THE Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (Cares) is helming two projects worth S$31mil (RM102mil) collectively, to research processes that can make the chemical manufacturing industry and energy systems here be less reliant on fossil fuels.
The centre said yesterday that these projects, which started in October, are among nine research projects under a S$90mil (RM297mil) programme announced in July to help decarbonise Singapore’s energy and industrial sectors.
In the first project, called Hydrogen and Ammonia Combustion in Singapore, researchers are investigating the use of hydrogen and ammonia to generate power – as well as for use in the aviation and maritime industries – and to minimise pollution caused.
This will also help ease the transition of these fuels in the Singapore energy system, as the country may adopt them in the future, and new equipment will be needed to process them.
One of the tools the centre – located in Kent Ridge – is using for this project is a laser diagnostic system to study the burning process of hydrogen and ammonia and analyse the emissions during the process.
The information will be used to understand how the emissions, which can contain greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide, can be minimised.
The data will also help in the effective use of ammonia and hydrogen in equipment such as gas turbines in the future.
Besides power generation, Cambridge Cares software developer Tan Yong Ren said the research finds can also be applied to industries, such as the maritime industry, “in terms of engine design and how we can fit the current engines to use these kinds of fuels in the future”.
Conventional engines are currently optimised for fossil fuels, Tan said.
“The project can also help to train engineers in Singapore to be equipped with the latest research on ammonia and hydrogen.”
The other project, named Sustainable Manufacture of Molecules and Materials in Singapore, will help to develop methods that best convert fossil-free materials into products for the chemical industry.
This aims to address the industry’s dependency on conventional petrochemical processes that rely on fossil-based carbon sources, which are unsustainable and contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions.
The centre will tap technology, which uses robotics and machine learning, to make pharmaceutical products from raw materials in an automated system.
This can be adapted to use cleaner and more sustainable carbon sources from bio-based materials to build these final products.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who is also the chairman of the National Research Foundation (NRF), said yesterday that the need to tackle climate change and its impact grows ever more urgent.
These two projects are among nine research projects – each taking between three and five years – under the Create Thematic Programme In Decarbonisation by the NRF launched in July.
NRF had said the programme will contribute towards building Singapore’s capacity in hydrogen utilisation, developing new insights on the combustion behaviours of zero-carbon fuel blends, and building ammonia-ready fuel cells for power generation.
This followed the October 2022 launch of the National Hydrogen Strategy, which will accelerate the development and deployment of hydrogen as a major decarbonisation pathway. — The Straits Times/ANN
