Ronnie Tay, CEO of NEA; Choi Shing Kwok, permanent secretary (Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources); Professor Freddy Boey, provost of Nanyang Technological University; and Professor Ng Wun Jern, executive director of NTU’s Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute

The National Environment Agency of Singapore (NEA) signed a collaboration agreement with the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore (NTU) to cofund the development of a $29,794,715 waste-to-energy (WTE) research facility.

The facility will be the first of its kind in Singapore, according to the NEA and NTU, and enable the translation of emerging WTE technologies, from research into demonstration and test-bedding projects.

Expected to be commissioned by late 2018, the facility will be an open platform to support research and its translation, as well as manpower training to build technical competencies in WTE domain areas. Possible demonstration and test-bedding projects to be conducted at the facility include turning waste and biomass into synthetic gas (syngas, which constitutes mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide), cleaning and upgrading syngas to run a gas engine or turbine for higher energy recovery efficiencies, using slag in engineering applications, novel flue gas treatment module for lower emissions, low-grade heat recovery and using a gas separation membrane to extract oxygen from air.

The collaboration agreement was signed by Ronnie Tay, CEO of NEA, and Professor Ng Wun Jern, executive director of NTU’s Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI). The signing was witnessed by Choi Shing Kwok, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources and Professor Freddy Boey, provost of NTU.

“This collaboration with NTU underscores NEA’s commitment toward Singapore’s vision of becoming a zero waste nation,” Ronnie Tay says. “We hope that this facility will provide stakeholders such as research institutes, academia and industry with a platform to collaborate in and create more effective and sustainable waste management solutions through research, development, demonstration and test-bedding.”

“NTU has an established track record of industry collaboration and for translating research into impactful commercial applications. NTU’s research in water covers the whole cycle of water. Through this joint research facility with NEA, we aim to build a center of excellence and a hub in waste management research,” Freddy Boey says. “It will provide local institutions and industries access to the world-class research facilities and expertise at NTU, helping them to innovate and develop clean solutions that are globally competitive. Such innovations will help overcome energy and space constraints faced by Singapore and other urban cities. NTU looks forward to collaborating with the industry in these efforts.”