The National Research Foundation of Singapore announced a mega research project at the CREATE seminar (Photo: CREATE)
Singapore's government has allocated $90 million through the National Research Foundation (NRF) to launch nine research projects spanning three to five years, aimed at achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. This initiative focuses on hydrogen energy and sustainable chemical applications, expected to significantly bolster energy and industrial decarbonization efforts.
Research targets hydrogen, green chemistry, and synthetic biology
The announcement was made at a seminar hosted by the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE), where Tan Chorh Chuan, Permanent Secretary of the National Research and Development Office, emphasized the ambitious scale and collaborative nature of these large-scale decarbonization studies.
Leading institutions involved include the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, and international partners such as Cambridge University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Max Planck Institute in Germany, and Tohoku University in Japan.
Research areas cover four main domains: from hydrogen utilization to hydrogen combustion technologies; green chemistry, such as the conversion of biomass to chemicals and biofuels; synthetic biology, such as by engineering microbes to convert carbon dioxide into chemicals and biofuels; and chemical transformation, which involves developing net-zero pathways for pharmaceutical applications.
The foundation aims to leverage international expertise to help Singapore build capabilities in hydrogen applications, develop ammonia fuel cells, and discover sustainable blended fuels. Despite Singapore's current reliance on natural gas for electricity generation, efforts are underway to develop a green economy, including importing renewable energy from neighboring countries and seeking other clean alternative sources.
Singapore eyes 50% low-carbon hydrogen power by 2050
Singapore aims to increase the share of low-carbon hydrogen in its electricity mix to 50% by 2050, as outlined in its National Hydrogen Strategy launched in 2022. Starting from this year, all new and upgraded natural gas power plants must generate 30% of their electricity from hydrogen blending to reduce carbon emissions.
With the industrial sector responsible for the highest carbon emissions among all industries, Singapore's government focuses on Jurong Island, its petrochemical hub. The sustainable plan encourages industry players to develop low-carbon products, aiming to increase the production by 4 times from 2019 levels and achieve an annual reduction of 6 million tons of carbon emissions. The island's first hydrogen-ready cogeneration plant is expected to be completed by 2026, with a total annual generation capacity of approximately 600 MW, some of which will be sold to GlobalFoundries, a semiconductor manufacturing company headquartered in the United States.
Furthermore, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) under Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry collaborated with Nanyang Technological University and ExxonMobil in April to establish a $60 million corporate laboratory focused on hydrogen, bioenergy, and carbon capture technologies.
