Two ERA-funded Grand Challenge projects are finalists in the NRG COSIA XPRIZE. CarbonCure and Carbon UpCycling Technologies (CUT) are among 10 teams that have two years to provide their technology.
CUT was selected from 344 submissions in the first round of the $35 million ERA Grand Challenge: Innovative Carbon Uses. Their technology uses CO2 emissions to cultivate nanoparticles that enhance materials like concrete, plastics, and batteries, creating products that are longer lasting and more effective. CarbonCure was the only new entrant among the four teams advancing in the second round. The winner of the ERA Grand Challenge will be announced in 2019.
“These teams are showing us amazing examples of carbon conversion and literally reimagining carbon. The diversity of technologies on display is an inspiring vision of a new carbon economy,” said Dr. Marcius Extavour, XPRIZE senior director of Energy and Resources and prize lead.
Some Carbon XPRIZE teams will test their technology at a natural gas-fired power plant through the Alberta Carbon Conversion Technology Centre near Calgary, with the remainder at a coal-powered plant in Gillette, Wyoming.
Each finalist team passed a first-round evaluation based on the amount of CO2 converted into products, as well as the economic value, market size and CO2 uptake potential of those products.
Learn more about the NRG COSIA XPRIZE, here.