Today, the cost of energy generated by renewable sources is less than conventional energy. However, current energy storage solutions (e.g. Lithium-ion battery etc.) used to harness energy from renewables are expensive, unsafe and unreliable which has severely impeded the adoption and development of such renewable sources. Hence, there is a need for a cost efficient, safe, environmentally friendly and reliable energy storage system (ESS) to address these existing issues. This technology offer is a vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) as a promising ESS. Unlike lithium-ion and lead acid batteries, VRFB has the flexibility to design and customise its power and energy density independently. This results in enhanced performance in terms of round-trip efficiency, energy density and thermal window as well as lowered levelised cost of storage when benchmarket against lithium-ion battery based ESS for long discharge duration. The VRFB also uses a unique stack design and an organic additive mixture on the electrolyte that improves the thermal stability and allows for 25% increase in energy efficiency when compared to other VRFB solutions.It also reduces safety risks related to over-charging, discharging and thermal runaways. This VRFB ESS is stable for up to 25 years with no electrolyte degradation and is made with environemtally friendly materials. The technology owner is seeking partner and collaborators especially those in renewable energy, large scale utility and microgrid projects to test bed their technology.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been the preferred portable energy source in recent decades. However, disposal of these spent LIBs causes serious environmental problems because the batteries are made of hazardous components such as heavy metals and electrolytes. Current recycling method for LIBs are energy intensive, costly, generate harmful emissions while having poor recovery rate of the valuable metals. Therefore, there is a need for a low cost, environmentally friendly recovery method that can achieve high yield for the critical battery materials. This technology offer is a highly versatile recycling method for LIBs that directly converts crushed LIBs material (black mass) into ready-to-use battery-grade cathode materials. This direct conversion is based on proprietary hydrometallurgical co-precipitation method and allows for the skipping of the production of mixed precious metal salts and immediately produces reusable battery-grade cathode materials. Furthermore, there is no need for pre-sorting and a mixture of LIBs materials with different chemistries can be processed in a single batch. These includes lithium cobalt oxide (LCO), lithium manganese oxide (LMO), lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) and lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide (NCA). The production outputs are battery-grade NMC hydroxides (622/532/111/811), and the by-products may include lithium carbonate and sodium sulphate. Lastly, adoption of this technology allows for up to 4x increment in recycling profits and a cost recovery period of <1 year. The technology owner is seeking industry partners to license and adopt the technology, preferably companies with an interest to invest in or build a LIB recycling plant.

Many botanical extracts, such as polyphenols and keto-carotenoid, are commonly used in cosmetics for their anti-oxidant, growth factor, skin lightening, extracellular matrix support, UV-protective and anti-inflammatory or anti-ageing properties.  An American University has discovered that Equol, an isoflavonoid molecule, has many skin anti-aging properties. Positive effects on the skin include reduced inflammation and ageing genes, a reduction of fine and medium lines and wrinkles, as well as a more youthful appearance of skin. For hair, Equol has shown promise in treating baldness by retaining and growing hair. This botanical active has been registered with the Personal Care Products Council (PCPC) for over 9 years and is known for uses in topical cosmetics and oral supplements.  The proprietary Equol technology, consisting of topical and oral, cosmetic and hair formulations, is protected by patents for topical and oral cosmetic applications. 

In this modern age of data, many systems and Internet-of-Things (IoT) information sources are independent and scattered, resulting in the increased complexity of processing heterogeneous data for visualisation purposes. Digital twins can help to mirror their physical, real-world equivalents in three-dimensional (3D) space to improve spatial perception and are ideally suited for high-risk environments that are physically inaccessible by humans. In such cases, IoT sensors are put in place to support real-time remote fault identification, operation, training, maintenance, and synchronise with various types of management dashboards to facilitate decision-making processes. This technology offer is a one-stop platform that empowers enterprises to create digital twins (or a one-to-one reproduction of physical real-world objects/building/machinery) - where next-generation spatial hardware e.g. Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) headsets or smart glasses can be used to interact with contextual, real-time information in a fully rendered 3D environment that blends the digital information (sensor data and digital mapping) and physical (real-world) layers for a range of industrial applications including continuous monitoring and predictive maintenance.  The technology owner is keen to collaborate with companies in the Port, Manufacturing, and Property (facility management, building management, energy management, security management) industries for test-bedding of existing use-cases on a project basis, leading up to product R&D collaboration and eventually licensing.

