About Liquified Natural Gas

The process begins with the intake of natural gas from a nearby pipeline. Woodfibre LNG will receive its gas through the Eagle Mountain – Woodfibre Gas Pipeline Project, an extension to the FortisBC pipeline system being built by FortisBC.

Before liquefaction can occur, the natural gas undergoes pre-treatment to remove any impurities to ensure it meets the quality standards required for liquefaction. As the gas being received from FortisBC is already of pipeline quality and ready for use, pre-treatment at Woodfibre will be minimal.

This is the heart of the facility. The natural gas is cooled down to extremely low temperatures using a refrigeration process. This cooling causes the gas to undergo a phase change from a gaseous state to a liquid state when the temperature hits about -162°C. This compression of gas creates energy-dense LNG, shrinking the gas into a form that is more efficiently stored and transported.

Woodfibre LNG is a single train facility, meaning it has a single liquefaction module. This smaller arrangement better fits the small footprint of the Woodfibre LNG site.

Woodfibre LNG was the first LNG export facility in Canada approved to use electric compressors in its liquefaction module instead of gas-powered turbines. Powered by renewable hydroelectricity, these electric drive compressors help Woodfibre LNG achieve among the lowest emissions profile in the industry at just 0.04 tonnes of CO2e per tonne of LNG.

The newly formed LNG is stored in insulated tanks to keep it at the low temperatures required to remain in a liquid state. Tanks are double-walled with an insulating vacuum between the walls to minimize heat transfer. Woodfibre LNG will utilize floating storage, using two modified LNG carriers, to reduce the facility’s footprint at site.

Once the LNG is ready for export, it can be loaded onto specialized LNG carriers, which are ships designed to transport LNG at very low temperatures. Using cryogenic hoses and arms, LNG will be transferred into the carriers. Carriers will arrive approximately every 10 days for loading.

LNG carriers transport the liquefied natural gas to its destination, which is often another country. These carriers are equipped with advanced containment systems to keep the LNG at its cryogenic temperature during transit and are fueled by the LNG they are transporting.

At the destination, a receiving terminal is required to regasify the LNG back into a gaseous state before it can be distributed through pipelines or used for various applications, such as electricity generation or heating.