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LNG cold and cryogenic recovery: Impact and additionality

Cutting grid power on coal-heavy grids, tied to gas imports

What this tab covers The impact and additionality lens: direct emission cuts, side benefits for water and air, and the risk of prolonging the life of a polluting host plant.

Abatement comes from avoided electricity, so it is largest on coal-heavy grids such as India's; but every project depends on continued LNG imports.

Direct Scope 1 and Scope 2 abatement

Mixed

Savings are Scope 2: less grid electricity for refrigeration, air separation or liquefaction, plus any power generated. If Dahej's theoretical 5.2 TWh of cold (calculated) were fully used to displace refrigeration at a COP of about 3, it would save roughly 1.7 TWh of electricity a year (calculated, illustrative), about 1.3 Mt CO2 at India's 2023-24 grid average of 0.727 t CO2/MWh (calculated); capture rates of a quarter or less would cut this sharply.13611

Illustrative electricity saving, Dahej about 1.7 TWh/yr at full capture (calculated)16 Illustrative CO2 avoided, Dahej about 1.3 Mt/yr at full capture (calculated)11 Typical capture rate (Japan) about 25%3

Water and air synergy

Favourable

Open-rack seawater vaporisers discharge chilled seawater, which affects local marine life; using the cold elsewhere reduces that thermal discharge. Submerged combustion vaporisers burn part of the gas, so replacing them with cold recovery also avoids combustion emissions. Proposed uses include desalination by freezing or hydrate formation, tested by the National University of Singapore with Shell.13

Avoided lock-in

Mixed

The cold only exists while LNG is imported, so investors take fossil-gas volume risk. Cold recovery does not increase gas use, but long cold-supply contracts can create a stakeholder in keeping terminals busy. LAES is the exception: it works with or without LNG, and needs ambient or waste heat rather than gas.4

Sources

  1. LNG cold energy utilization: Prospects and challenges (He, Chong, Zheng, Ju, Linga), Energy 170: 557-568 Elsevier (via RePEc IDEAS), 2019
  2. Cold energy extracts value from the LNG supply chain (trade report, 2016) Riviera Maritime Media, 2016
  3. Liquid air energy storage: A critical review (She et al.), Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 208 Elsevier (via RePEc IDEAS), 2025
  4. Petronet LNG Limited Dahej Terminal Capacity Expands to 22.5 MMTPA Tank Terminals (relaying Petronet LNG announcement), 2026
  5. CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, User Guide Version 20.0 Central Electricity Authority, 2024