PUB seeks innovative solutions to support water resilience and environmental sustainability

PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency, has launched the third edition of its Global Innovation Challenge (GIC). This edition will address key questions such as those relating to recovering soluble phosphorus from the used water treatment process, that can be used in hydroponics; and utilising the carbon by-products produced, when carbon dioxide is captured from seawater, to offset carbon emissions, during desalination.

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.

• Phos4SG – Recovering the ‘P’ from PUB’s used water treatment to improve Singapore’s food security Phosphorous is a critical resource required for modern agriculture. But the current global reserves of phosphorus are expected to be depleted within the next 50 to 100 years. However, it can be found in significant quantities, in used water. As part of the ongoing efforts to improve resource circularity and reduce the volume of waste sent to the landfill, PUB is sourcing for solutions to recover phosphorus from the waste streams of water reclamation plants.

Singapore aspires to build up the capability and capacity of its agrifood industry, to produce 30% of the nutritional needs, sustainably, by 2030. With limited land, Singapore has identified hydroponics as an agri-tech that can help speed up the growth cycle of the homegrown food tech sector, without compromising on nutritional value. The recovered phosphorous, free of contaminants and in soluble form, can be used for hydroponics cultivation and contribute to Singapore’s push towards food security.

PUB is interested to work with partners on solutions or ideas to overcome the challenges and cost-effectively recover phosphorus from the wastewater streams, that can be used for safe and sustainable local vegetable production via hydroponics cultivation.

• Utilising by-products from carbon capture

Under the strategy to remove carbon, PUB, together with partners, is exploring technologies to capture CO2 in seawater and locking it in calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide/magnesium carbonate precipitates that form as by-products. Besides permanently storing CO2, these carbonate and hydroxide precipitates could potentially have valuable industrial applications such as their use as base materials for cement and concrete production, cosmetics, paints, and many other products.

PUB is seeking industry partners who can identify and demonstrate the application of these materials for reuse in industry.

• Sewer sampling robot

The discharge of trade effluent containing prohibited substances or excessive concentrations of regulated substances, into sewers, may cause health and safety risks to workers maintaining the system and disrupt downstream used water treatment processes in PUB’s water reclamation plants.

To ensure compliance with trade effluent discharge limits, industries with higher probabilities of discharging such substances are required to install online water quality monitoring instruments in their last inspection chambers. Inspections are conducted frequently at these premises.

Special operations are also conducted at premises suspected of illegal discharge activities. PUB is seeking a robust solution that can collect samples from all types of sanitary sewer connections, which could be deployed for special operations.

• Smart Drain Inspector

Public drains are inspected regularly for defects and subjected to subsequent rectification, to ensure that the drainage network is structurally safe and functional.

Currently, manual inspections are conducted for most open and closed drains, which is labour intensive. In addition, closed drains with confined spaces pose atmospheric and physical hazards. Man-entry into closed drains is potentially hazardous and requires precautions, which reduces inspection efficiency and increases costs.

PUB is seeking an autonomous solution that can sustainably increase the inspections of drains for defect identification, and digitally map drain alignment as well as dimensions.

The deadline for the submission of proposals under the third edition of the GIC is 1 March 2023.

From the submissions, viable proposals will be shortlisted by PUB and will receive pilot funding of up to SGD 250,000 each. During the development process, organisations 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.

Said Dr Pang Chee Meng, PUB’s Chief Engineering and Technology Officer, “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 revolutionise our operations, as part of our ongoing transformation to become a smart and sustainable utility of the future”.