Proposed Facility
The Import Terminal is to be comprised of 4 components. These are: (1) the Import Facility; (2) the Support Facility; (3) the LNG Transfer System; and (4) the Storage Facility. A Worker Lodge will be built for the three year construction phase. The Quoddy Bay LNG Project also consists of a 35.8 mile natural gas pipeline which will connect the Import Terminal with the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline System.
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The Import Facility Pier
The Import Facility will be used to support LNG ship docking, LNG unloading, and regasification. It will consist of two ship berths with unloading platforms, a process platform, and a pier.
The LNG is to be delivered to the Import Facility in 135,000 to 250,000 cubic meter LNG ships. It will be discharged to the Import Facility using pumps on the LNG ship. Each of the ship berths will be approximately 1,050 feet in length and will include breasting and mooring dolphins, a fendering system, mooring hooks, a vessel docking assistance system, and an unloading platform. The vessel mooring system will consist of independent breasting and mooring dolphins arranged as symmetrically as practicable about the spot centerline of the unloading arms.
Each Unloading Platform will be a concrete deck structure supported by fabricated steel jackets. The Unloading Platforms will be complete with a bank of LNG unloading arms, valves and piping, utility piping, a marine access gangway tower with service crane, LNG ship berthing aid package, marine environmental monitoring system, a dry chemical skid, fire monitor towers, and firewater monitor pumps. A berth operator control room and electrical room will be provided on each Unloading Platform.
The Process Platform will be connected to the Berths via Unloading Platform piers and will receive the LNG from the Unloading Platforms via the LNG unloading lines. The Process Platform will include submerged combustion vaporizers (SCVs) that can be used for regasification of all or a portion of the LNG that will be unloaded at the Berths. LNG regasified at the Process Platform will be sent via the Sendout Pipeline directly to the M&NE Pipeline. LNG that is not regasified at the Process Platform will be sent via the LNG Transfer System to the Onshore Storage and Regasification Facility (Storage Facility) where it will be stored and subsequently regasified. There may also be times when a portion of the vaporized LNG (i.e., natural gas) will come from both the Process Platform and the Storage Facility to meet the 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) sendout rate. The Process Platform will also have a crane for maintenance, a small craft dock, and a shelter for personnel.
An elevated Pier approximately 810 feet long by 33 feet wide will connect the Process Platform to the Split Rock Support Facility. The Pier will include a roadway with passing lane, firewater and utility piping, and all necessary power, instrumentation, and communication cables.
Support Facility
The Split Rock Support Facility will be located at the west end of the Pier on Split Rock, -- a land mass located on the Passamaquoddy Tribe’s Pleasant Point Reservation in Pleasant Point, Maine. Split Rock is connected by a causeway to the north to Pleasant Point and connected by a causeway to the south to Carlow Island in Eastport, Maine. Split Rock area is bisected by State Route 190. The Split Rock Support Facility will be located to the east of State Route 190. The Support Facility will provide the following support operations for all LNG Terminal facilities: an electrical substation, a control building, and miscellaneous support systems.
LNG Transfer System
The LNG Transfer System will be made up of two LNG transfer lines and the required vapor return line that will extend from the unloading arms on the Unloading Platforms at each of the two Berths, to the Process Platform, and on to the Storage Facility. The LNG Transfer System will be constructed from the Unloading Platforms to Split Rock, under State Route 190, across Half Moon, under Old Eastport Road, to the Storage Facility. An umbilical line will run parallel to the LNG lines, carrying utilities to the Support Facility from the Storage Facility.
Storage Facility
The Onshore Storage and Regasification Facility (Storage Facility) will include LNG storage tanks, vaporization equipment, and vapor handling systems (see Figure 1.1.2-6). LNG that is unloaded from the LNG ships and not directly vaporized at the Import Facility will be sent to the Storage Facility via the LNG Transfer System. At the Storage Facility, the LNG will be stored, vaporized, and sent to the Sendout Pipeline, as desired by the LNG’s owner.
The vaporization and vapor handling systems at the Storage Facility will be independent of the vaporization and vapor handling systems at the Process Platform, and will have stand-alone output capability of 2 Bcfd. The vaporization capability of the Storage Facility and the vaporization capability on the Process Platform will be able to operate independently or in tandem; however, maximum output from the LNG Project will not exceed 2 Bcfd.
Three full-containment LNG storage tanks will be constructed at the Storage Facility. Each tank is designed to store 160,000 m3 (1,006,000 barrels) of LNG at a temperature of -270 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) and a normal pressure of 1 to 4 pounds per square inch gauge (psig). Three tanks will provide a gas storage capacity of approximately 10 Bcf. Each tank will have a primary inner container built of nine percent nickel steel, a secondary outer container built of pre-stressed concrete, a reinforced-concrete secondary outer container bottom, a reinforced-concrete domed roof, and an aluminum-insulated support deck suspended from the secondary outer container roof over the primary inner container. These tanks will be designed and constructed so that both the primary inner container and the secondary outer container will be capable of independently containing the stored LNG. The primary inner container contains the LNG under normal operating conditions.
The Vaporization System will consist of in-tank large multistage vertical can pumps that will remove the LNG from the storage tanks. The LNG will be pumped to pipeline pressure with the LNG sendout pumps. The LNG vaporization system will be able to deliver natural gas to the Sendout Pipeline up to the pipeline design pressure of 1950 psig.
LNG from the LNG sendout pumps will be transferred to the submerged combustion vaporizers which will first vaporize the LNG and then warm it to about 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The vaporized gas will be metered before it is delivered into the pipeline.
Power to all of the Import Terminal Facilities will be provided by natural gas turbine-driven generators at the Storage Facility and the power will be sent to the other facilities via power cables.
Vapor generated from the LNG storage tanks will be handled by the boil-off gas compressors. In normal operations only one boil-off compressor will be in operation. During ship unloading, both compressors will be running.
A vent header and a vent stack will be provided for safe disposal of hydrocarbon releases from the LNG storage tank relief valves and the relief valves on other equipment. The vent will only be activated went both of the boil-off gas compressors are out of service or a single boil off gas compressor is out of service during ship unloading.
The Storage Facility will contain “passive” and “active” hazard prevention and mitigation systems and controls. Passive systems will generally include those that do not require human intervention, such as spill drainage and collection systems, ignition source control, and fireproofing.
The Storage Facility also contains the potential of a large nitrogen plant that may be used to mitigate Btu content in order to ensure the imported natural gas conforms to pipeline specifications.
Control Building
A control building will be located at the Split Rock Support Facility for supervisory control of the Import Facility for the Quoddy Bay LNG Project. A computer control system will link all the components of the project.
Temporary Workers Facilities
The Quoddy Bay LNG Terminal will provide a temporary housing facility to house the majority of the construction work force throughout the construction of the facility. The temporary housing facility will be located near the intersection of US Route 1 and Maine State Highway 190, on the southeast corner.
