PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, has launched the third edition of its Global Innovation Challenge (GIC), seeking the best ideas for water treatment byproduct recycling.
Following the success of the last two editions, PUB is bringing back the GIC and inviting water industry partners and innovators to co-develop solutions across four challenge statements:
- How might PUB recover phosphorus from dewatered sludge, dewatering centrate, or sewage sludge incineration ash cost-effectively for safe and sustainable local vegetation production via hydroponics cultivation?
- How might PUB make the most effective use of the calcium carbonates and magnesium hydroxides/carbonates formed through the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) in seawater in the most beneficial and economically viable way?
- How might PUB collect factory premises’ used water samples from various types of sanitary lateral connections for used water quality monitoring and surveillance, without the need for man-entry into the sewers?
- How might PUB deploy a cost-effective solution to autonomously inspect our drainage network to identify drain defects and map out the drain alignment/dimension?
Viable proposals shortlisted by PUB will receive pilot funding of up to $250,000 each. During the development process, organizations and individuals will gain access to real-world test beds in PUB’s facilities and get the opportunity to work alongside its in- house engineers and water experts, with the goal of achieving commercial implementation.
An online information session for the third edition of the GIC will be held on 18 January 2023. Interested parties can sign up via https://go.gov.sg/gic-info.
GIC 3: Sustainability & resilient operations
The third iteration of the GIobal Innovation Challenge will anchor on sustainability and smart solutions to enhance the resilience of PUB’s operations.
To advance its decarbonization efforts, PUB is working with SeaChange, a technology start-up from the University of California, Los Angeles, to build a pilot system for carbon removal at its desalination plants. Another project with CO2Tech, the commercial arm of Australian decarbonization research organization CO2CRC, will explore capturing carbon dioxide via solvent absorption and membrane separation, and mineralise it with brine from our desalination plants3. If these carbon capture projects are successful, large quantities of carbon by-products will be produced. One of the GIC’s challenge statements aims to seek useful industrial applications for these by-products to ensure permanent carbon removal.
Phosphorus, a critical yet limited resource for modern agriculture, can be found in significant quantities in used water. As part of PUB’s ongoing efforts to improve resource circularity and reduce the volume of waste sent to landfill, the agency is looking for solutions to recover phosphorus from the waste streams of our water reclamation plants. Recovered phosphorus, free of contaminants, in soluble form can be used for hydroponics cultivation and contribute to Singapore’s push toward food security.
Two other challenge statements are focused on developing smart solutions (Sewer Sampling Robot and Smart Drain Inspector) to enhance PUB’s operations. Smart robotic solutions will not only enhance our operational outcomes, but also improve manpower productivity and the safety of our workers.
“As a firm believer in innovation and technology, PUB has been investing in and supporting water-related research to develop innovative solutions to overcome our water challenges,” says Pang Chee Meng, PUB’s chief engineering and technology officer. “To meet Singapore’s future water needs, while reducing its energy and waste footprint to mitigate climate change, PUB continues to source for new ideas to enhance water resilience and sustainability. The Global Innovation Challenge offers an exciting opportunity to companies around the world. We are hoping to leverage the best ideas globally to discover and adopt promising technology to revolutionize our operations, as part of our ongoing transformation to become a smart and sustainable utility of the future.”
PUB’s last two Global Innovation Challenge editions sparked global interest, receiving more than 160 proposals. The outreach has been successful with more than 70 percent of the proposals coming from entities that PUB has not worked with previously. A total of 13 innovative solutions were awarded pilot projects, all of which are currently at various stages of development.
