Apparatus for the liquefaction of natural gas and methods relating to same

A liquefaction plant (102) comprising: a plant inlet (112) configured to be sealingly and fluidly coupled with a source of unpurified natural gas; a turbo expander (156) positioned and configured to receive a first stream of natural gas drawn through the plant inlet and produce and expanded cooling stream therefrom; a compressor (158) mechanically coupled to the turbo expander and positioned and configured to receive a second stream of natural gas drawn through the plant inlet and produce a compresses process stream therefrom; a first heat exchanger (166) positioned and configured to receive the compressed process stream and the expanded cooling stream in a countercurrent flow arrangement to cool the compressed process stream; a first plant outlet (132) positioned and configured to be sealingly and fluidly coupled with the source of unpurified gas and to discharge the expanded cooling stream thereinto subsequent to passage thereof through the heat exchanger; a first expansion valve (174) positioned and configured to receive and expand a first portion of the cooled compressed process stream to form an additional cooling stream, the plant further including conduit structure to combine additional cooling stream with the expanded cooling stream to the expanded cooling stream entering the first heat exchanger; a second expansion valve (176) positioned and configured to receive and expand a second portion of the cooled compressed process stream to form gas-solid-liquid mixture therefrom; a first gas-liquid separator (180) positioned and configured to receive the gas-solid-liquid mixture; and a second plant outlet (114) positioned to be sealingly and fluidly coupled with a storage vessel, the first gas-liquid separator being positioned and configured to deliver a liquid contained therein to the second plant outlet.