Emerging domestic natural gas and helium producer Renergen has reached its final milestone, before construction starts on its flagship Virginia gas project, in the Free State.
The milestone sees the company awarding equipment supplier Western Shell Cryogenic Equipment (WSCE) a contract to supply the technology and equipment for the plant alongside the project’s engineering, procurement and construction contractor EPCM Bonisana.
EPCM Bonisana will install the pipeline and manage the interface between the two installations.
The plant is expected to be operational within the first half of 2021 and is expected to produce up to 2 700 GJ/d of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 350 kg/d of liquid helium.
This will make the plant the first commercial LNG facility in the country.
The plant will also be modularised and constructed in sizes of standard shipping containers for ease of transport and installation on site.
The design used mixed refrigeration cycle for the liquefaction process of the natural gas, which meant the energy consumption was very low compared with other plants at this small scale, Renergen explained in a statement.
Notable past projects for WSCE include leading the construction of the liquid helium system for the world’s largest diameter superconducting solenoid magnets and the helium cryogenic system for Beijing Positron-Electron Collider, in China.
WSCE has been manufacturing small-scale LNG plants since 2004.
Renergen on Monday described WSCE CEO Dr Jia Lin Xiang's technical expertise in the LNG and helium cryogenics field as “world class”, adding that this “was evident from the technical proposal delivered in the tender process”.