This is my Jurong Island trip reflections. Quite long and crappy. eek, I dislike my essay.

The Jurong Island trip was a real eye-opener for me, security was real tight and photos are absolutely not allowed since the chemical plants there cost about 300 million US$ to build on average, so 100% protection is necessary.

My favourite part of the trip was the bus ride where I learnt most of the information I will include in the following paragraphs. It was really enriching!

Jurong Island is made up of 7 islands and they are linked up by land reclamation and aims to have a total area of 3200 hectares with 150 companies. Currently, there are 94 companies with 13,000 employees. Jurong Island cost S$70 billion to build and has about S$24 billion of output so far. Quite a long way to go before it can break even and have profit coming in.

The chemical industry has surpassed electronics to become the largest industry in Singapore. It is a major contributer to the Singapore economy. Due to its importance, Singapore has spared no efforts in moulding Jurong Island into a chemical hub of world class standard with a Japanese company ranking second in the world investing. Other Japanese, Swiss, USA and many other top companies have invested too. The largest investor, Exonmobil, has pumped in tenths of millions and sits on 400 hectares, a real large global company having profits of billions and maybe trillionths annually.

Planning and design of infrastructure is of extreme importance since Singapore has such a small area as compared to other developing countries. Petroleum and petrol chemicals imported from other countries are stored under the sea in some rock caverns to release island space. For convenience and the saving of time and cost, companies who trade their products to produce raw materials are built near to one another. One very good example would be putting a chlorine producing company together with a company producing a material called bifernal to form polycarbonate which is used to manufacture CDs and DVDs. There are also pipes linking companies to one another to pipe products around. To save cost, there are tank storage spaces on Jurong Island available for companies to rent to store their materials which will enable them to save about one-third of their capital investment cost.

As Singapore has no natural resources, natural gas used for cooking and industrial purposes etc. are bought from Indonesia. There are 2 pipes under the sea used to pipe natural gas to Singapore, one is 640 km long while the other is 450 km if I am not wrong.

Now to talk about the pipes of different colours which is way interesting. Silver pipes steam, white for natural gas, blue for water, green for cooling water, red for fire-fighting water and brown for products if my memory serves me well.

Jurong Island manufactures many raw materials and products which are mainly exported. There are raw materials of super absorbency which are used to make baby diapers, additives to lubricants to enhance engine performance and crude oil which is processed through 4 stages until it is exported. The oil refinering industry, in my opinion, is the one which has boosted the economy of Singapore. There are 4 main refineries here, 2 Exonmobil, 1 Shell and 1 Singapore Powers. On the whole, they produce 1.33 million barrels of oil daily, ranking 3rd in the world behind Houston in USA and Amsterdam.

The main problem the world is facing now is the dying Earth. Since Jurong Island has heavy chemical industries, it would definitely cause serious pollution such as water and air pollution due to accidents or the release of waste. To save the environment, there are flaretowers which burn hydrocarbon away which is produced during some chemical process which I can't remember. Steam is injected into the toxic hydrocarbon to produce smokeless steam which would cause less harm to the people and the environment.

In view of the dangerous chemicals that the staff working on Jurong Island are in contact with, stringent security and precautionary measures are set up. For example, the Sakra Response Brigade which has 2 fire stations have a response period of maximum 8 minutes and the firefighters are equipped with skills to handle harzadous materials. Another precautionary measure is different elements are stored in different storage tanks with special identification numbers and letters. This is to ensure that when an emergency occurs, the firefighters would be able to identify the chemicals they are dealing with in time to use the correct method and substances to ensure that there would be no casualties or pollution occurring.

I was awed by the Chem Gallery which showcased the Periodic Table with the real elements except for gases which enabled me to be able to know the shape and colour of the different elements. The Discovery Tunnel also has fossils. The timeline showcasing the development of Jurong Island over the years is very interesting. I also learnt about the factors that made Jurong Island so successful and about the 5 bodies of security, the MPA, Singapore Police Force, MINDEF, SCDF and the JTC.

There was a lot to learn from the trip and I am glad to have known more about the economic importance of the chemical industry, how chemical plants work and a lot about petroleum which would be of great use when Organic Chemistry is being taught. The information I have are not really organised into different sections which would be a little messy, but they are still beneficial for enhancing my knowledge about the chemical industry.

As to how to maximise learning, I think it would be better if we could do an in-depth research of the detailed proecesses crude oil goes through before petroleum is being produced and about the purposes and pros and cons of petroleum. This would aid us in learning more about organic Chemistry.

I would definitely love to have day trips like this pertaining to enhancing knowledge in the future!

If not for my lack of talent for Chemistry, I would really like to take up chemical engineering and apply what I have learnt in school to contribute to the economy. I am really grateful for the chance of being able to visit Jurong Island. Thank you.