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Sunday August 9, 2009

A pretty cool feat

Eurofile by CHOI TUCK WO


THEY may not have ended up as the champions but emerging among the top three must have been a pretty cool feat for four young Malaysians who showed the world a simple yet practical way of cooling the planet at a recent environmental-themed global competition in London.

Organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), the competition aimed at challenging young engineers to convert cutting-edge science into reality saw participation from 60 teams from around the world.

Dominic Hua Shi Hao and his three Univer­siti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten) final-year team mates were not only the sole team from outside Britain to advance to the overall final six, but they also clinched the top three spots in one of the categories.

London high: (From second left) Uniten team leader Dominic Hua, Tan Pong Seng, Lim See Beng and Ghokulesh Satkuna Nasan together with IMechE CEO Stephen Tetlow (far left) and IMechE director of engineering Dr Colin Brown in London. — Picture courtesy of Dominic Hua

Indeed, the language of their Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) entry (http://www.uniten.edu.my/newhome/content_list.asp? ContentID=3758) can be boiled down to iconic images and killer lines.

Throwing such powerful punches, their report that the CCS technology was technically and economically viable for the Coal-Fired Power Plant in Manjung, Perak came up strongly in the “Cooling the Planet” competition.

It was no stroll in the park, though, as they were pitted against the likes of Buro Happold, Faber Maunsell, Jaguar Land Rover and Ruther­ford Appleton Laboratory.

Having come thus far on a global platform is an achievement in itself for Hua and his Uniten Elite team – Tan Pong Seng, Lim See Beng and Ghokulesh Satkuna Nasan.

“The feeling was like when you stared long enough into the dragon’s eyes, there was nothing left to do but to slay the dragon. In London, we slayed the dragon,” said the 24-year-old engineering undergraduate from Kuala Lumpur.

Green step

In the end, however, the all-student Uniten team went down fighting against a stronger Fabeur Maunsell while the other finalist was Buro Happold. The geo-engineering category comprised three all-UK teams.

Hua voiced hope that their effort could help promote the use of CCS technology in Malay­sia’s future energy production.

“Every small green step can make a giant difference,” he said, adding that their concern for the environment was one of their biggest motivations in taking part in the competition.

“Every day, we read about global warming, ozone depletion and the rising sea water level,” he said, citing the reduction of greenhouse gases to conserve the environment and improve air quality.

Of course, the reward of a trip to London for the finals was simply too hard to resist. In fact, that was another great pull factor.

Hua explained that the CCS principle was quite simple – capture CO2 from large sources before it could be vented into the atmosphere.

The second step involved transporting the gas to a storage site by pipelines or by ships and injecting it at least several hundred metres deep below the ground surface or below the sea bed.

Simply put, the technology reduces the amount of CO2 reaching the atmosphere by capturing the gas at the point of emission and transporting it to an underground storage location.

CCS technology, which has been successfully implemented in North America and Europe, is seen as a viable mitigation measure since the use of fossil fuels for power generation is unavoidable.

Hua, however, reckoned that the concept was still in its initial stage in Malaysia. But he expressed confidence that CCS technology could be a feasible solution here since most of our power plants and industrial processes are fired by fossil fuel.

He added that the country was also blessed with oil and natural gas, and explained that CO2 could be inserted into the earth’s sub-surface to enhance oil recovery.

On why they chose the Manjung plant for their feasibility study, he said they felt it had the biggest potential to kickstart large-scale CCS application in Malaysia.

“Its location just off the Perak coast has the potential not only for geological but also ocean storage,” he said.

The compressed CO2 could be transported by pipeline to the east coast, where oil and gas exploration was being conducted, or under the seabed of the Malacca Straits for geological storage, he said.

“It is generally possible to retrofit other coal-fired power plants located near the Petronas Peninsula’s Gas Utilisation (PGU) pipelines to further reduce CO2 emissions,” he added.

Towards this end, the Government’s strategies can be geared towards providing benefits and incentives for CCS technology in shaping its environmental policies.

After all, greening the planet is everyone’s responsibility. It’s not just the key to a more sustainable and fulfilled life but to future survival.

Hence, any push towards this concept may be a positive step to protecting our ever-changing fragile world before it plunges into the chaos of irreversible climate change.

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