Technology assessment model for sustainable development of LNG terminals

The liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry is one of the highest value-added industries, and strategic technology development not only contributes to its growth, but also to the one of national economies. For sustainable technology development, the first step is to accurately diagnose the technological capabilities a firm possesses, based on which the development strategy is established. However, few efforts have been made to identify technology management issues in LNG terminals. Therefore, this study aims to develop a technology assessment system, named K-TOL that assigns a grade according to the level of technologies, using a set of indexes customized to LNG terminals. The K-TOL was applied to a Korean company and its feasibility and utility verified. Academically, this is one of the first attempt to develop a technology assessment system especially for sustainable technology management in LNG terminals. Practically, the K-TOL will be useful for strategic technology planning to improve internal technological capabilities, and can be further developed to a global standard to appraise, evaluate, and certify technology excellence of LNG terminals, contributing to the advances of the LNG industry worldwide.