From PhD to Startup: A Deep Tech Approach to Maritime Decarbonization
On July 1, 2025, Covalence Global had the privilege of interviewing Kang Hui LIM (PhD), an Innovator Fellow with Breakthrough Energy and the co-founder and CEO of CRecTech, a deep-tech climate startup advancing novel catalytic technology to produce affordable green bio-methanol from biomass waste.
Driven by the desire to be at the forefront of new technological discoveries, Kang Hui completed a PhD at the National University of Singapore between 2021 and 2025, where he researched novel catalytic processes for hydrogen production. Through this work, Kang Hui developed a catalyst for steam methane reforming (SMR), which accounts for 90% of global hydrogen supply. However, since SMR processes typically depend on fossil fuels like coal or natural gas, few investors were attracted to Kang Hui’s initial discovery, instead seeking to support completely renewable technologies.
Everything changed when Kang Hui participated in the PIER71 Smart Port Challenge, an innovation competition designed to attract novel ideas for the maritime industry. The researcher quickly grew intrigued by methanol, an alcohol that can be produced with renewable sources, is easy to start and transport, and can be used as a direct marine fuel. Many consumers that rely on maritime shipping seek alternatives to fossil fuels like heavy fuel oil (HFO), marine gas oil (MGO), and marine diesel oil (MDO). Kang Hui believes green methanol is the solution, yet there is currently very little supply of this fuel, comprising only 0.2% of global supply.
CRecTech hopes to crack the code to make green methanol accessible and affordable. Currently, there are two pathways to producing green methanol: biomethanol and e-methanol. While biomethanol is derived from waste biomass and biogas, e-methanol is produced from renewable hydrogen and CO2. Kang Hui explained that biomethanol is much cheaper than e-methanol, making it the better option for scaling green methanol.
The startup is deploying two technologies to make green methanol the norm: an SMR catalyst and a biomethanol process. The SMR catalyst is designed to use less steam and energy without compromising hydrogen production, subsequently reducing emissions. Kang Hui has intentionally made the catalyst robust, ensuring that it can operate under harsher conditions. Rather than forcing producers to apply significant changes to infrastructure, CRecTech’s SMR catalyst can be used as a drop-in replacement for SMR units. Ultimately, operators can achieve energy savings and reduce their emissions, paving the path for decarbonizing their hydrogen production.
Additionally, CRecTech’s biomethanol process simplifies a conventional 4-step biogas conversion process into just two simple steps. Traditionally, 1) biogas must undergo upgrading (where CO2 is removed to create pure biomethane), 2) reforming, 3) shift reaction, and 4) syngas to methanol. However, CRecTech’s reforming enables it to skip biogas upgrading and shift reaction, reducing the 4-step bio-methane to methanol process to a two-step biogas to methanol process. While the original process costs $400/ton, Kang Hui believes CRecTech’s can perform at $200/ton.
Not only has Kang Hui demonstrated immense dedication to CRecTech’s technology, but he is taking significant steps to grow and scale. Currently, CRecTech has an active R&D hub in Singapore, and the startup expects to deploy technology with neighbors in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, who each have large untapped waste biomass potential (palm oil mills, biogas operators, etc.). In the long term, CRecTech plans to expand to India and China, which flaunt even more waste, biomass, and agricultural businesses.
In October of 2024, CRecTech was the first Singapore-based startup to secure the Breakthrough Energy Fellowship, and in May of 2025, Kang Hui was named Forbes 30 under 30 Asia in the Industry, Manufacturing, and Energy sectors. So far, CRecTech has secured $1.8 million in funding, including from Enterprise Singapore, a Singaporean government agency that supports enterprise development.
Moving forward, Kang Hui is dedicated to understanding how CRecTech can de-risk its technology, acquire its International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC), and tackle the large upfront capital expenditure of deploying deep tech.
To learn more, listen to our conversation with Kang Hui here.
