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  Straits Times 19 May 07
'Green chemist' shows the way for Singapore
By Shobana Kesava

THE country that has got the world drinking green tea is also a leader in green chemistry - and Japan is happy to share its expertise in this area with Singapore.

Nobel laureate Ryoji Noyori is one such leading 'green chemist'. Professor Noyori, 68, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 for coming up with a method for the pharmaceutical industry to do away with boron, a highly toxic and polluting chemical.

Until then, boron was needed as a catalyst to create chemical compounds. Prof Noyori's method used 'clean' hydrogen instead - and led to the focus on the potential of green chemistry.

Prof Noyori was in Singapore to speak on the future of chemistry in the 21st century, at the first joint symposium between the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) and the 88-year-old Japanese research institute, Riken.

Green chemistry, its advocates say, leads to greater manufacturing efficiency, waste conversion and more environmentally friendly processes.

Some examples include diesel additives, lubricants, paint-stripping solvents and bedding, linen and towels. This translates into profits too - since most green materials and chemical agents are safe and renewable.

For example, catalysts like boron previously and now hydrogen are widely used in industries such as petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. The current world market for catalysts is an estimated $18 billion while the chemical production through catalysis is worth up to $9 trillion, Prof Noyori said.

'Green chemistry is a creative, prosperity-bringing and responsible science. 'I propose that projects use safe starting materials, renewable resources like biomass, safe solvents rather than chlorinated hydrocarbons, which we use a lot, and using chemical agents that will minimise waste and conserve energy,' he said.

Despite its late start, Asia may be the best place to grow this trend, said Prof Noyori, who is Riken's president.

Dr Keith Carpenter, executive director of Singapore's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences, felt that although Singapore is a newcomer to research and development in this field, it has a key role to play.

'We have the advantage of setting up our own programmes with environment as a driver, from the start. The institute is also working with Japan to create ethanol from biomass sources using hydrogen, to create alternative sources of biofuels which will help reduce reliance on fossil fuels,' he said.

Such efforts could increase the efficiency of Singapore's ability to process biochemicals and petrochemicals. The 200,000 tonnes of crude oil refined in Singapore each day gives the country a head start.

Green chemistry's impact could be worth billions of dollars here, Dr Carpenter said.

Noting that Japan has produced 11 Nobel laureates since 1949, and that eight of the top 50 global chemical companies in the world are Japanese, A*Star chairman Lim Chuan Poh said: 'Singapore is in some sense newly developed, so Japan can provide leadership in terms of green chemistry.'

Hence the research tie-ups between A*Star and Riken, which began last year, following a Memorandum Of Understanding signed in 2005 between the two bodies.

The green chemistry symposium this week was the first to be held outside Japan. It is part of a series being held by Riken here.

Other events include the A*Star-Riken joint symposium on immunology and developmental biology, and a joint workshop with the Nanyang Technological University on genomic medicine, which ends today.

Green and making profit

THE lightweight trays for fruit and eggs at the supermarkets may well be 'green' and biodegradable. Those developed by home-grown GrenIdea Technology are.

These trays, under the Agroresin label, are made largely of biodegradable fibres from oil palms. Safe, non-pollutive chemicals are used to produce them.

The green chemist behind Agroresin is GrenIdea's co-founder and managing director, Dr Xu Yan. She not only wants to protect the planet and people, but is also glad to say her four-year-old company enjoys good cash flow and expects its investors to recoup their investment of over $10 million by next year.

Similar choices are being made by companies looking at the 'triple bottom line' - a new accounting system which looks at making profits while protecting the planet and its inhabitants.

American furniture-maker Herman Miller, which has part of its range manufactured here, is another company that is moving away from waste. It uses the safest chemicals it can in processing all materials used, with a view to taking products apart at the end of their useful life for recycling. It has even signed up months ahead of a European Union deadline next month, to register information about the substances it uses in developing its products.

Sembawang Shipyard has been getting secondary students to come up with practical applications of green chemistry too. Winners of its contest, GreenWave 2006, found ways to incorporate fruit peels like durian husks into paper manufacturing, and recycle poisonous waste chemicals produced during their laboratory sessions into safe or even useful by-products, like plant fertilisers.
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