FOR carbon capture technologies to attract investments and scale up, pilot projects cannot be too large. That is the verdict of Dr Ng Wai Kiong, who is the acting executive director of the first and only research institute on Jurong Island. A smaller scale is less risky for companies involved, he said, and offers the right opportunities for testing.

The Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment that Dr Ng leads is part of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), a statutory board that supports Singapore’s research and development needs.

The institute was set up in 2022 to work on shrinking the carbon footprint of Singapore’s industrial sector. One possibility is carbon capture and utilisation (CCU). This involves capturing carbon dioxide (CO2), breaking out the C component of the CO2, and combining it with hydrogen to create various types of hydrocarbons – which could then be used as fuel or for other industrial applications.