Toshiba opens water treatment research centre in Singapore

Japan-based Toshiba Corp has opened its new Aqua Research Centre, a water treatment research and development facility, in Singapore.

The facility is Toshiba’s first R&D centre outside of Japan and is located at the WaterHub operated by PUB, Singapore’s national water agency.

At the opening ceremony, the company also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with PUB to collaborate on the development of an adsorbent to remove toxic elements in the used water treatment process for semiconductor plants.

Toshiba corporate senior vice president Toshio Masaki said, "We appreciate the Singapore government’s foresight and initiative in making the country a global hydrohub, and we look forward to making progress in our research at the Aqua Research Centre and our collaboration with PUB."

The Singapore Government has identified water as a strategic growth sector in Singapore with R&D as the key driver.

To promote research and development in this field, the Environment and Water Industry Programme Office is investing $470million from Singapore’s National Research Foundation in water R&D.