Three Researchers Awarded Prestigious "Skim Dana Petronas" Grants

Published: 08 May 2024

The funding provides FKJ (Faculty of Engineering, UMS) researchers with the opportunity to pursue ambitious, industry-driven and green-energy projects that will benefit the oil industries. 

Petronas has announced the award of “Skim Dana Petronas” grant to seven University Malaysia Sabah researchers. Three FKJ researchers are amongst the recipients of this competitive and prestigious funding with a total sum of RM3,760,857.34. 

The FKJ’s grant awardees are:

Ir. Dr. Mohd. Azlan Bin Ismail for his project “Hydrogen as Clean Energy Storage for Remote and Off-grid Upstream Operation” (RM 2,348,400.00)

Unmanned offshore platforms are powered by diesel or microturbine generators combined with batteries as an energy storage device. Integration of Solar PV system and hydrogen as an energy storage system offer more sustainable solutions with less complex design, hence potentially lower installation, and operating costs. Petronas and the Faculty of Engineering at UMS are working together to integrate renewable energy sources to existing systems with the goal to reduce carbon emission, increase reliability, while being cost-effective. 

Unmanned offshore platform integrated with renewable energy such as Solar PV system, coupled with Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis and hydrogen storage systems can provide a method to reduce its reliance on traditional fossil fuels, while mitigating the environmental impact of remote energy operations by leveraging the potential of clean hydrogen as a versatile energy carrier. When combined with renewable energy sources such as solar, this technique creates a sustainable green hydrogen, which is critical for lowering carbon emissions.

The modular and scalable architecture of hydrogen storage systems allows for management of variable energy demands, giving remote operations flexibility. As the energy industry shifts towards more sustainable practices, the use of renewable energy resources and hydrogen storage systems represents a significant step towards cleaner energy options for unmanned offshore platform. These innovations help the sector to meet its responsibility towards environmental stewardship in oil and gas upstream operations. 

Azlan said “Hydrogen-based energy storage systems can significantly benefit unmanned platforms by providing efficient energy storage with a high energy density, ensuring longer operational durations.”

Dr. Ng Chi Huey for her project “Fullerence Based Electrolyzer for An Efficient Hydrogen Generation Through Alkaline Seawater Electrolysis” (RM 1,035,707.34)

The main objective of this project is to enhance the seawater splitting process with a robust and non-noble metal electrocatalyst to maximize the production of green hydrogen. Seawater is nearly limitless. However, splitting seawater molecules to generate hydrogen is more challenging because corrosive chlorine gas will be produced simultaneously during the splitting process, which could corrode the electrode over time. With this grant, Dr. Ng will work closely with the researchers from PETRONAS Sdn Bhd to improve the stability and quality of the electrocatalyst through various wet-chemistry methods and parameter optimization to suppress chlorine production. 

Chi Huey said “Seawater is an almost infinite resource, especially for Sabah, which is enveloped by the sea. So, why not fully maximize the use of seawater as a natural feedstock electrolyte for green hydrogen generation?”

Dr. Nazrein Adrian Bin Amaludin for his project “Oxyhydrogen Micro-gas turbine” (RM 376,750.00)”

Climate change has always been linked to the amount of carbon emissions from fossil fuel burning. The increasing number of conventional power generation operators has resulted in the carbon dioxide levels reaching an all-time high today. This is inevitable as power generation operators rely solely on fossil fuels. To remedy this situation, researchers started to investigate carbon-based fuels substitution with hydrogen.

Hydrogen have been proven to be highly efficient, and a better alternative compared to fossil fuels in terms of carbon emission. However, the transition of the power generation industry from carbon-based fuels to hydrogen will not be easy since the combustion characteristics of the two fuels are significantly different, in terms of combustion stability and laminar burning velocity.

While hydrogen has a good potential as a clean and efficient fuel, utilization of hydrogen in power generation presents a few challenges, which includes infrastructure challenges, storage, safety hazards and transportation. Generating in-situ oxyhydrogen minimizes the issues stated, which may present a different approach in utilizing hydrogen as an additive in existing gas turbines.

This research project will focus on investigating the feasibility of generating oxyhydrogen on-site and using it as additives in gas turbines at different addition percentage. The project will be conducted on a micro-gas turbine facility at the Institute of Sustainable Energy (ISE) of Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN). 

Nazrein said “The main goal behind the project is to substitute carbon based fuel with hydrogen, which is what we are slowly transitioning to. If on-site hydrogen generation and consumption can be accomplished with acceptable efficiency at lab scale, it would be possible to retrofit existing full sized gas turbines with similar technology towards cleaner energy production.”