Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) of Singapore launched a new research facility that turns waste from the NTU campus into electricity and resources.
The facility, located in Tuas South hosts a slagging gasification plant that can heat up to 1600 degrees Celsius, almost twice as hot as conventional burn incinerators which burn 850 degrees. The high temperature of the plant can turn about 85% of the rubbish into syngas (mostly carbon monoxide and hydrogen) that can be used to produce electricity. Another 12% of the waste can be converted into slag – a glass-like material that can potentially be used as construction material – and metal alloy granulates that can be recycled. The plant can process 11.5 tons of waste daily.
This technology has the potential to complement the current mass burn technology as it can treat diverse mixed waste streams that cannot be handled by mass burn incinerators.
In addition, the research facility will facilitate test-bedding of innovative technologies for converting waste into energy and useful materials through plug-and-play features. Led by NTU scientists and engineers from the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI) will embark on several research projects in the next few years.
(Source: Nanyang Technological University; Channel News Asia; Today)
