Patent ID: 7024885

Claim:
A system for storing gases at low temperature, the system comprising: a compressor configured to receive a gas stream and produce a compressed gas stream; a heat exchanger configured to receive the compressed gas stream and produce a cooled gas stream; and an insulated cold recovery system configured to receive the cooled gas stream from the heat exchanger, the insulated cold recovery system comprising: at least one cold recovery vessel configured to receive the cooled gas stream, the cold recovery vessel comprising a cold recovery material configured to cool the cooled gas stream, wherein the cooled gas stream is fed through the cold recovery vessel in a pipe immersed in the cold recovery material to produce a liquefied or low temperature gas; a first expansion valve configured to receive the cooled gas stream and reduce a pressure of the cooled gas stream to a storage pressure; and at least one storage tank configured to receive the liquefied or low temperature gas from the first expansion valve and store the liquefied or low temperature gas in a liquid or low temperature state, wherein when the liquefied or low temperature gas is released from the storage tank, the liquefied vaporizes or low temperature gas expands in the pipe and cools the cold recovery material.