New routes for gas to Europe require heat exchanger maintenance

Another prestigious project has been completed, where RecondConcept now has been hired to clean heat exchangers at liquid gas terminal Höegh Gannet in Brunsbüttel, Germany.

The global political situation has forced several Western and Central European nations to reconfigure their gas supply to ensure their imports. Germany is a country that previously received the majority of its gas through the Russian pipeline Nord Stream. Now, they have rapidly built new infrastructure to receive gas in other ways, including floating LNG terminals (FSRU – Floating Storage Regasification Units).

Ships delivering frozen gas (in liquid form) from places like Norway and the Netherlands arrive at these LNG terminals. An LNG terminal consists of a moored floating vessel (FSRU) capable of transforming the frozen gas into a gaseous state and acting as a temporary depot to balance fluctuations in inflow and outflow before the gas is further transported into the country’s storage depots.

Since the natural process of converting frozen gas to gas form is slow, heat exchangers are used to accelerate the process. One side of the heat exchanger takes seawater and transfers its heat to the glycol side, which in turn causes the natural gas to start boiling and then turn into gas. Naturally, these heat exchangers require continuous maintenance to deliver at the desired level.

RecondConcept uses its unique clean-in-place system, Recontainer, to perform the cleaning of these heat exchangers. The specially equipped container is transported to the LNG vessel and lifted on board to connect to the existing facility. This drastically minimizes downtime for the heat exchangers, making maintenance environmentally friendly, efficient, and profitable for the client.

At Höegh Gannet, RecondConcept’s mission was to clean four heat exchangers, where each individual side of the exchanger holds 7,000 liters. After the cleaning was completed, the heat exchangers could immediately ensure a higher rate of transformation into gas form.

Thanks to the unique concept offered by the Recontainer solution, RecondConcept has a very short lead time for this type of project. Under normal circumstances, a cleaning project similar to the one at Höegh Gannet can be completed within a few weeks from the order.

– It is good to know that we have the opportunity to improve performance by using RecondConcept.

Ole Johan Nedrelid, Principal Technical Manager hos Höegh LNG AS

_{Image source: https://www.rwe.com/en/press/rwe-ag/2023-01-20-floating-lng-terminal-arrives-at-brunsbuettel/}