| Answer of Biochar (AOB) | Northeastern University, China | China | | Video |
| We propose a process route that can significantly improve the economics and scalability of biochar preparation by converting the by-products of biochar production into high value added products with a large market. |
| BioCORE | Technical University of Munich | Germany | | Video |
| The BioCORE process employs a novel system design for high-temperature Solid Oxide Cells with complete fuel utilization and CO2-separation. It can operate either as fuel cell, producing electricity, or as electrolysis unit in the first economically viable Power-to-Gas process. It can switch between both modes within seconds and stabilizes future net-zero energy systems based on non-reliable photovoltaic and wind power. As fuel cell, the innovative BioCORE technology converts valuable biogas into electricity with record-breaking efficiency (80% electrical), while separating pure CO2, thereby enabling negative emissions at large scale. During electrolysis, BioCORE plants produce hydrogen and solve long-term energy storage issues. |
| Biosorra | Iese Business School, Fuqua School of Business | Spain | | Video |
| In Sub-Saharan Africa the soil is sick. Having supply shortage and hence a direct impact in malnutrition. Burning your field is a quick way to clear farm waste and provide some nutrients to the soil, but it degrades the land. Farmers' lands in Ghana and Kenya are becoming less fertile and producing fewer crops, meaning lower income for the farmers, to spend in, modern equipment or sustainable farming techniques. This is the vicious cycle of land degradation. We break the cycle. We transform crop waste into crop yield by creating a soil improver, that leads to healthier and sustainable soil. |
| Bison Underground | Independent from, but affiliated with University of Oklahoma | United States | | Video |
| Farming is a vital part of the global economy, but it also produces a large amount of carbon, adding to the mounting levels in our atmosphere. Our project takes unusable organic material, like stalks and leaves, and turns it in a nutrient-rich mix to add back deep into farming soil. This limits the addition of new carbon to the atmosphere, and also helps farmers to have better yields (facilitating new plants to capture carbon more efficiently), supports communities to be more resilient against extreme weather events (which will intensify with climate change), and promotes food diversity and security for all. |
| Blue Symbiosis | University of Tasmania, IMAS, AMC | Australia, Launceston, Tasmania | | Video |
| Blue Symbiosis Repurposes oil and gas infrastructure as a stepping stone to scaling seaweed production offshore. We have a data-driven approach and believe in facing challenging conditions in order to learn to scale seaweed growth beyond the coast. We will store carbon in by using seaweed as the basis for fireproof building materials. |
| C2 (C-Squared) | Virginia Tech, Max Planck Institute | United States, Germany | | Video |
| We capture carbon by crowdfarming bamboo. We store carbon by building bamboo houses. We transform the World's housing deficit into a Giga Carbon Warehouse. Our team's principle is: work at the speed and with the qualities of light. In our platform Farmers find Know-how, Know-where (to grow bamboo) data. Additionally, provides them access to local Manufacturing units and the marketplace, improving their income. Architects, Designers, Engineers and Entrepreneurs: find a toolkit for transforming Bamboo into valuable and long-lasting products. The toolkit can be deployed in an affordable and modular fashion, based on geolocation of bamboo plantations. |
| Carbon Down Under | Southern Illinois University, Carbondale | United States | | Video |
| Growing plants naturally take CO2 out of the atmosphere. Gigatonnes of plant waste is produced annually as an agricultural byproduct. Instead of allowing this waste to rot and return to the atmosphere as CO2, we propose to convert it into a concentrated tea-like solution and sequester it deep underground. The process that does this uses only water, oxygen, and heat to break down the biomass into water soluble products that can easily be injected deep underground where the carbon will be consumed by subsurface microbes and locked away where it can do no more harm to our climate. |
| CyanoCapture | University of Oxford | United Kingdom | | Video |
| CyanoCapture is an award-winning startup providing large-scale, affordable carbon capture to polluting industries. Using the power of modern biotechnology, the team at Oxford University are creating genetically modified (GM) microalgae that have been shown to rapidly absorb CO2 continously convert this into biomass and oils. CO2 leaving power stations and factories are funnelled directly into CyanoCapture installations, where the gas is bubbled through an extensive network of large raceway ponds containing densely packed GM cyanobacteria. Each 650m x 800m CyanoCapture site is estimated to capture 100,000 tonnes CO2/year. |
| E-quester | University of Toronto | Canada | | Video |
| The E-quester team has developed a novel carbon dioxide (CO2) direct air capture (DAC) system which is 16% more energy efficient than current commercial systems. Our DAC system captures CO2 from the atmosphere by blowing air through a capture solution. Then, the CO2 is released from the capture solution through a pH-swing which allows pure gaseous CO2 to exit the system and the capture solution to be regenerated in our innovative Hybrid Electrochemical Regeneration System. This process is entirely electricity driven and can be combined with renewable electricity for minimum carbon emission. The captured CO2 can then be permanently stored. |
| Holocene Climate | Stanford University | United States | | Video |
| Holocene designs and builds chemical plants that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using a novel low-temperature aqueous solvent, with the purpose of storing the CO2 underground permanently through mineralization. Our team of (mainly) Stanford graduate students brings a unique mix of research, commercialization, business development, and financial expertise to the project. |
| KFC | Hohai University, Tianjin University, Shanghai Ocean University, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences | China | | Video |
1. Combine deep-water mooring and anchor technology with seaweed aquaculture beds. Mooring and anchor technology has been widely used in oil and gas mining platforms, ocean drilling, et al. This project can use this technology to extend seaweed pastures to deeper and further seas and achieve large-scale planting.