The technology seeker is an established personal care company that is looking to replace the nonbiodegradable ingredients in their sunscreen products (e.g. acrylates). Consumers and regulatory bodies are concerned about the environmental impact of sunscreens, particularly on marine ecosystems. In response to this, personal care companies are developing “reef-friendly”, non-toxic products, formulated with ingredients that are readily biodegradable and often bio-sourced. The client is looking for personal care ingredient suppliers as part of their program of new product development. They have a broad portfolio of brands and products and offer routes to market for companies developing sustainable ingredients. The client prefers a supply agreement. They may also offer their in-house R&D services and help with manufacturing scale-up and regulatory support for the ideal partner.

In the Chemical & Energy industry, crude oil storage tanks require periodic cleaning to remove heavy sediments and sludge accumulated at the tank bottom. This process involves the use of ultra-high-pressure water jets and vacuum suction to remove the washing sewage which largely comprises of sludge, oil, and water. The waste products are then sent via tanker trucks for disposal and incineration. As water is a significant constituent of this waste, being able to reduce the water content from the cleaning waste will be advantageous, providing a significant reduction in transportation and overall disposal costs. A Singapore-based company is seeking a system to separate water (dewater) from sludge, and further option of incorporating in-line water treatment means including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and pH treatment. The treated water is to be re-directed by the system for reuse as cleaning water via ultra-high-pressure jets. Collaboration is sought with companies experienced with sludge dewatering, and capable of system integrating the water treatment and reuse functions. The preferred collaboration mode is to co-develop a POC system for evaluation, before scaling up for operations.

Packaging materials play an important role in daily warehouse operations and the logistics industry to protect and transport vast amounts of products from different locations. Such packaging have to be designed to be sturdy, durable, withstand external loadings under various conditions and time periods as well as being reusable for economic reasons. As part of the company’s initiative to move towards green solutions, a Singapore-based packaging manufacturer is seeking sustainable composite materials as an alternative to wood for use in packaging solutions. Besides packaging, another possible use-case for the material may be for use as planks or floorboards at construction sites. The proposed composite material should be highly durable (strength and durability should be comparable to wood), cost-effective and be able to be easily manufacturable (e.g., extrusion, molding). The technology seeker is interested to collaborate with technology owners who: have access to relevant sustainable low-cost material sources as wood replacement are able to co-develop a suitable composite material from these sustainable low-cost material sources, with the desired functionalities for use in packaging applications e.g., able to withstand external loadings under various conditions are able to support the manufacturing of the material into usable products (e.g., packaging, planks)

Water is a key resource used in industrial manufacturing activities which generates large amounts of toxic wastewater. These wastewaters will pose a threat to the environment if not properly treated before discharging  into the water bodies. Effluents from chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and textiles with extreme pHs and solvents are difficult to treat and there is a need to adopt novel technologies to address this challenge. Based in Singapore, the technology seeker is a medium sized enterprise operating in the environmental sector. Given the above opportunity, the technology seeker intends to partner with a technology owner to co-develop a membrane material such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) can be used for membrane processes such as membrane bioreactor (MBR), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and membrane distillation (MD). Preferably the proposed technology should be in hollow fiber form factor. The technology owner is expected to provide a suitable pH and solvent resistant membrane technology, technical expertise support, and transfer of essential know-how to the technology seeker for a pilot and eventual full-scale production in Singapore. Depending on the collaborators’ preference and further negotiations, the modes of partnership that could be considered include R&D collaboration, technology licensing and IP acquisition. The technology seeker prefers technology owners with presence and available technical professionals in Singapore to support this pilot project. Overseas-based technology owners would be considered as well in a case-by-case basis.