BASF has commissioned its Durasorb LNG MAX adsorption technology at Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi LNG facility in Texas, where the system is installed on multiple mid-scale and large-scale liquefaction trains.

Installation began in 2025, and Cheniere plans to complete deployment across the facility’s remaining liquefaction trains by the end of 2027, according to BASF.

The technology uses a single adsorption unit to remove trace heavy hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and water from feed gas to specifications required for cryogenic processing. Removing these contaminants helps prevent freezing and associated downtime in liquefaction equipment, while allowing greater flexibility in feed-gas composition, BASF said.

The system can be used to retrofit existing dehydration units as well as in new LNG projects. BASF provided the technology license, specialty adsorbent materials, modeling tools and technical support during preparation, implementation and startup.

“The BASF Durasorb technology has enhanced our strategic debottlenecking program, advancing the organic growth of our existing liquefaction platform,” Maas Hinz, executive vice president of operations at Cheniere, said in a statement.

The commissioning follows earlier small-scale applications of the technology and represents its larger-scale deployment at an operating LNG facility, BASF noted.

Cheniere recently completed its Corpus Christi Liquefaction Stage 3 project, turning over the seventh and final train in August. The expansion increased the company's LNG production capacity across its two U.S. Gulf Coast facilities by more than 20%, to approximately 56 million metric tons/year.

Why it Matters

Feed-gas pretreatment is a critical part of LNG operations because water and heavier hydrocarbons can freeze under cryogenic conditions and interfere with liquefaction equipment. BASF's deployment comes as Cheniere expands its Corpus Christi operation, making the large-scale application of a single-unit adsorption approach particularly relevant to LNG plant operators.