Sustainability

Platinum group metals (PGMs) are critical raw materials essential in diverse industries, including automotive catalytic converters, jewelry, glassware, petrochemical refining, electronics, and healthcare sectors like pharmaceuticals and dental implants. Primarily sourced through the mining of PGM ores, they constitute about 70% of the global PGM supply, with South Africa and Russia accounting for 85% of this production. This concentration in supply can lead to price gouging and market monopoly. Recycling PGMs from waste not only mitigates the supply shortfall but also reduces environmental impacts compared to mining. However, conventional recycling methods are energy-intensive, requiring temperatures around 1500°C, and involve costly downstream processing to treat waste. Furthermore, the high processing temperatures result in high-value raw materials being burnt and releasing harmful toxins. The technology owner has developed a novel biorecovery method that incorporates and modifies a series of biochemical and biological processes into a streamlined 3-stage process as opposed to the multi-tiered stages of current conventional methods used in industry. It offers the following advantages over the competition: Energy Efficiency: consumes 6x less energy than traditional methods Cost Effective: 3x cheaper in operation cost High Yield: capable of recovering multiple PGM simultaneously with high yield even from low-grade waste Sustainability: support company decarbonization goals by offering a truly green and sustainable recycling manner for spent catalyst

Reducing heat transfer across surfaces within built environments and transportation units is critical for optimising energy efficiency in thermal comfort systems and mitigating associated costs and carbon emissions. Implementing measures to minimise heat transfer help maintain liveable thermal conditions and promote environmental sustainability. Some of the efficient methods for reducing heat transfer from the surrounding environment include reflecting solar radiation and providing thermal insulation to minimise heat conduction through surfaces. The technology offered here is a nano-engineered aerogel paint designed to reduce heat transfer across surfaces in the built environment. Unlike traditional solar reflectance paint that merely reflects sunlight, this paint actively minimises solar heat absorption, reducing the reliance on cooling and air conditioning systems and resulting in significant energy savings. Additionally, the paint provides excellent weather resistance and reduces maintenance costs by shielding against ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) emissions, moisture, algae, and fungal growth. Its superior coverage capabilities of up to 3 square meter per liter per coat further contribute to cost savings and ensure long-lasting protection for various surfaces. With a proven track record in increasing energy efficiency for containerised offices and refrigeration trucks, the technology owner is now seeking to expand into other applications through on-site testbedding and performance trials. These include warehouses and building rooftop insulation, enhancing data center energy efficiency, and numerous other potential applications.

Only 20% of actual coffee is extracted from beans to produce coffee in its beverage form, leaving the remaining 80% (six million tons annually) deemed as spent coffee grounds (SCG) to be disposed or used in landfills or as non-food product components to make fertilisers, furniture, deodorisers or skin care products. A technology was created to counteract SCG wastage and valorise it for human consumption. This particular invention comprises of methodologies to create two types of ingredients using leftover SCG - oil-grind and water-grind processed SCG. A simple, reproducible method of conching is employed to convert leftover SCG into smooth pastes, where specific conching parameters help refine the SCG to an acceptable particle size, eliminating grittiness in numerous valorised products similar to SCG. The product utilises common ingredients like oil and water to conche SCG with improved taste and textural properties. The shelf stability and nutritional composition (including caffeine) of the ingredients were also validated to ensure the food possessed good sensorial properties and are scale up ready. This technology increases SCG’s potential use as a versatile ingredient in different food applications. The technology provider is seeking off-takers from food manufacturers, food services industry, companies interested to valorise side streams to turn SCG into edible compounds.

Aquaculture is one of the most important sources of protein and nutrition for the rising global population. Water quality related issues and diseases caused by viruses and bacteria are the biggest challenges that the aquaculture industry faces today. Pathogen infestation can cause serious diseases and loss of fishes, shrimps, and mollusks. This impacts the overall yield, resulting in huge economic losses. Current pathogen detection methods are slow, imprecise and do not identify unknown pathogens. These methods neither diagnose mystery ailments nor provide any visibility into the very foundation of health in any aquatic environment: the marine microbiome. Effective management of waterborne diseases and water quality requires a holistic understanding of the microbial consortia in the aquatic setting. This technology provides next-generation metagenomic insights in the microbiome and further data-driven solutions provided with the company’s proprietary AI algorithms. The technology provider is seeking partnerships with aquaculture players who are interested in applying microbiome analytics to their current applications for decreasing operating expenses and increasing yield.

