Texas LNG selects Honeywell technology for new production facility

Honeywell has announced that its natural gas technology and process automation have been selected by Texas LNG, a Houston-based energy company, to remove contaminants from natural gas in preparation for liquefaction and export to customers around the globe. The two-phase project, located on the north shore of the Port of Brownsville’s deep-water ship channel, will produce four million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) beginning in 2020.

“Honeywell is poised to support the growing global demand for LNG,” said John Gugel, vice president and general manager of Honeywell UOP’s Gas Processing and Hydrogen business. “Honeywell’s integrated solution of advanced gas processing technology, combined with state-of-the-art automation and control systems, offers a streamlined approach to project execution that helps minimise project time, cost and risk. This approach will be critical in helping the project meet operational and business readiness goals at start-up.”

Langtry Meyer, chief operating officer for Texas LNG, said, “As an independent liquefaction operator in a very competitive environment, bringing on board a company like Honeywell with such broad and integrated capabilities — proven in LNG — adds significant credibility and value to our venture. We are confident this relationship will deliver over the long term for Texas LNG.”

Texas LNG will use Honeywell’s UOP Amine Guard FS process to reduce acid gas to very low levels and its proprietary adsorbents to remove water, mercury and sulfur from the natural gas, which is necessary for LNG transport. The Amine Guard FS process reduces carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur components from natural gas to very low levels, and the process can be customised depending on application and feed gas quality. More than 40% of treated LNG in the world is processed using Amine Guard FS technology. Honeywell UOP adsorbents can selectively adsorb contaminants by size and polarity, making them efficient agents for drying and purifying liquids and gases. The company’s GB series and HgSIV series adsorbents can also be used in a number of combinations to remove mercury and minimise costs.

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) will serve as the integrated main automation contractor. In this role, HPS is responsible for designing, delivering and installing the automation, instrumentation, controls, safety and security, operations management, and advanced planning and scheduling applications. Honeywell is also assisting Texas LNG through the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s front-end engineering and design (FERC FEED) process.

“With today’s large capital projects, leading technology companies must deliver value that goes beyond just providing technology on time and within budget. Honeywell is going even further and transforming the way major projects are designed and delivered,” said Pieter Krynauw, vice president for HPS’s Projects and Automation Solutions business. “For this project, Honeywell’s integrated approach included consulting on FERC FEED, providing integrated technologies, solutions and services that will help the plant start up and reach optimum production faster, and implementing operations and supply chain optimisation to exceed production plans. All of this will drive a step-change return on shareholder investment for our clients such as Texas LNG.”

Honeywell will help Texas LNG reduce risks and minimise potential schedule delays by using its integrated solutions including LEAP, Honeywell’s lean project execution services, Experion PKS with Distributed Systems Architecture (DSA), Experion Security Integrator, Fault Tolerant Ethernet (FTE), Universal process and safety I/O, virtualisation, advanced control, Safety Manager, Fire and gas systems, OneWireless Network, Digital Video Manager (DVM), UniSim operator training simulator, DynAMo advanced alarm management software, and PHD data historian.

Honeywell offers a broad range of technologies for the natural gas industry. In addition to licensed technology, modular equipment and contaminant removal solutions, Honeywell UOP offers gas technologies to recover natural gas liquids (NGLs) and to purify hydrogen used in refineries. Honeywell UOP has supplied technology to more than 3600 individual process units for gas processing in a broad range of applications worldwide. HPS provides advanced automation, monitoring, safety and security systems for the entire gas supply chain to help operators increase plant reliability and efficiency, while reducing costs and risk.