KLAW LNG's fully automated LNG safety transfer system is enabling a safe and reliable flow of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the Montego Bay community in Jamaica.
Image: KLAW LNG delivers fully automated LNG safety transfer system for Fortress Energy. Photo: courtesy of KLAW LNG.
KLAW LNG, which is a subsidiary of Signum Technology Group, has designed, engineered and manufactured the Safety Integrity Level And Safety Instrumented System (SILSIS) in partnership with Exida and Siemens.
The LNG transferred through the system will be used by Montego Bay’s power generation facility to produce power in a cost-effective manner. Previously, the power plant was fueled by diesel which made its operations expensive and at the same time environmentally damaging.
KLAW LNG said that safety is the main driver behind the technology it has deployed in the design of the LNG safety transfer system.
According to KLAW LNG control systems technical manager Julian Fairman, LNG has to be stored at very low temperatures for its transfer as it can instantly expand by 700% on heating. This makes it particularly important to engineer ground-breaking safety systems for its delivery to an urban community.
Fairman said: “We are very proud that SILSIS is the world’s first fully-automated, Programme Logic Controlled (PLC), Safety Instrumented System, designed to continuously guarantee the highest levels of safety and operational readiness.
“It is also the world’s first SIL2 compliant safety delivery system, which is highly significant.”
The LNG safety transfer system delivered by the company in Montego Bay incorporates a two-stage ESD emergency shutdown system which provides an escalated response in case of anything going wrong.
The first stage ESD1 separates lines, rings a warning alarm, and prevents LNG transfer to reduce any chances of spillage. The second stage ESD2, which is activated either automatically or manually, triggers emergency release couplings and isolates the transfer system.
As SILSIS is a fully-automated PLC system, it eliminates almost all human inputs from the LNG transfer process, thereby maximizing cost efficient availability and reducing the potential for human error to a significant extent.
Signum Technology sales and compliance director Jeff Vile said: “SILSIS in Montego Bay is a genuinely ground-breaking innovation that has had an enormous positive impact on the lives of local people and it is something that we are very proud of indeed.
“It is remarkable on a number of different levels – in addition to being the world’s first fully-automated LNG transfer system and the world’s first SIL2 compliant LNG transfer system, it is also the first LNG land terminal in the world that uses a Flexible Hose Transfer System and the first LNG transfer system in Jamaica.”