Projects to wean chemical, energy sectors off fossil fuels

The Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (Cares) is helming two projects worth $31 million collectively to research processes that can make the chemical manufacturing industry and energy systems here less reliant on fossil fuels.

- Chin Hui Shan

The centre said on Dec 5 that these projects, which started in October, are among nine research projects under a $90 million programme announced in July to help decarbonise Singapore's energy and industrial sectors.

Cambridge Cares, the University of Cambridge's first research centre outside the UK, was established in 2013 in collaboration with NTU and NUS. The Singapore Government funds the centre.

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 to 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 then be used to understand how the emissions, which may contain greenhouse gases such as 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.