NTU - NTUitive >> Water - Energy - Waste
NTUitive Pte Ltd (“NTUitive” in short) is the innovation and enterprise company – and a wholly-owned subsidiary – of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore). We manage the University’s intellectual property, promote innovation, support entrepreneurship, and facilitate the commercialisation of research.
Discover, learn, connect, network, and be in the know of the latest and freshest startup news, technologies and innovations, and ecosystem events by joining the NTUitive telegram group at t.me/NTUitive_sayhi or visit our website at www.ntuitive.sg.
Our Technology Offers
Spray Cooling System for Data Centre
Data centres in Singapore consume about 7% of the electricity generated annually. A large proportion of the energy consumption (~50%) is due to the cooling system necessary to keep the servers operating reliably under Singapore’s hot and humid ambient conditions. Current cooling systems rely on energy-demanding chillers and computer room air handlers to produce the cold air which is then passed through the IT equipment to mitigate the heat generated via sensible cooling.
Based in Singapore, the technology owner has developed a spray cooling system, aims to eliminate the need for chillers and reduce the energy requirements of the other associated equipment in the data centre cooling application. The spray cooling system uses dielectric coolant which is dispersed in small droplets through a spray nozzle that directly impinges on electronic components and absorbs heat from the operating heated server by evaporative or droplet impingement cooling mechanism. The vaporised coolant is then recovered by a condensing coil cooled by ambient temperature water (i.e. no cooling required by chillers) from a cooling tower, through which the heat is rejected to the environment.
The technology owner is seeking industry partners to co-develop and pilot the technology for data centre applications and in space or equipment that require high heat load cooling applications.
Management of Cargo Heating Systems for Oil Tankers
Heating of liquid cargo at sea, such as crude oil and temperature-dependent products, are needed to ensure the cargo remains fluid during the voyages for loading and offloading. These operations consume a huge amount of energy and significantly impact the consumption of boiler fuel onboard oil tank. Currently, most cargo heating operation, including the stocking of fuel oil, are manually controlled and calculated by ship crew based on their experience and past records. Limited tools are available to estimate fuel oil consumption and plan a proper operation for cargo heating, which results in excess fuel consumption due to over- or under-heating of the cargo.
Based in Singapore, the technology owner has developed a software with user-friendly interface, based on thermodynamics theory, to manage the cargo heating operation for heated-cargo tanker operator. A fast optimisation algorithm for the cargo heating system, which encompasses the boilers, cargo tanks and pipelines, can provide an optimum and accurate setting for cargo heating operation during transportation of crude oil. This is achieved via the software tool that executes the optimisation algorithm, and eventually achieved fuel and cost saving.
The technology owner is seeking industry partners to adopt and license the software with the optimised algorithm, to further co-develop a software solution or to integrate it as an additional feature into existing performance monitoring and optimisation tools for cargo heating operation.
Ultra-permeable Biomimetic Membrane for Desalination
Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) is the state-of-the-art technology to transform the inexhaustible supply of seawater into freshwater to alleviate water stress worldwide. Nevertheless, the least energy-intensive seawater desalination plant still consumes around 3 kWh per m3 water produced, which is three to four times higher than surface water treatment. Thus, the biomimetic membrane is explored to improve the energy efficiency to maintain the sustainability of seawater desalination.
A unique aquaporin-based biomimetic membrane (ABM) is formulated by incorporating the water channel proteins, aquaporins, into a polyamide membrane matrix to fabricate ultra-permeable SWRO membrane for clean water production. This robust ABM can be operated at the harsh condition of the desalination plant, i.e., high salinity, high operating pressure and extreme chemical cleaning process for the membrane. In addition, the ABM exhibits excellent performance stability and antifouling propensity. Most importantly, it is scalable to the industrial production level.
The technology owner is interested in seeking technology licensing collaborators or manufacturing partners.
Carbon nanomaterials from waste plastics
The technology for conversion of plastic waste into carbon nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes, has the potential to increase profit margin in chemical recycling of plastics. Carbon nanotubes are a high-performance additive that were found to significantly improve properties of various materials. For instance, they can be used to manufacture light weight and mechanically strong plastics, powerful batteries and smart textiles.
The proposed technology is an add-on chemical process to conventional plastic pyrolysis plants. At pyrolysis plant, plastic waste (mainly PE and PP) is first decomposed at high temperature, resulting in pyrolysis oil and industrial gases. To produce carbon nanotubes, a reactor containing a catalyst is connected to the pyrolysis unit. The catalyst is able to convert industrial gases into carbon nanotubes and combustible gas containing 30-40% hydrogen.
The advantage of producing carbon nanotubes on top of pyrolysis oil is the high carbon nanotube price. Furthermore, the process allows to process industrial gases into solid carbon, thus, avoiding carbon emissions. Depending on plastic feedstock quality, a tonne of plastic waste can be used to produce approx. 100 kg of carbon nanotubes.
The technology owner is seeking collaboration with industry partners for seed and start-up financing or technology licensing.
