This is part of the knowledge-transfer and technology implementation exercise between academia and the industry.

USM PENANG, 12 Aug 2022 – Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) through the School of Chemical Engineering and the School of Mechanical Engineering, has entered a research and technological collaboration with Petronas Research Sdn Bhd, one of the research and development arms of Petroliam National Berhad (PETRONAS).

The project entitled ‘Conversion of CO₂ and Petcoke to Fuel Gas (Carbon Monoxide and Syngas) Using Microwave Heating’ is in line with CO₂ mitigation plans, which seek ways to develop long-term strategies for the remediation of this greenhouse gas in the environment and scope to offer comprehensive solutions for climate change mitigation.

Such processes incorporate CO₂ into a valorization cycle to produce marketable fuels for various downstream applications, along with the utilisation of petcoke (petroleum coke) which is plentifully available as the by-product of oil refineries.

This agreement is the consequence of several successful research activities and published papers from a research funding awarded to Professor Dato' Ir. Dr. Abdul Rahman Mohamed by the Ministry of Education Malaysia (MOE), via the Long-Term Research Grant Scheme (LRGS) for a research programme entitled ‘Sustainable Energy Production Towards Low Carbon Economy’ during the years 2011-2014, then renewed further for a second time with the title ‘Green Technology and Nanomaterial Applications for the Mitigation of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)’ during the term 2015-2019.

While leading these projects, Abdul Rahman who is also the USM Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Innovation and among the top researchers in the country, established ties with various industry partners and built a platform for knowledge-transfer and technology implementation between academia and the industry.

It is strongly hoped that the knowledge obtained from this project would pave the way for further scaling up of the process to an industrial scale and commercialisation of this technology.

Through this agreement, Petronas Research Sdn Bhd will contribute a research grant of RM247,000 to USM for the collaborative research project to be implemented over a period of 18 months, commencing in February 2020.

The project which is also led by Abdul Rahman, will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will be conducted at the TRL 4 level (technology validated in lab) and if the results are promising, it would then be promoted to the second phase, TRL 7 level (system prototype demonstration in an operational environment).

The contract signing ceremony is expected to be held soon.

Editing: MPRC USM