2. Using biological carbon sequestration-the mechanism of seaweed carbon sequestration to achieve carbon removal. Seaweed has an efficient carbon fixation capacity, and the economic value of seaweed additional products is high. |
| Mississippi State Energy Club - BECReative Energy | Mississippi State University | United States | | Video |
| BECReative Energy's goal is to produce renewable energy by utilizing nature's ability to capture and fix CO2, reducing atmospheric CO2. Our team has a passion to join the fight against climate change, and we believe that the gasification of biomass to produce energy while capturing carbon is a solution that with potential for exponential growth. The XPRIZE student award allows our team of both graduate and undergraduate STEM students to continue our research in gasification and secure funding for equipment and resources. This enables one of our undergraduate members to pursue graduate level studies and research to scale our project. |
| Monash Carbon Capture and Conversion (BioTech) | Monash University | Australia | | Video |
| The amalgamation of independent biological systems that combine to provide efficient and effective carbon removal. With a focus on the development of sustainable and durable solutions to carbon capture, utilisation and storage, Monash Carbon Capture and Conversion presents a solution that facilitates the collaboration of forests and microalgae to generate beneficial organic matter in the form of biochar and engineered timber. Working out of a single facility, our solution centres on the minimisation of waste generation and overall carbon footprint through the use of waste products and renewable energy sources. |
| SASIITB | Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay | India | | Video |
| BECCS (Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Sequestration) is one of the most prominent carbon dioxide removal technologies. The concept used in our study combines BECCS technology with mineralization for capture and permanent sequestration of the CO2. The process allows for capture of CO2 from the flue gas emitted by biomass based industries and the mineralization of the waste(s) generated from the same industry by reacting the waste with the CO2 rich solvent, while also simultaneously regenerating the solvent. The mineralization of the waste(s) results in the permanent sequestration of CO2 due to the formation of stable mineral carbonates. |
| Skyrenu Technologies | Universite De Sherbrooke and Inrs-Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre | Canada | | Video |
| We propose an integrated capture and sequestration system comprising a novel modular direct-air capture device whose high-concentration gaseous CO2 output is used for the on-site carbonation of mine waste. Our systems can be directly installed at mine waste sites, thereby eliminating the need to transport CO2 or mineral feedstock over long distances. We plan to first install our systems at abandoned asbestos mine sites in the province of Quebec in Canada, where 2 Gt of existing mine tailings offer a CO2 sequestration potential of about 700 MtCO2, and where the process will be powered by the 100% renewable Hydro-Quebec grid. |
| Sydney Sustainable Carbon | University of Sydney | Australia | | Video |
| Our carbon removal solution involves Direct Air Capture of CO2 (DAC) coupled with deep underground permanent storage. Each DAC module will capture two tonnes of CO2/year, be solar powered and deployed in their millions. This solution is hugely scalable with Australia's vast area of non-arable land, high solar intensity and estimated underground storage of over 400 billion tonnes of CO2, 800 times Australia's yearly emissions. Our unique DAC adsorbent is based on a nanomaterial whose properties can be finely tuned and which can be manufactured at low cost. Several gigascale manufacturing facilities are planned in regional areas throughout Australia. |
| Takachar (Safi Organics) | University of British Columbia, Northeastern University, IISC Bangalore | Canada, Kenya, United States | | Video |
| Traditionally, chemical fertilizers are produced in large-scale, centralized locations and imported. Due to long-distance logistics, rural farmers often pay 2-5 times the world price for low-quality fertilizers susceptible to misapplication and soil degradation. Our MIT-developed technology enables rapid and profitable scaling of soil carbon sequestration via decentralized, cost-competitive, biochar-based fertilizers improving farmers' yields by 27%. This is done through small-scale, low-cost, portable systems that can latch onto the back of tractors and utilize locally available crop residues/labor, thereby eliminating the biochar distribution costs. Our product has improved the net income of ~1,000 farmers in our pilot by up to 50%. |
| UW-Madison Civil and Environmental Engineering | University of Wisconsin, Madison | United States | | Video |
| Our technology utilizes industrial waste materials to directly capture CO2 from the atmosphere. The CO2 is then stored as a stable mineral. This process occurs at ambient conditions and doesn't need any heat input or pressurization, thereby reducing costs and emissions which gives us a higher net sequestration of CO2. In addition to safely and permanently sequestering CO2, the processed waste materials can be further utilized for construction, providing additional economic and environmental benefits. |
