Pluto Train 2 Project – Low Carbon Intensity by Design

Pluto Train 2 Project – Low Carbon Intensity by Design

On November 22, 2021, Woodside announced it had approved the Final Investment Decision to sanction its Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 developments. The Scarborough Project consists of a world-class Scarborough offshore development of 11.1 Tcf dry gas (100%); whereas the onshore development will produce 5 Mtpa of LNG at Pluto Train 2, provide up to 3 Mtpa equivalent of feed gas for Pluto Train 1, and produce 225 TJ/day of new domestic gas capacity. With a composition of ~95% CH4, ~5.0% N2, ~0.1% CO2 and a heavy hydrocarbon tail, feed gas from the Scarborough Field is well positioned to support the decarbonization goals of Woodside’s LNG customers in Northern Asia. Furthermore, by utilizing Optimized Cascade™ liquefaction technology, Pluto Train 2 will be one of the lowest carbon intensity projects for LNG delivered to those customers. 

This paper will present an overview of four types of enhancements to Pluto Train 2’s design that enable it to have a greenhouse gas intensity of ~0.26 tCO2e/tLNG: 1) the use of high efficiency aero-derivative gas turbines, 2) waste heat recovery, 3) inlet air chilling, and 4) process design optimizations. The process design optimizations include the use of an OCP Nitro™ integrated nitrogen removal unit (NRU), as well as an OCP CryoSep™ heavies removal unit (HRU) that utilizes external solvent injection, recovery and circulation to process Scarborough’s lean gas with its heavy hydrocarbon tail.