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SINGAPORE: A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a new mixture that can convert natural gas into solid form in 15 minutes, facilitating the transport and storage of gas “quickly and safely”.
This could help “improve” Singapore’s long-term energy security, the university said.
Singapore relies primarily on natural gas, considered the least polluting fossil fuel, for its energy needs.
Currently, ways to store natural gas include liquefying it to about -160 degrees Celsius or compressing it to nearly 250 times atmospheric pressure, NUS said, noting that it can be challenging to store the gas safely and affordably.
These approaches, he added, don’t work on a large scale because they’re expensive or not as safe to store for long periods.
To address the challenges, the NUS team formulated a “new low-toxic additive blend” that accelerates the conversion of natural gas into a non-explosive solid form, the university said in a press release.
“The conversion can be completed in just 15 minutes, the fastest time ever,” he added.
Led by Associate Professor Praveen Linga from the NUS College of Engineering, the researchers now aim to convert large volumes of gas into smaller volumes of solids at a pilot scale of 100 kg per day.
If successful, this will allow commercial adoption of solidified natural gas technology and create a solid that is stable to store at atmospheric pressure, NUS said. The researchers hope to eventually scale it for industrial use.
“This is especially relevant for natural gas importing countries like Singapore, where 95 percent of electricity is generated by natural gas,” said Professor of Assoc Linga, from the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering.
“The development of such gas storage technologies would help improve the country’s energy security.”
READ: Hit the gas to keep Singapore’s lights on
Traditionally, most of Singapore’s natural gas supply comes from pipelines from Indonesia and Malaysia.
Since May 2013, Singapore has been importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to diversify and secure its energy sources. The country’s LNG Terminal currently has four storage tanks that can hold 800,000 cubic meters of LNG.
“Our breakthrough can really be put into perspective when you consider that it takes millions and millions of years for gas hydrates to form in nature, yet with our correct addition of secret ingredients to the system in small amounts, the same The process can be done in the laboratory in a matter of minutes, ”said researcher Dr. Gaurav Bhattacharjee, who worked on the project.
The new additive blend contains L-tryptophan, an essential amino acid in diets. This amino acid can also “greatly accelerate” the “buildup” of natural gas into solid hydrate, which is also known as combustible ice, NUS said.
According to the university, the formulation made by the team produces the fastest reaction rate to date, more than twice as fast as existing standards, while being less toxic and safer to handle.
While other researchers have managed to accelerate this reaction artificially in the past, they resorted to using “highly toxic additives” that are not safe for both the environment and the personnel involved, NUS added.
The research was funded in part by the Energy Innovation Research Program, which is administered by the Energy Market Authority and funded by the National Research Foundation.
