Three NUS projects awarded the LCER scale-up grant to advance carbon capture and hydrogen technologies

Three research projects at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have been awarded funding under the Low Carbon Energy Research (LCER) Scale-up Grant to advance technologies for carbon capture and hydrogen production. The funding will enable the teams to build on earlier laboratory and pilot studies, working towards applications in power generation and other industrial processes.

Led by Professor Zhao Dan, Associate Professor Sibudjing Kawi and Associate Professor Zhang Sui from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NUS’ College of Design and Engineering, the projects are among five awarded a total of S$65 million by the Advanced Energy and Decarbonisation Office (AEDO). The grant provides follow-on support for projects that achieved promising outcomes under an earlier LCER programme.

The projects were announced at the inaugural Singapore Industry Decarbonisation Forum (SIDF) on 23 October 2026. Organised by the Singapore Economic Development Board and AEDO, the forum was graced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry (Trade), Mr Gan Kim Yong, as guest of honour.

The three funded projects address complementary research challenges: capturing carbon dioxide using porous materials, producing hydrogen from methane, and developing membranes to separate carbon dioxide from gas mixtures. Their next phase will assess performance at larger scales, integration with industrial infrastructure and durability under operating conditions.

Advancing carbon capture and utilisation at scale

Prof Zhao’s project uses metal-organic frameworks and other advanced porous materials to capture carbon dioxide from flue gas, the exhaust gas released by industrial processes. It also explores how the captured carbon dioxide can be used in concrete applications.

In its earlier phase, the team demonstrated the technology using real flue gas at the Waste-to-Energy Research Facility. The system captured around 400 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide a day and achieved close to 100 per cent carbon dioxide recovery.

Under the scale-up grant, the researchers will develop a system designed to capture five tonnes of carbon dioxide a day from higher-concentration flue gas. A separate pilot at YTL PowerSeraya’s natural gas combined-cycle power plant will target the capture of two tonnes of carbon dioxide a day.

The project will also explore carbon dioxide mineralisation for concrete applications. This process converts captured carbon dioxide into minerals, providing a potential pathway for using the recovered gas.

Separately, the team is collaborating with Chevron to evaluate advanced capture materials and processes for industrial use. Chevron will contribute industrial specifications and evaluation criteria, together with advice on scale-up feasibility and integration into industrial processes.

Producing hydrogen at pilot scale

Assoc Prof Kawi’s project focuses on methane pyrolysis, a process that breaks methane down into hydrogen and solid carbon.

In Phase 1, the team designed and built a catalytic membrane reactor that operates at relatively low temperatures of around 500 to 600 degrees Celsius. The integrated system demonstrated hydrogen production of 500 litres per day, while a prototype was designed to produce up to one kilogramme of hydrogen and three kilogrammes of carbon nanotubes daily.

In Phase 2, the team aims to increase daily production to 100 kilogrammes of hydrogen and 300 kilogrammes of carbon nanotubes through a pilot-scale reactor system.

Working with Siemens and PacificLight Power, the researchers aim to demonstrate the larger system at PacificLight Power’s existing gas-fired power plant. The pilot will draw on the plant’s natural gas infrastructure, with potential applications for the hydrogen in electricity generation.

This next phase will test the technology at pilot scale under industrial conditions.

Testing membranes for carbon capture

Assoc Prof Zhang’s project uses hollow fibre membranes to separate carbon dioxide from gas mixtures. These membranes allow carbon dioxide to pass through more readily than nitrogen, enabling the gases to be separated.

In the earlier phase, the team developed next-generation membranes that achieved performance levels considered attractive for industrial deployment. and the membranes were incorporated into one-inch and four-inch modules, with the smaller modules tested at a waste-to-energy facility, capturing around four kilogrammes of carbon dioxide a day.

With the scale-up funding, the researchers aim to demonstrate a modular pilot system capable of processing up to 1 ton of flue gas per day. The team will also evaluate the membranes’ durability and performance when exposed to contaminants under real-world operating conditions.

The trials will help establish how well the membranes maintain their performance beyond controlled laboratory conditions, supporting their further development for industrial carbon capture.

Across the three projects, these larger-scale trials will help the researchers assess how their technologies perform under industrial conditions, informing the next steps towards wider deployment.