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AXIMA REFRIGERATION FRANCE : ITS KNOW-HOW AT THE SERVICE OF THE NEW QATARI HELIUM PROJECT AT RAS LAFFAN SITE
This helium comes from LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) production trains of Qatargas and RasGas that are located on Ras Laffan Industrial City site.
In May 2003, the two Qatari companies entrusted AIR LIQUIDE ENGINEERING SA with the carrying out of an ambitious project, i.e. to built an helium plant that purify helium extracted from natural gas and liquefy pure helium with a liquid helium production corresponding to approximately 10 % of the world market.
AIR LIQUIDE ENGINEERING SA has selected AXIMA REFRIGERATION FRANCE, one of the major French companies in industrial refrigeration and gas compression, to take care of helium compression and de-oiling.
Michel Torreilles, Sales Manager of AXIMA REFRIGERATION FRANCE:
“For our company, the delivery time of one year required in order to sell helium in 2005 was a real challenge in which the company succeeded. Moreover, the order demanded a very high and strict level of quality.”
Because of a petrochemical location submitted to US standards, we used materials in accordance with American standards such as ASME (for pressure vessels), ASTM (for carbon steel piping) and API (compressors equipped with particular vibration sensors / particular helium leak controls / etc…)
To meet stringent sound requirement, AXIMA REFRIGERATION FRANCE has done phonic overturning of all the compressors.
All along the project, AXIMA REFRIGERATION FRANCE’s know-how was necessary:
- for the oil separation from helium : at the inlet of the LP compressor, the oil / helium ratio is 40 kg of oil for 1 kg of helium; after treatment the oil amount is 100g per helium ton . It’s the ratio required before final purification.
- for the helium leak guarantee : the helium leaks specification were very stringent. The checking was made by a Cofrend 2 certified technician from an external certified organism.
- for the circuits internal cleanness : a procedure was used which included prefabrication of piping, mounting and dismantling before internal cleaning and passivation in order to eliminate all sludge.
- for the mounting of very big installations : for example one de-oiling skid measures 15 m in length , 4 m in width and 5,5 m in height
- for the respect of energy consumption per helium ton generated
“ There are only 12 helium production sites in the world which are located essentially in the United States (the U.S. produce and consume 60% of the world production), in Algeria, and in Australia. With this new production, a lot of industrial and commercial applications will be able to benefit from a gas which is odourless, inert, colourless, lighter than air” says Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Qatar’s Energy Minister and Chairman of Qatargas.
Detail of Axima supply ( electrical power installed approx. 7000 kW)
- Compression skids and de-oiling skids for feed gas compression. Compression makes the following gas separation as well as de-oiling easier.
- Several pure helium compression skids and de-oiling skids for a cascade helium compression that bring the necessary power for He liquefaction process.
At the same time, AIR LIQUIDE ENGINEERING SA is providing the overall He purification and liquefaction unit that delivers the liquid helium at a temperature of 4.5° Kelvin ( -268°C), and finally its storage before shipping.
*skid : a whole equipment mounted on a frame
(04 / 2005)
