Abstract: Liquefied natural gas(LNG) cold energy from the viewpoints of both cooling capacity and cold exergy was illustrated.The LNG cold energy recovery schemes were differentiated into cooling capacity utilization and power recovery.By using the temperature difference between LNG and ambient temperature，a thermal engine using Stirling cycle was put forward and its basic working principle was explained.The thermal performance of the novel system was calculated.The results showed that Stirling engine system recovering LNG cold energy was superior to other current schemes of LNG cold energy recovery.Hence，it is valuable to develop the integrated investigation of Stirling engine and LNG cold energy recovery.