Singapore’s newest Create research centre will study ways to slash the carbon footprint left by companies refining petroleum and making petroleum-based chemicals.
It hopes that these solutions will be taken up by energy and chemical firms based here.
The Cambridge Centre for Carbon Reduction in Chemical Technology has received approval and funding from the National Research Foundation, the foundation said in a release yesterday.
The centre is a collaboration between the University of Cambridge, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National University of Singapore (NUS). It is part of the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (Create) programme, which invites top international research universities to set up research centres here in collaboration with Singapore universities.
The centre - which is expected to open early next year with space at the Create campus at NUS, and laboratory space at NUS and NTU - has funding for five years.
Singapore’s high-quality academic environment and its high density of energy and chemical firms on Jurong Island offer ample opportunities for research, explained Professor Lynn Gladden, pro-vice-chancellor for research at the University of Cambridge, who is in Singapore this week.
The energy and chemical industry here plays an enormous role in the economy: In 2008, it contributed 38.6 per cent of overall manufacturing output, and $4.9 billion in value-added. Key components of everything from petrol to plastics are produced on Jurong Island.
But the chemical industry is also a major producer of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. In 2008, it accounted for 22 per cent of total industrial energy consumption worldwide.
While they did not give precise figures, Cambridge scientists reckon that if successful research is implemented, it could help Jurong Island’s chemical industries - and by extension, Singapore - slash their carbon footprint significantly.
Asked why the centre would work to boost efficiency rather than look for fossil-fuel alternatives, Prof Gladden said: ‘The bottom line is that refining as we know it today is going to be around for many more years, so what we want to do is reduce the carbon footprint of these processes.’ The centre’s work will complement other Create and Cambridge efforts that seek alternative energy technologies.
The centre aims to recruit 40 doctoral students and 20 post-doctoral researchers. It also intends to secure industrial partnerships with firms such as petrochemical giant ExxonMobil and materials company Johnson Matthey, and hopes to spin off firms to market new technologies, Prof Gladden said.
