Techno-economic analysis of natural gas distribution using a small-scale liquefied natural gas carrier.

The design of the gas distribution for small-demand power plants located on remote islands is logistically challenging. The use of small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels can be an option for these logistic problems. This paper aims to conduct a techno-economic analysis of using small-scale LNG vessels for gas distribution to the power plants that are spread across different islands. Route optimisation has been conducted using the capacitated vehicle routing problem method. The ship's principal dimensions were determined using the aspect ratio from a linear regression of existing small-scale LNG vessels. As a case study, the gas demands for a gas power plant in eastern Indonesia were analysed into four distribution clusters. The results of the techno-economic analysis showed that the four distribution clusters have different characteristics regarding the LNG requirements, location characteristics and ship specifications. The capacity of small-scale LNG vessels feasible in terms of technical aspects varies from 2500, 5000, to > 10,000 m3 with variations in the ship speed depending on the location of the power plants. The amount of cargo requested and the shipping distance was affected to the cost of LNG transportation. The economic assessment proposes that the feasible investment by considering small-scale LNG cargo distribution, from the case study shows that with a ship capacity of 5000 m3 feasible margin rate is ≥ 3 USD/metric million British thermal units with an internal rate of return of 10% and estimated payback period is less than 15 years.

Evaluation of CO2 emissions and energy use with different container terminal layouts.

Sustainable development of container terminals is based on energy efficiency and reduction in CO2 emissions. This study estimated the energy consumption and CO2 emissions in container terminals according to their layouts. Energy consumption was calculated based on utility data as well as fuel and electricity consumptions for each container-handling equipment in the container terminal. CO2 emissions were estimated using movement modality based on the number of movements of and distance travelled by each container-handling equipment. A case study involving two types of container terminal layouts i.e. parallel and perpendicular layouts, was conducted. The contributions of each container-handling equipment to the energy consumption and CO2 emissions were estimated and evaluated using statistical analysis. The results of the case study indicated that on the CO2 emissions in parallel and perpendicular layouts were relatively similar (within the range of 16-19 kg/TEUs). These results indicate that both parallel and perpendicular layouts are suitable for future ports based on sustainable development. The results can also be used for future planning of operating patterns and layout selection in container terminals.

Study on the LNG distribution to mobile power plants utilizing small-scale LNG carriers.

In recent years, the use of small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) has grown alongside demand from industrial users of natural gas. Small-scale LNG is an alternative to the supply of natural gas to remote areas with a cost-effectiveness challenge. To address this challenge, five mobile power plants located in remote areas with limited depth of water level in western Indonesia are used here as a case study. The objective of this paper is to optimize LNG distribution using small-scale LNG carriers and carry out an economic analysis in this region. The capacitated vehicle routing problem model was used to optimize the maritime routing of a small-scale LNG supply chain. The maximization of the volume cargo with a given LNG vessel capacity set as the objective function was therefore provided with the optimum inventory routing and economic analysis of the transport of LNG. Cluster 1 serves three power plants with a total demand of 966 m3/day and a distance is 913 Nautical Miles, while cluster 2 serves two power plants with a total demand of 690 m3/day and distance of 1,483 Nautical Miles. Economic analysis of the two clusters shows that there is a minimum difference in the margin rate needed to make it worth the investment, which is 3 USD/MMBTU for cluster 1 and 4 USD/MMBTU for cluster 2. Thus, this paper concludes that the cost of LNG transportation depends on the amount of cargo demand and shipping distances.