Singapore, 10 September 2020 – The National Environment Agency (NEA) and Public Utilities Board (PUB), Singapore’s National Water Agency, have announced that the first phase of construction of Tuas Nexus has begun, and it is set to be completed in phases from 2025 onwards. The co-location of the two mega facilities will help to forge a more sustainable Singapore by optimising land use and maximising energy and resource recovery.
Read: PUB awards SG$449 million Domestic Liquids Modules contract for Tuas Water Reclamation Plant
Tuas Nexus consists of Tuas Water Reclamation Plant (Tuas WRP) and the Integrated Waste Management Facility (IWMF).
Tuas WRP will not only incorporate advanced physical, biological and chemical treatment processes, but will also house the largest membrane bioreactor facility in the world, enabling the plant to be more energy-efficient and avoid the need for a long sea outfall. It will also occupy less space compared to the existing water treatment plant.
A NEWater factory to be built on the rooftop of Tuas WRP will significantly boost PUB’s NEWater production capability, further ensuring a robust and resilient supply of water for Singapore that can meet the growing water demand and cope with the impact of climate change.
Ng Joo Hee, the CEO of PUB, said, “By itself, PUB’s Tuas WRP would already be breaking new ground, including housing the world’s largest membrane bioreactor. When coupled with NEA’s IWMF to form the Tuas Nexus, it would be so much more. We are building Tuas Nexus because it is the smart thing to do, as the sum would be far greater than its parts. I believe the Tuas Nexus advances the state-of-the-art in sustainable urban waste management and resource recovery, and establishes a new international benchmark for the field.”
IWMF is an integral part of NEA’s long-term plan to meet Singapore’s solid waste management needs. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art solid waste treatment technologies to improve energy and resource recovery from waste. It is Singapore’s first integrated facility to treat incinerable waste, source-segregated food waste and dewatered sludge from Tuas WRP, as well as to sort household recyclables collected under the National Recycling Programme (NRP).
In addition, the IWMF’s automated materials recovery facility will consolidate all recyclables collected under the NRP to achieve greater economies of scale, higher sorting efficiencies and recovery yields for various recyclable waste streams, such as metals, paper and plastic. This will help boost Singapore’s overall recycling efforts and bring Singapore a step closer to realising its zero-waste goal.
– Construction+ Online
