Patent ID: 6907752

Claim:
A process of recovering hydrocarbons heavier than methane from liquefied natural gas (LNG) comprising, a) pumping liquid, low pressure LNG to a pressure of greater than 100 psia; b) splitting the pressurized liquid LNG from step a) into first and second portions; c) directing the first portion of pressurized liquid LNG from step b) to a cold box where it is heat exchanged to increase its temperature; d) bypassing the cold box with the second portion of pressurized liquid LNG from step b) and directing it to a recovery tower as a first reflux; e) directing the heat exchanged first portion of pressurized liquid LNG from step c) to a recovery tower where, in combination with the first reflux and a second reflux, a recovery tower overhead is produced along with a recovery tower bottoms; f) pressurizing the recovery tower bottoms and cross heat exchanging the pressurized recovery tower bottoms with deethanizer overhead; g) directing the cross heat exchanged pressurized recovery tower bottoms to a deethanizer; h) removing hydrocarbons heavier than methane as deethanizer bottoms; i) directing cross heat exchanged deethanizer overhead as the second reflux to the recovery tower; and j) removing the recovery tower overhead from the recovery tower and compressing the recovery tower overhead prior to introduction into the cold box and heat exchanging with the first portion of pressurized liquid LNG to produce a re-liquefied pressurized LNG.