Self-refrigerated LNG process

The present invention is directed to a process for producing LNG by directing a feed stream comprising natural gas to a cooling stage that (a) cools the feed stream in at least one cooling step producing a cooled feed stream, (b) expands the cooled feed stream in at least one expansion step by reducing the pressure of the cooled feed stream producing a refrigerated vapor component and a liquid component, and (c) separates at least a portion of the refrigerated vapor component from the liquid component wherein at least a portion of the cooling for the process is derived from at least a portion of the refrigerated vapor component; and repeating steps (a) through (c) one or more times until at least substantial portion of the feed stream in the first cooling stage is processed into LNG wherein the feed stream in step (a) comprises at least a portion of the liquid component produced from a previous cooling stage.