The XPRIZE Foundation on Wednesday released a list of the 47 teams that will compete in the first round of the $20 million NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE competition. The competition, which is open to the public and seeks innovative ways to use carbon dioxide, consists of two tracks: one that will test developmental technologies on emissions from a coal-fired power plant and one that will involve emissions from a natural gas-fired power plant.
The list consists of teams from seven countries in North America, Europe, and Asia, presenting unique ways to use carbon in valuable products, such as fish food, fertilizer, carbon nanotubes, and gasoline replacements, according to an XPRIZE press release.
“These teams, as well as our advisory board, represent an exciting mix of talent with expertise across a broad spectrum of sciences that will be applied to create technologies that mitigate CO2 emissions globally,” Paul Bunje, principal and senior scientist of the Energy and Environment group at XPRIZE, said in the release.
The competition will consist of three rounds. All registered teams are invited to participate in the first round, which consists of the submission of a technical and business viability assessment. A panel of judges will review the entries and 15 teams in each track will advance.
Round two will begin on Oct. 15 with the announcement of semifinalists. Through Aug. 15, 2017, the teams will conduct pilot-scale demonstrations of their technologies in a controlled environment using simulated power plant flue gas. Five teams from each track will be announced in December 2017 to proceed to round three; each will receive $500,000 as in interim award.
Round three will begin in December 2017 and continue through February 2020. This round will consist of a demonstration-scale competition, during which teams will have access to two test centers adjacent to existing power plants and must prove their technologies using actual power plant flue gas. Following the close of round three, teams will be scored on CO2 conversion levels and the net value of their product. A grand prize winner in each track will be selected in March 2020, with each receiving $7.5 million.
