Patent ID: 9726425
Date: 2017-08-08
CPC Classifications: F25J

Claim:
1. A method of liquefying a hydrocarbon stream, the method at least comprising the steps of: (a) supplying a partly condensed hydrocarbon feed stream to a first gas/liquid separator; (b) separating the feed stream in the first gas/liquid separator into a gaseous stream and a liquid stream; (c) expanding the gaseous stream obtained in step (b) thereby obtaining an expanded stream and feeding said expanded stream into a second gas/liquid separator at a first feeding point; (d) feeding the liquid stream obtained in step (b) into the second gas/liquid separator at a second feeding point; (e) removing from the bottom of the second gas/liquid separator a liquid stream and feeding said liquid stream into a fractionation column; (f) removing from the top of the second gas/liquid separator a gaseous stream and passing the gaseous stream to a compressor thereby obtaining a compressed stream having a pressure above 50 bar; (g) cooling the compressed stream obtained in step (f) thereby obtaining a cooled compressed stream; (h) further cooling the cooled compressed stream by heat exchanging the cooled compressed stream obtained in step (g) against a stream being downstream of the first gas/liquid separator and upstream of the fractionation column; and (i) liquefying the cooled compressed stream, after heat exchanging in step (h), thereby obtaining a liquefied stream.