Singapore is constructing its first integrated water and solid waste treatment plant, Tuas Nexus.

The facility, likely to be completed by 2028, includes the Tuas Water Reclamation Plant and Integrated Waste Management Facility.

Plans were first announced in 2016.

Self-sufficient

The facility will be energy self-sufficient.

Biogas is created at the waste facility and water reclamation plant to sustain the operations of Tuas Nexus.

Rich in methane, biogas can be converted to electricity.

The by-product of one facility will be used to power the other, the National Environment Agency and national water agency PUB said in a press release on Tuesday, Sept. 8.

The waste facility will convert food waste into slurry, which will then be mixed with used water sludge from the water reclamation plant to create biogas.

Water reclamation

The Tuas Water Reclamation Plant will be able to receive both domestic and industrial used water for treatment.

These two water sources will be received from two separate deep tunnels and treated separately.

The plant can treat 650,000 cubic metres of used domestic water and 150,000 cubic metres of used industrial water daily.

The treated domestic water will be purified to NEWater.

The treated industrial water is reused in industries.

The Tuas Water Reclamation Plant is the first facility in Singapore that can treat used industrial water to a high enough standard to be reused by industries.

Carbon emissions-cutting

Energy self-sufficiency at Tuas Nexus is expected to cut over 200,000 tonnes in carbon emissions in a year.

This is equivalent to removing 42,500 cars from the roads in the same period.

Some 2.6 hectares of land, which is the size of four football fields, is saved by integrating the two plants.

This facility will be Singapore’s largest waste incineration plant when fully completed.

Incinerable waste, household recyclables collected under the national recycling programme, food waste, and dewatered sludge from the Tuas Water Reclamation Plant will be processed.

Once completed, it will have an incineration capacity of 5,800 tonnes per day.

The first phase is expected to be completed by 2025.

Singapore has four waste-to-energy incineration plants to date, but none with Tuas Nexus' capabilities. 

Top photo via PUB