The global quality assurance and risk management company aims for the new liquefied natural gas (LNG) testing facility to improve the ways industry assesses the energy content and chemical composition of natural gas. A more detailed picture of natural gas could enable improvements in the performance of gas engines and improve pricing in LNG bunkering and transfer. The company says that for these latter benefits to materialize improvements in flowmeters would also be necessary.
The centre is a new addition to DNV GL’s current laboratory site dedicated to renewable energy technology and gas. The company said in a press release that it is the ‘first type of facility with a capacity compatible for the downstream sector’. A heat exchanger that allows the temperature of the LNG (and therefore its boil-off) to be precisely regulated is also a feature.
Located in Groningen, the Netherlands, the company hopes that it will help stakeholders ‘across the value chain’ address the problems posed by the differences in chemical composition, density and calorific values between sources of LNG worldwide.
Photo Caption: A gas chromatograph.
Image courtesy of DNV GL