The 10 finalists in the NRG | COSIA Carbon XPRIZE were announced earlier this month at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference in New York City. The teams represent five countries and cover a wide range of applications for recycling CO2 emissions.
They must now demonstrate that their technologies can convert CO2 emissions on a larger scale at one of two test facilities - one in Alberta, Canada and one in the US state of Wyoming. A winner will be selected from each track in two years.
Alberta gas-fired power plant track:
C2CNT from Ashburn, VA, USA making carbon nanotubes.
Carbicrete from Montreal, Canada making cement-free, carbon-negative concrete using waste from steel production.
Carbon Upcycling Technologies from Calgary, Canada making enhanced graphitic nanoparticles and graphene derivatives to be used in polymers, concrete, epoxies, batteries, and pharmaceuticals.
CERT from Toronto, Canada making the building blocks for industrial chemicals.
Newlight from Huntington Beach, CA, USA making bioplastics using biological systems.
Gillette, Wyoming coal-fired power plant track:
Breathe from Bangalore, India making methanol.
C4X from Suzhou, China making chemicals and bio-composite foamed plastics.
Carbon Capture Machine from Aberdeen, Scotland making solid carbonates to be used in building materials.
Carbon Upcycling UCLA from Los Angeles, CA, USA making building materials that absorb CO2 during the production process to replace concrete.
The CUA will keep you posted on their progress and tell you more about each individual company. Stay tuned!
Good luck to the XPRIZE finalists!
It’s also worth mentioning that the teams that didn't make it to this stage are still making great progress and will play an important role in our fight against climate change.