Decarbonizing LNG Production: An Integrated Systems Analysis Approach for Electrification and CO2 Abatement

The rising standards of living and population size have put a tremendous strain on the energy sector worldwide, especially given the environmentally driven energy transition taking place. Almost all outlooks and predictions agree that Natural Gas (NG) is expected to play a vital role in the energy transition, being the cleanest fossil fuel with abundant reservoirs and a mature technology infrastructure that can utilize it in several applications (Litvinenko, 2020). NG is shipped in its liquified form (LNG). The liquefaction process is a major contributor to the supply chain emissions due to the high compression requirements, usually powered by gas turbines. For all the above, energy producers are looking for cleaner ways to produce LNG. The liquefaction process has already hit great milestones in energy efficiency since the commission of the first plant in Algeria in 1964 (He et al., 2023), leaving two other choices for decarbonization, alternative energy systems and/or Carbon Capture and Storage/Utilization (CCUS). Using the robust Resource Integration Framework (RIF) introduced by (Ahmed et al. 2020), this paper investigates the synergy of integrating and optimizing low-cost CO2 reduction strategies through electrification and CCS. The aim is to meet the shaft work requirement of LNG train compressors, offering decision support for energy producers looking to reduce their carbon footprints.