{"id":287923,"date":"2024-03-21T18:34:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=287923"},"modified":"2024-03-21T18:34:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:04:40","slug":"small-scale-lng-a-big-idea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/small-scale-lng-a-big-idea\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Scale LNG – A big idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/strong>-This post on Small Scale LNG-A big idea<\/strong> has been created based on the article \u201cThe big promise of small-scale LNG as fuel for India, with first SSLNG plant commissioned<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian express<\/strong>\u201d on 21 March 2024.<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus-GS Paper-3-<\/strong> Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>– The Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri has recently dedicated to the nation India\u2019s first small-scale liquefied natural gas (SSLNG) unit at GAIL (India) Ltd\u2019s Vijaipur complex in Madhya Pradesh.<\/p>\n

What is SSLNG (small-scale liquefied natural gas)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) It refers to gas in its liquid or super-chilled form supplied in specialized trucks and small vessels to industrial and commercial consumers in regions not connected by pipelines.<\/p>\n

2) The SSLNG chain can start from a large-scale LNG import terminal from where the LNG can be transported to consumers by cryogenic road tankers or small vessels.<\/strong><\/p>\n

3) The chain can also start at locations with ample natural gas supply or production, where small liquefaction plants can be set up. For ex-The SSLNG unit at Vijaipur.<\/p>\n

How does the SSLNG unit at Vijaipur work?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) There are treatment skids \u2014 zeolite pretreatment skids (ZPTS) \u2014 and liquefaction skids. They are known as cryo boxes which convert natural gas to LNG.<\/p>\n

2) Natural gas is processed in the ZPTS at a pressure of approximately 15 bar to remove non-desirable components such as nitrogen, water, sulphur, and carbon dioxide.
\nIt is then fed to the cryo box, where it is compressed in a four-stage compressor to a pressure of around 260 bar.<\/p>\n

3) The gas is cooled by a propane-based external refrigeration system to minus 60-70 degree Celsius. After that, the gas is subjected to expansion so that the temperature falls below minus 140 degrees Celsius and it can liquefy.<\/p>\n

4) The LNG is then dispatched by cryogenic tankers to nearby areas for use in city gas distribution networks as CNG and piped gas.<\/p>\n

5) The SSLNG unit is controlled by an automated, web-based Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, typically used to monitor large industrial devices and processes.<\/p>\n

Read more- Energy Transition In India<\/a><\/p>\n

What is the significance of small-scale liquefied natural gas (SSLNG) unit?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Transition to green energy<\/strong>-The government aims to increase the share of natural gas in its primary energy mix to 15% by 2030 from 6% at present. This is because natural gas is far less polluting than conventional hydrocarbons like coal and oil. It is seen as a key transition fuel in India\u2019s journey towards green energy and future fuels.<\/p>\n

2) Decarbonization of transportation sector<\/strong>-It is cleaner fuel with reduced emission of carbon dioxide and negligible amounts of particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and Sulphur dioxide as compared to diesel.<\/p>\n

3) Overcome transportation challenge of Natural Gas<\/strong>-There are many places that are not connected by the country\u2019s natural gas pipeline grid. This hinders the use of LNG directly as fuel for long-haul trucks and inter-city buses. This challenge can be overcome by small-scale liquefied natural gas unit.<\/p>\n

4) Save forex reserve<\/strong>-It is usually cheaper than crude oil, from which diesel is derived. Thus, replacing a major chunk of India\u2019s diesel consumption by LNG could lead to substantial foreign exchange savings.<\/p>\n

What are the challenges in its wider adoption?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Paucity of LNG-powered vehicles<\/strong>-There is shortage of LNG-powered vehicles in India.<\/p>\n

2) High cost<\/strong>-The LNG-powered vehicles have higher initial cost as compared to diesel run vehicles.<\/p>\n

3) Financing ecosystem<\/strong>– India does not have a robust LNG vehicle financing ecosystem.<\/p>\n

4) Retail network<\/strong>-India does not have LNG retail network.<\/p>\n

What steps have been taken to overcome this challenge?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Companies such as GAIL and Petronet are working to build a viable ecosystem for transporters to move from diesel vehicles to LNG.<\/p>\n

2) Petronet has collaborated with commercial vehicle manufacturers and other public sector oil & gas companies for trials and pilot projects for LNG-fuelled trucks and buses.<\/p>\n

3) Petronet has established a few LNG dispensing stations along highways.Similarly,Indian Oil Corporation is also planning to build LNG dispensing stations along major highways.<\/p>\n

Question for practice<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is SSLNG? Highlight its significance in ensuring smooth transition to green energy?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source-This post on Small Scale LNG-A big idea has been created based on the article \u201cThe big promise of small-scale LNG as fuel for India, with first SSLNG plant commissioned\u201d published in \u201cThe Indian express\u201d on 21 March 2024. UPSC Syllabus-GS Paper-3- Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc. News– The Union Minister for Petroleum… Continue reading Small Scale LNG – A big idea<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,9],"tags":[216,10500,242],"class_list":["post-287923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-public","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-indian-express","tag-science-and-technology","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287923\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}