Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) announced today it held a demonstration ceremony for the installation of LNG regasification system using glycol at a 170,000 cbm LNG FSRU with the attendance of shipowers from home and abroad and major classification societies at its Ulsan shipyard.

Since the glycol regasification process is free from saltiness unlike a system that uses seawater, it can minimize corrosion in major equipment including heat exchangers, and it can also lower the risk of explosion that a system using propane may be exposed to.

Regasification is a process of converting cooled natural gas back to natural gas at atmospheric temperature. Regasification system is a key facility for an LNG FSRU (floating storage regasification unit) that receives liquefied natural gas from offloading LNG carriers and provides gas send-out through pipelines to shore. LNG FSRU takes a year less and costs half as much as an onshore LNG terminal to complete. The facility, better known as ‘the LNG plant on the ocean’, can also move from place to place where the energy demand is in growth as it has its own propulsion system, a feature making it an economical and reliable option for operators.

After being granted AIP from Lloyd's Register last month and internationally and domestically patented recently, HHI is also in the process of receiving the recognition for the system from other major classification societies as well.

HHI, as the world’s largest shipbuilder, has completed the world’s first newbuilding LNG FSRU in 2014. It is also the only Korean shipbuilder that can both build membrane and moss-type LNG carriers.