa of condensate (equivalent to 35,000 bbl/d) and 0.4 mtpa of LPG.

Shell plans to spend between $30bn and $50bn on Australian LNG projects over the next decade.

Topsides weight is estimated in excess of 50,000 tonnes. Shell’s FLNG design is suitable for more distant offshore fields, designed to operate under harsh conditions and process a wide range of gas compositions.
 

Technology

The floating facility will chill natural gas produced at the field to –162°C, shrinking its volume by 600 times so it can be shipped to customers in other parts of the world. Ocean-going carriers will load the LNG as well as other liquid by-products (condensate and LPG) for delivery to market.

The Prelude FLNG facility will be built at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje Island ship yards in South Korea. The Samsung ship yard is one of the few yards in the world big enough to construct a facility of this size.

Once constructed, the facility will be towed to its location, approximately 475 kilometres north-northeast of Broome, Western Australia. The facility will be moored and hooked up to the undersea infrastructure and the whole production system commissioned.

The Prelude FLNG facility has been designed to withstand the most powerful tropical cyclones. It will remain permanently moored at the location for around 25 years before needing to dock for inspection and overhaul.
The LNG, LPG and condensate produced will be stored in tanks in the hull of the facility. LNG and LPG carriers will moor alongside to offload the products.

  

Key facts

Location:	Browse Basin, Australia
Depth:	~250 meters
Category:	Floating liquefied natural gas
Interest:	Shell 100%
Fields:	Prelude and potentially other Shell natural gas assets in the region
FLNG facility production capacity:	At least 5.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquids: 3.6 mtpa of LNG, 1.3 mtpa of condensate and 0.4 mtpa of LPG
Key contractors:	Technip/Samsung Heavy Industries consortium

Fuel Cell Technology Gives Hope For Clean Ship Energy

A new position paper from DNV Research and Innovation, gives hope for a future of reduced emissions from shipping.

With rising fuel prices and impending environmental regulations, the pressure is on for more efficient and environmentally friendly ships. DNV Research and Innovation has taken a leading role in facilitating the demonstration of safe and reliable fuel cell applications for ships. In the joint industry project, FellowSHIP, a 330 kW fuel cell was successfully installed, and demonstrated smooth operation for more than 7000 hours on board the offshore supply vessel Viking Lady.

Fuel cell technology of this magnitude has never before been installed in a merchant vessel, and the project is innovative on a global scale. The achievements of the project include significantly reduced CO2 emissions, improved energy efficiency and zero emissions of harmful substances compared to conventional engine technology.

This recent success with fuel cell technology indicates that it is possible to lower the contribution from shipping to global warming. Introducing fuel cells to ships benefit human health and the environment by avoiding local consequences of air pollution. It can even completely eliminate CO2 emission if hydrogen from renewables becomes available.

According to DNVs expert on the field, Researcher Eirik Ovrum, fuel cells can have a viable future within shipping. “DNV has paved the way for safe and smooth introduction of fuel cells for ships. We recognize that it will take time before fuel cells can become a realistic on-board alternative, mostly restricted by costs, but the FellowSHIP project has taken some important first steps towards a future for fuel cells on ships.”
 

Warship Composite Construction – Java Shows the Way

One of the most innovative warships in the world was launched recently, from remote, tropical Banyuwangi on the sea coast of Java, Indonesia, where North Sea Boats has a shipyard. The high-speed littoral waters patrol boat –  to be named KRI Klewang – has a wave-piercing trimaran hull form (offering a very stable weapons platform) constructed exclusively of infused vinylester carbon-fibre composite.

This composite medium was chosen for its multiple benefits including: reduced weight (laminated carbon fibre has a density nearly half that of aluminium alloys) and reduced maintenance (carbon composites cannot corrode and exhibit extremely high fatigue limits). If that were not sufficient justification, this material also provides the nil magnetic signature, reduced thermal and acoustic signatures required to suit the role of this warship.

This fairly remote area of Indonesia lacked the highly skilled specialist workforce with experience in building composite hulls for such an advanced, relatively large vessel – LOA 63m (206.7 ft)  –  in order to achieve the quality required for a build under the eye of classification society Germanischer Lloyd. To overcome this, North Sea Boats introduced its high volume vacuum infusion system to give the necessary confidence in the quality and consistency of the building work.

The flat, faceted panel geometry of the ship itself (the design provides external ‘Stealth’ geometry) also lent itself to this high volume production system, which also employed numerically controlled milling machine technology for the utmost accuracy.

The builders claim that the use of carbon foam sandwich composites on this scale in naval application is unprecedented outside of Scandinavia and is representative of the current state of the art in both maritime composites structural engineering and production technology.

Accommodation is provided for a complement of twenty nine (officers and crew) on three internal decks (including bridge and combat control centre), with facilities and equipment for deployment of special forces troops, including an 11m high speed 50 knot RIB, also manufactured and supplied by North Sea Boats.

Propulsion System

Power comes from multiple MAN Diesel & Turbo V12 diesel engines, coupled to MJP 550 propulsion water jet units which are located in both the centre hull and each of the two side hulls for maximum propulsive thrust and manoeuvrability.

The  MAN 4-stroke power plants each have 12 cylinders in 90° V configuration with four valves per cylinder, water-cooled, plus two- stage exhaust gas turbo-chargers. These engines have common rail electronically controlled direct fuel injection.

The stainless steel water jets, manufacture certified by DNV, come from MPJ Waterjets, part of the Swedish industrial group Österby Marine.

KRI Klewang – General Specifications

LOA 63.0 m (206.7 ft)
Length on Waterline 61.0 m (200.1 ft)
Beam Overall 16.0 m (52.5 ft)
Water Draft 1.2 m (3.9 ft)
Sprint Speed 30+ kts
Range 2000+ nm
Fuel Capacity 50,000 ltrs (13,208 US Galls.)

Yuhan Zhang’s Aqua is the Personal VW Hovercraft Concept of Tomorrow

Before budget airlines and the Channel Tunnel, the faster way to get from Britain to France was by hovercraft. The largest of these was the SNR4, a 300-ton behemoth capable of carrying 380 passengers and 40 cars at a speed of 70 mph (113 km/h). In the 1950s and ‘60s, magazines like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics were predicting a future where we’d all be cruising around in affordable, personal hovercrafts. Sadly, it was not to be. 
 
Now, some 11 years after the last SNR4 was retired, 21-year-old industrial design graduate Yuhan Zhang has resurrected the personal hovercraft in the form of her Volkswagen Aqua study. 

A hydrogen fuel cell / electric-drive hovercraft with seating for two and a submarine-style rear hatch for entry and egress. Just look at it! It’s like a Vanair Vanguard had sex with the Audi RSQ and this was the result. 

From Yuhan Zhang:

“Aqua is based on the customized subject “Chinese off-road vehicle” by Volkswagen.

The Aqua offers an insight of futuristic vehicle powered by hydrogen and propelled by impeller.

Aqua is function with several engines, the main one drives the fan (or impeller) under the chases, which is responsible for lifting the vehicle by forcing high pressure air under the craft. The air inflates the "skirt" under the vehicle, causing it to rise above the surface. Additional engines provide thrust in order to propel the craft.

Aqua interprets the philosophy of Volkswagen Design with no single parting-line and laconic appearance, The door (hatch)locates on the back of Aqua. It features an electric drive train powered by a hydrogen fuel cell with no pollutant emissions.”