Altagas - Ridley Island LPG Export Terminal

Gas Liquids Engineering Ltd. (GLE) completed the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) of AltaGas’ Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal. The facility was the first LPG export facility on Canada’s Pacific Coast and provides access to overseas markets for propane producers in Western Canada.

The location of the facility is on sub-leased land from Ridley Terminals INC. (RTI) on Ridley Island, near Prince Rupert, BC and replaces an existing sulphur facility on-site that was never commissioned. Pressurized liquid propane is shipped to site in railcars via an existing CN rail network where it is offloaded. The liquid propane is chilled and stored in a large, 98,000 m³ atmospheric storage tank. Boil-off gas is compressed, condensed, and recirculated in a refrigeration loop. An existing marine jetty was upgraded with process lines and marine loading arms to load liquid propane onto Very Large Gas Carriers (VLGC’s) for transport to Asia and other markets.

GLE utilized in-house expertise for the process and facility design and engaged specialized engineering subcontractors to assist with design of the off-shore jetty upgrades, LPG storage tank design specification, and rail infrastructure upgrades.

The facility was onstream in 2019. From detailed engineering to construction completion, the project duration was approximately 2 years.

Features of the facility:

Twenty-eight off-loading stations split into two bays with test stations for LPG product, including unloading compression
Three LPG storage bullets, 340 m³
each, to handle intermittent rail car-offloading at rates between 525 and 900 Sm3/hour
Normal inlet flow rate from the bullets into the facility is 265 Sm³/hour, maximum rate is 530 Sm³/hour
Molecular sieve dehydration to remove water from the wet LPG liquid
Liquid propane is stored in a 98,000 m³ atmospheric LPG storage tank
LPG product storage at -43°C
Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) transport ships connect to newly installed marine LPG loading arms at an existing jetty, previously used by RTI for coal loading
Ships are loaded by LPG transfer pumps at a rate of 3000 m³/hour
The export terminal is capable of shipping 1.2 million tonnes of propane per year
The facility is designed to load a tanker in 30 hours, and the facility is capable of loading between 20 and 30 ships per year
Compression totaling 9200 kW to boil off gas from the LPG tank and flash tank
Power for the facility is supplied from BC Hydro
Additional systems include flare system, utilities, electrical buildings, emergency power generation, fire water system, office and warehouse
Earthworks, site preparation, and new access bridge to the RTI facility

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