Saturday, August 20, 2016

Carbon XPRIZE Announces Iowa Team among 47 in Global CO2 Competition


LOS ANGELES (July 27, 2016) — XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and managing incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, today announced a total of 47 entries from seven countries will contend to win the $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, a global competition to develop breakthrough technologies that convert the most CO2 into one or more products with the highest net value. Competing teams hail from Canada, China, India, Finland, Switzerland, Scotland and the United States. An Advisory Board of nine leading experts in the fields of chemical and biological engineering, energy and sustainability and public policy, also announced today, will advise the Carbon XPRIZE.

The NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE, launched in September 2015, addresses global CO2 emissions by incentivizing innovative solutions to convert CO2 from a liability into an asset. The 4-½ year competition will include two tracks, with the new technologies tested at either a coal power plant or a natural gas facility. Among the teams competing are leading carbon capture technology companies, top-tier academic institutions, non-profits, new startups and even a father and son team. A complete listing of teams competing in Round 1 is posted on the XPRIZE site: www.xprize.org .

“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,” said Paul Bunje, Ph.D., principal and senior scientist, Energy and Environment group at XPRIZE. “Such widespread interest and support demonstrates an unwavering global commitment to take a radical leap forward to address climate change.”

The $20M NRG COSIA Carbon XPRIZE features three rounds of competition.  In Round 1, each team submitted project documents surrounding technical and business viability assessments of its approach, and independent panel judging underway. Up to 15 semi-finalist teams in each track are scheduled to be announced on Oct. 15, 2016.  Round 2 enables teams to demonstrate their technologies in a controlled environment using a simulated power plant flue gas stream, with up to five teams in each track moving forward and sharing a $2.5 million milestone purse.  Round 3 entails larger scale technology demonstration under real world conditions, with access to two test centers adjacent to existing power plants. In each track, the winner will be awarded a $7.5 million grand prize.

An Iowa-based team called EE-AGG is among the 47 entries competing in the Carbon XPRIZE Competition. The EE-AGG Team is coordinated by Dr. Mark Edelman, economist and Iowa State University professor from Boone, IA.  Along with Edelman, EE-AGG includes Dr. Eric Wagner, Vice President for Technology Development, Technip Stone and Webster Process Technology Inc., from Claremont, CA; John Wooley, Earth Energy Renewables business leader from Austin, TX; David Stevens, Director of Operations and Economic Development Program Manager for Harrison County Rural Electric Cooperative located at Woodbine IA; Dr. Zhichao Wang, Carbon Consultant for EcoEngineers based in Des Moines, IA; and 22 other company board members and technical advisors from across the country.  EE-AGG is commercializing proprietary processes developed by Dr. Gary Young, P.E., Bio-Thermal-Energy Inc., of Cedar Rapids, IA in combination with other commercially available technologies. 

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Media Contacts:  Eric Desatnik / Jackie Wei
310.741.4892 / 310.741.4918

Iowa Team Contacts:  Mark Edelman / Alex Merk
515.298.1871 / 515.290.4575