The increasing emphasis on fire safety regulations and standards, along with the growing awareness of the potential hazards posed by fires, has driven the demand for flame-retardant coatings. These coatings play important roles in fire protection by effectively slowing down the spreading of fires, thereby preventing catastrophic accidents, safeguarding assets, and saving lives. Industry segments such as electronics, automotive, aerospace, construction, and household, which extensively utilise materials prone to fire hazards, require effective fire protection solutions. As the demand for flame retardant coatings continues to rise across various sectors, the market is experiencing significant growth. According to MarketsandMarkets, the global flame retardants market is expected to be worth USD 9.5 billion by 2028, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2%. Particularly, the Asia Pacific region is the fastest-growing market.   Traditional flame retardants, especially those containing brominate or chlorine, have been associated with their impacts on the environment and human health. Consequently, the demand for environmentally friendly coating solutions, such as nanocomposites and natural bio-based retardants, is growing at a rapid pace. However, the performance, efficiency, environmental impact, and cost-effectiveness of these alternative materials are still hot topics of ongoing research. This tech need calls for non-toxic and innovative flame-retardant coatings capable of addressing the above challenges. Such coating solutions should be available for test-bedding, licensing, and co-development with industrial partners, paving the way for safer and more sustainable fire protection methods.

The exponential growth of electronic waste (E-waste) generation is proliferating due to the ever-increasing demand for electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) driven by industrial revolution and development. The COVID-19 crisis has further accelerated the shift towards digital transformation, contributing to an upsurge in E-waste generation. To-date, the industrial practices of extracting palladium (Pd) from electronic waste and mining ores rely on hydrometallurgy techniques using highly corrosive acids, typically aqua regia at elevated temperature. The process poses severe hazards to workers and lead to environmental pollution. Aqua regia’s capability to dissolve many various metals results in low selectivity for Pd. Despite ongoing efforts to develop alternative methods, these methods often prove impractical for industrial adoption. The technology provider has developed a proprietary lixiviant capable of extracting palladium up to 4,000 ppm at saturation with high extraction efficiency and selectivity within 12 hours. This lixiviant is facile, cost-effective, and significantly less corrosive and hazardous compared to current industrial practices. Substituting fuming aqua regia with this lixiviant could enhance the protection of workers and environmental safety. Importantly, the proposed technology is highly compatible with existing hydrometallurgy processes, eliminating the need for companies to change their current infrastructure. An E-waste industry partner has successfully conducted a pilot-scale (5-Litre scale) evaluation, validating the effectiveness and applicability of the lixiviant on their Pd-coated samples. The technology provider is actively seeking industry partners interested in test-bedding and licensing of this technology.

Electrolysis has diverse applications across various sectors, such as household and industrial electrolyzed water treatment, soda electrolysis, electrolytic plating, electrodeposition, and hydrogen generation. In electrolysis using insoluble electrodes, the electrocatalyst acting as the reaction field for the electrode reaction undergoes gradual abrasion. Given the high cost of precious metals (i.e., platinum group compounds) used as catalysts, protecting the catalyst and reducing the wear rate are crucial for extending the lifetime of electrodes and reducing the maintenance cost. Current technologies include multilayer electrodes that have a surface layer of noble metal oxide on the electrocatalyst to reduce catalyst wear. However, this method proves more expensive than ordinary insoluble electrodes. Additionally, the surface layer cannot be recoated. To address the challenge, the technology owner has developed a proprietary protective coating that effectively protects the catalyst on the surface of existing insoluble electrodes. This solution enables effective electrode protection through an inexpensive coating, reducing catalyst consumption and electrode replacement frequency. The coating can be reused by recoating the electrode, also contributing to the perspective of “Circular Economy”. The technology owner is seeking R&D collaboration with industrial partners such as electrode manufacturers, coating manufacturers, and companies utilising insoluble electrodes in electrolysis, especially electrolytic plating and metal recovery. 

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.

Issues associated with odor generation present significant challenges in various aspects of daily life, encompassing unpleasant smells from various sources such as toilets, kitchens, pets, tobacco, hospitals, and transportation. These unwanted odors have a detrimental impact on individual well-being, social interactions, and overall environmental quality. Deodorants play a crucial role in addressing these challenges, fostering a more comfortable and hygiene environment. However, conventional deodorants primarily rely on masking the unwanted odors with a strong fragrance, resulting in a slow and ineffective deodorization process, particularly against strong smells. The technology owner has developed a proprietary formulation that offers an effective deodorization approach. Unlike common deodorants, the unique deodorant using the proprietary formulation can remove the sources of unpleasant smells through chemical reactions. It demonstrates remarkable efficiency against a broad spectrum of odors, including those from rotting fish and meat, rotting eggs and milk, rotting vegetable waste, ammonia in toilets, sweat, and body odor. This innovative solution has the potential to revolutionise odor control across diverse scenarios. The technology owner is seeking R&D collaboration with industrial partners who are interested in incorporating this deodorant into their products and applications.