The Importance of Melamine Foam for LNG Pipeline Thermal & Cold Insulation

CHENGDU, China - May 21, 2024 - PRLog -- As a high-quality, efficient and convenient clean energy and chemical raw material, natural gas has huge application potential. Among them, liquefied natural gas (LNG), which has a high degree of marketization, has also begun to attract attention as a supplement to traditional gas sources.

Since LNG pipelines are typical low-temperature medium transportation pipelines, LNG transported by pipelines is generally in a low-temperature liquid state. Once external heat invades, it will easily vaporize, causing the single-phase liquid flow to change into a gas-liquid two-phase flow, or even a gas lock, resulting in an increase in pressure and a decrease in flow rate in local pipe sections, seriously affecting the normal transportation of LNG. Therefore, the vaporization of LNG must be strictly controlled. However, LNG pipeline insulation can prevent the intrusion of external heat and the vaporization of LNG, and its effectiveness mainly depends on the insulation quality of the LNG pipeline. Therefore, LNG pipelines must adopt thermal insulation measures (https://www.sinoyqx.com/), and their quality will not only affect the transportation efficiency of LNG, but also have an important impact on the normal operation of the entire system.

LNG pipeline insulation types

Vacuum insulation: The principle is to make the insulation structure into a sealed interlayer, and the internal space is evacuated to a certain degree of vacuum to reduce heat transfer. In the domestic LNG system, it has a long utilization time, obvious thermal insulation effect and small energy loss. However, due to high price and long manufacturing time, it is mostly used in key projects and cannot be used on a large scale.

Stacking insulation: Stacking insulation is a traditional method of insulation, that is, porous insulation materials are installed outside the pipe, and the insulation is achieved because the cells are filled with normal pressure air (or other gases). The thermal insulation effect is slightly lower than that of vacuum insulation, but it has a simple structure, low price, and convenient operation and maintenance. Currently, domestic LNG pipelines mostly use this method for pipeline insulation.

In the current market, the existing stacked insulation materials mostly use polyurethane and foam glass materials according to the different LNG temperatures. Compared with traditional thermal insulation materials such as polyurethane and foam glass, melamine foam has more advantages. Melamine foam has a wide range of weather resistance (minus 196 degrees Celsius to 200 degrees Celsius), maintains a stable physical and chemical structure under high and low temperature conditions, and provides excellent thermal conductivity (thermal conductivity coefficient, 0.032 W/ (m*K))) and sound absorption performance (0.95NRC), light weight, environmental protection and safety make it an irreplaceable LNG pipeline insulation material.

For more information about SINOYQX Melamine Foam, please reach us at sales@sinoyqx.com or voice to us: +86-28-8411-1861.