LAUSR

Abstract In receiving terminal, liquid natural gas (LNG) needs to be re-gasified by the ambient heat generally supplied by seawater. Unfortunately, a great amount of LNG cold energy is wasted during this process, resulting in energy inefficiency and environmental implications. Seawater freezing desalination (SFD) should be an effective way to use cold energy of LNG in terms of energy match and operation cost. According to the properties of LNG, this work aims to develop a direct contact type ice generator, which integrating some special designs such as jacketed cylinder, nozzle arrangement and gas floatation, in order to improve heat transfer and phase separation in the SFD process. Through dynamic analysis on refrigerant atomization, the changes in speed and diameter of refrigerant droplet are obtained. The analysis results are helpful to further improve the design and operation of ice generator. In addition, the work also experimentally investigated the effects of some predominate factors on determining overall performance of ice generator, comprehensively considering ice generation and desalination. The experimental results could be significant for the SFD project by using cold energy of LNG.