Cryo-Polygeneration

​​LNG Storage and Cryo-Polygeneration: A Complete System Solution for Urban Micro-Grids

Energy efficiency is an increasingly important contributor to climate change mitigation while at the same time reducing the cost of energy as well as presenting an opportunity for technological innovation. Over the last 2 national R&D masterplans, substantial funds have been channeled into the development of low carbon technologies. The Paris Agreement on climate change has given additional impetus for Singapore to deploy low carbon technologies at scale as a tangible output of RIE 2020.

The objective of this project is to demonstrate the potential of a highly integrated clean and energy efficient Cryo-Polygeneration system capable to deliver more than 36% CO2 emissions reduction as compared with conventional energy generation systems. This project will create a unique world’s first demonstrator for a broad exploration of use of cryogens and clean fuel for district scale demonstration of combined generation of cooling, electricity and other utilities, including Cryogenic Carbon Capture.

The Cryo-Polygeneration system is an integrated rapidly deployable, highly energy efficient solution which helps in meeting growing energy needs of urbanization and industrialization.  This is a novel one-stop solution which encompasses all technologies, concepts by which power generation, cold energy harnessing, cold export, Cryogenic power generation, City Gas generation, Steam and Hot water (Cryo-Polygeneration) can be jointly generated from one solution based on the needs of the customer. High levels of energy efficiency can be achieved by utilizing cold from LNG and waste heat from power generation.

The main driver and focus of this project will be that of working on system level design, optimization and integration of components towards a Polygeneration solution, which main KPI will be that of delivering approximately 3.5MW of electricity and more than 10MW of cooling by means of efficient utilization of waste heat and waste cold from the hot exhaust gas streams and from the regasification of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) respectively, including study on potential for Cryogenic Carbon Capture. In parallel, it is intended to understand the economics of operating the proposed system in a district environment, to meet power and cooling demands both commercially and sustainably.

A district scale demonstration will be a showcase of systems integration that can be exported overseas as urban solution. With upcoming opportunities in JTC estates such as Cleantech Park, Punggol Enterprise District, Jurong Innovation District and so on, this is an opportune time for NTU to partner with Surbana Jurong on the development of a Cryo-Polygeneration solution for clean efficient power generation. Besides being a demonstration of a decentralised solution, some aspects of the Cryo-Polygeneration solution can also be proxies for larger scale national solutions, e.g. recovering LNG cold energy and waste heat on Jurong Island.

The proposed Cryo-Polygeneration concept can provide reliable and affordable energy supplies, which are key drivers for urbanization and industrialization. Singapore has taken early measures on sustainable development, such as managing the growth of our vehicle population and making the switch from fuel oil to natural gas, the cleanest form of fossil fuel, to generate electricity. Over 95% of Singapore's electricity is now generated by natural gas. These early initiatives have helped to reduce significantly Singapore carbon emissions growth. With very little options to reduce the carbon footprint further, Singapore is looking forward for energy efficiency improvements, and the proposed Cryo-Polygeneration system can help to address this issue by helping to reduce carbon foot print up to 45%*  and reduction of OPEX as compared with traditional generation systems. This solution has a capability of recovering almost 100% of available cold in the LNG and it also helps in decentralization of Grid, which in turn improves grid resilience and reliability. This solution can also help in the development of micro-grids, which reduces the need for transmission and distribution network investment and displacement of higher cost generation plants. This solution can also be integrated with other energy supply sources such as solar and power grid. Which means excess power generated can be supplied to power grid, thereby improving security of supply to the end user.