Raising the bar on LNG tank size - Riviera Maritime Media

May. 13, 2024

Raising the bar on LNG tank size - Riviera Maritime Media

Having recently unveiled the new 250,000m3 underground storage tank at its Ohgishima receiving terminal in Yokohama, Tokyo Gas is pressing ahead with the construction of a 230,000m3 aboveground tank at its new terminal at Hitachi, 130km to the northeast of Tokyo Bay. The Ohgishima tank, which will go into service in November this year, is the world’s largest LNG storage tank while the Hitachi unit will be the world’s largest aboveground LNG tank.

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The Ohgishima tank cost US$200m and took four years to build. It measures 72m in diameter by 62m deep and is able to hold a volume of LNG sufficient, when regasified, to meet the average yearly demand of 360,000 homes. The new unit boosts the total capacity available at Ohgishima to 850,000m3 in four tanks, all built fully underground.

As the space available for its new, fourth receiving terminal in the Ibaraki port area of Hitachi is limited, Tokyo Gas opted for the largest possible size single tank. A recent relaxation of allowable safety factors in Japan enabled the choice of the aboveground, full containment 230,000m3 unit. The LNG tank will have inner and outer walls separated by an insulation layer and the whole will be surrounded by a protective prestressed concrete outer. It will have a diameter of 86m and a depth of 59m.

The Hitachi terminal is being built on a fast-track basis to enable operations to commence in late spring 2015. The facility will be used not only to receive LNG imports but also to load cryogenic road tankers at high-capacity racks and small coastal tankers for local and regional LNG distribution duties.

Hitachi will have two jetties, one for larger ships and the other for smaller vessels, and the terminal is also being provided with an LPG-handling capability through the construction of a 50,000m3 LPG storage tank. Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) and Shimizu Corp are building the LNG and LPG tanks.

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Tokyo Gas reports that both the new Ohgishima tank and the Hitachi terminal’s LNG tank will be able to handle, as well as conventional LNG, lean gas of the type due to become more prevalent due to the upcoming liquefaction projects involving coal seam and shale gas. When different types of LNG are stored in the same tank, there is a risk that density stratification, or rollover, may occur. Tokyo Gas tackles this issue by closely monitoring the LNG density distribution in a tank and, at the first sign of layering, using remote-controlled jet mixing devices to prevent rollover. LNG