Gas turbine emission lowering solutions win Petronas’ inaugural Race2Decarbonise hackathon

KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Bernama) -- Solutions that would reduce gas turbines’ energy consumption and prevent flare gas leakages enabling methane emissions to be lowered emerged as the grand prize winners of the Race2Decarbonise hackathon organised by Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas).

In a statement today, the oil and gas company said the winning solutions from the inaugural hackathon are poised to be matured, scaled, and deployed at Petronas’ facilities within the next two years in support of the company’s Net Zero Carbon Emission by 2050 short-term target of bringing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from its Malaysia operations to 49.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO₂e) by 2024.

President and group chief executive officer Datuk Tengku Muhammad Taufik said Race2Decarbonise aimed to meet Petronas’ short-term GHG emissions reduction target and reaffirmed its commitment to creating long-lasting, impactful, sustainable decarbonisation efforts.

“This is a crusade against emissions because we believe that we need to deliver energy more responsibly and in a differentiated manner,” he said.

Out of 500 submissions from 25 countries, 29 participants from Malaysia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the USA were shortlisted to pitch their ideas at the Petronas Leadership Centre from March 13 to 16.

Petronas said the submissions underwent rigorous assessments for veracity, feasibility, and impact on carbon abatement and were evaluated by a panel of independent judges from PTV International Ventures Americas, Accenture, McKinsey, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and Petronas.

The company said the grand prize winners of Track A (Proven Solutions) and Track B (Novel Ideas) won US$100,000 and US$150,000, respectively, for their out-of-the-box ideas.

It said the winning solutions of Track A (in order of grand prize, first, and second runners-up) are Honeywell Gas Turbine-Battery Energy Storage System by a team comprising Honeywell and Petronas engineers, Organic Rankine Cycle by an Orcan-Petronas team, and Twin Screw Turbine Generators by a team from Heliex Power Ltd.

“All solutions were submitted in their individual capacity.

“While the rack B winning solutions are New Generation of Blow Down Valve by a team from Petronas, Methane/ Flare Gas Electrolysis (Plasmalysis) by Graforce GmbH, and Decarbonisation of Ammonia Syngas Plant through Urea Production by a team from Petronas,” it added.

-- BERNAMA