The March 20, 2023 arrives at the port of Lead there regasification vessel. After a year from the inauguration, we have been authorized to board the regasification vessel Italis LNGwhich was previously called Golar Tundra, to understand the situation in concrete terms and take a quick look at the situation.
In this video, we show you how the ship works. But first, it is important to understand what “regasification” means.
THE ONBOARD REGASIFICATION SYSTEM
As the word itself suggests, the regasification consists in state transitionfrom liquid to gas. But what is this change of state for?
Italy extracts little gas from its own territory; most of it is imported from abroad. So to reach our country, gas travels in two ways:
– in the methane pipelinesin shape fizzy;
– on LNG carriers in shape liquid.
Why liquid? Not for fun, but because when the gas becomes liquid reduces by approximately 600 times its own volume, so you can transport more of it. For your information, to make it liquid you don’t act on the pressure but on the temperaturewhich must reach approximately -162°.
What’s the point? That the gas to be used in our homes, if we want to light the stove, must return to its original form fizzy. So when the liquid gas is discharged at the port, there must be a system that returns the gas to a gaseous state, to put it into the network and this transition takes place right on the regasification vessel.
In the video, we will show you the main places on the ship where this regasification process takes place.
You will see the flexible pipes to which the LNG carrier is attached to transfer the gas in liquid form. You will see the four large tankswhich contain the gas: three have a capacity of approximately 48,000 cubic meters of gas, the quarter, about half, 24,000 cubic meters.
But above all, we will also show you through a 3D reconstruction the place that is the heart of regasification: the vaporizers.
Inside this chamber, the liquid gas is heated, which is found in minus 162 degreesto make it return to a gaseous state. You will see in the video how this heating method occurs. Through sealed pipes, the gas leaves the regasification vessel and reaches the mainlandthrough a methane pipeline.
SHIP SAFETY AND ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
In the second part of the video, we discuss and try to raise some doubts related to regasification: in particular, we understand why there is no need to be afraid of the safety of these ships.
In Italy, in fact, in addition to this ship managed by Snam, there are others Three: in Panigaglia, Livorno and near Rovigo, which have been working for decades. The fifth is a FSRU – like this one in Piombino – and will enter into operation at the beginning of 2025 off the coast of Ravenna.
Even from the point of view environmentalthere is a constant monitoringboth of the air but also of the marine flora and faunathe latter conducted by the Interuniversity Centre of Marine Biology and Applied Ecology of Livorno (CIBM).
THE RECOVERY OF “BOIL-OFF GAS”
Among the various activities aimed at reducing the environmental impact, the recovery of the boil off gas (BOG). What is it? This gas is produced during the regasification process: due to the evaporation of LNG, caused by the heat transmitted from the outside of the tank to the inside.
This gas can be captured and reused with a double advantage: on the one hand, it allows to reduce the emissionson the other hand, the costs.
How is it recovered? The gas is compressed and sent partly to the engines for the production of electricity needed to power the FSRU and is partly reintroduced into the tank. This step is very important because in this way there are no waste or emissions.