Membrane System for High Recovery Water Reclamation
Reclaimed water is a critical source of water in Singapore and globally. Common practical limit of existing technology based on microfiltration/ultrafiltration-membrane bioreactor (MF/UF-MBR) and reverse osmosis (RO) for water reclamation has 75-85% recovery due to RO membrane fouling.
This technology presents a hybrid system consisting of a high retention nanofiltration-membrane bioreactor (NF-MBR) and RO developed to achieve ≥90% of water recovery. NF-MBR produces superior quality effluent because the NF membrane can retain low molecular weight organics and scale forming divalent ions. Thus, membrane fouling in downstream RO process can be alleviated significantly, which allows higher recovery.
Ultrafast Conversion of Food Waste to Biofertilizers
Over the last decade, food waste in Singapore grew by 20% and about 665,000 tonnes of food waste were generated in 2020. Currently, about 81% of food waste is incinerated together with other municipal wastes for volume reduction. As a readily available, abundant, and inexpensive resource, food waste has plenty of untapped potential to be converted into useful resources due to its richness in organic matter and nutrients. The technology provides an easy and holistic approach for food waste management towards quick, odourless, zero-solid disposal.
Developed on the basis of zero solid discharge-driven resource recovery from food waste, i.e. food waste to biofertilizers, heterogeneous food waste is subjected to 8-10 hours of ultrafast hydrolysis mediated by a fungal mash rich in various hydrolytic enzymes, which is also produced from food waste at very low costs. After a solid-liquid separation, the produced liquids and solids are harvested as biofertilizers that could meet the Chinese Standards for organic fertilizers, with nearly zero solid discharge. This technology can also be extended to bioenergy production (e.g. bioethanol and biomethane) from food waste.
The first pilot-scale prototype has been built with the treatment capacity of 100 kg food waste per batch. The team is seeking collaboration opportunities with potential partners for further engineering development.
High Temperature Chlorine Scrubbing System
Chlorine compounds, such as hydrogen chloride and alkali metal chloride vapors, are common gaseous impurities causing severe corrosion of plant equipment, especially steam boilers. At high temperatures, the heat transfer surfaces within the system are easily corroded by chlorinated compounds that shortens its working life and lowers its thermal efficiency.
The technology on offer is a high temperature scrubber that eliminates chlorine compounds from combustible gas produced by waste and biomass gasification systems. Owing to the application of advanced sorbent materials, the scrubber can operate at temperatures of the gasifier outlet (800-900°C). The product of the process is a clean flue gas suitable for downstream application in a boiler for electricity generation.
The technology owner is seeking collaboration with industry partners for technology licensing, research collaboration or test-bedding.
Clean Syngas from Waste for Energy and Chemicals
Syngas is a valuable feedstock for energy generation and chemical synthesis. Currently, it can be produced by the gasification of locally available materials such as municipal solid waste and biomass. However, the prominent issue that arises during syngas utilisation is the high level of impurities that can damage the electricity generator and chemical reactors. In addition, current conventional syngas purification processes require quenching and wet-scrubbing stages, resulting in heat loss and increasing the costs for treating liquid waste before disposal.
The proposed technology is an innovative hot purification process that can effectively remove syngas impurities to acceptable levels for downstream applications. This solution is a technology process starting with a catalytic reforming apparatus that can remove tar in high particle-loading syngas from the gasifier at high temperatures. The upgraded syngas is then treated in a desulfurisation system with regenerative sorbents for high-temperature and continuous sulfur removal. This process allows energy conservation and no liquid waste is generated.
The technology owner is seeking collaboration with industry partners for research collaboration or technology licensing.
Resilient Cold Chain Network for Vaccination Programs
VacStore technology is a specifically designed device as a two-in-one solution for transportation and on-site storage of products such as vaccines and perishable commodities at a required temperature range.
The proposed technology is an innovative hot purification process that can effectively remove syngas impurities to acceptable levels for downstream applications. This solution is a technology process starting with a catalytic reforming apparatus that can remove tar in high particle-loading syngas from the gasifier at high temperatures. The upgraded syngas is then treated in a desulfurisation system with regenerative sorbents for high-temperature and continuous sulfur removal. This process allows energy conservation and no liquid waste is generated.
Current devices in the market have a very limited thermal performance (usually less than 120 hours) and temperature ranges (mostly -25 to -15 ֯C and +2 to +8 ֯C). Once Covid-19 started, the mass vaccination programs started to rely on these non-optimized solutions, although, they are not suitable for last mile vaccine delivery in developing countries with distant rural areas due to their performance limitations. When Pfizer comes into the picture with its storage temperature requirements between -90 to -60 ֯C, almost none of the solutions in the market is effective for last mile vaccine delivery in bulk. Therefore, slow vaccination rate in developing countries is noticed and it is the main obstacle for the economic recovery. The proposed technology – VacStore – is a highly efficient and uniquely designed to provide advanced thermal performance, for various temperature ranges.
Target users:
- Logistics companies
- Warehouses
- Government
- Supermarkets
- Pharma companies
- Companies which produce/deliver perishable products
Partnership Opportunities:
- Investing
- Manufacturing Partnership
- Geographical expansion
- Technology licensing
- Mass vaccination planning
- On site testing with customers
