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Finalist Teams

About the Team	Team	Country	Team Website(s)
	Airhive	United Kingdom	https://airhive.earth/
Airhive technology provides rapid CO2 removal via a low-cost, non-toxic metal oxide-based sorbent. Airhive is partnering with CO2 storage provider Exterra, who will react Airhive’s air-captured CO2 with mine tailings through their proprietary process.
	Heirloom	United States	http://heirloomcarbon.com/
Heirloom pioneers a low-cost DAC technology capable of permanently removing CO2 at a billion-tonne scale by rapidly accelerating the natural process of capturing CO2 from the atmosphere to form limestone within days.
	Octavia & Cella	Kenya	http://www.octaviacarbon.com/
Octavia & Cella is the Global South's first DAC company, leveraging renewable energy, geological advantages, and local talent to establish the first DAC+Storage plant in the Southern Hemisphere, Project Hummingbird, aiming to annually capture and permanently store 1000 metric tons of CO2 underground.
	Project Hajar (44.01 & Air Capture)	Oman and United States	https://4401.earth/ https://www.aircapture.com/
Project Hajar, a collaboration between 44.01 and AirCapture, combines state-of-the-art DAC technology with pioneering CO2 mineralization technology, aiming to turn captured CO2 into rock.
	Skyrenu	Canada	http://www.skyrenu.com/
Skyrenu combines a DAC system with a rock carbonation process to treat asbestos mine tailings in order to lock away carbon forever.
	Arca	Canada	http://arcaclimate.com/
Arca’s patented technology accelerates carbon mineralization in mine tailings and waste rock, creating an industrial-scale carbon dioxide removal solution by activating magnesium silicate minerals to transform ultramafic mine waste into a massive carbon sink.
	Lithos	United States	http://www.lithoscarbon.com/
Lithos Carbon accelerates the Earth's natural carbon cycle by deploying enhanced rock weathering (ERW) in agriculture to permanently remove CO2 from the air and improve crop yields and soil health for farmers. Lithos uses organic-grade volcanic basalt dust and state-of-the-art science to measure CO2 removal, aiming to decarbonize the food system.
	Mati	United States	http://www.mati.earth/
Mati durably removes carbon from the atmosphere using basalt-based ERW in smallholder rice paddy farms. This process removes atmospheric CO2 while adding key nutrients to the soil, helping to restore degraded soils to the benefit of smallholder farmers.
	Silicate	Ireland	https://www.silicatecarbon.com/
Silicate Carbon uses surplus concrete from the building industry to amend agricultural land while harnessing natural geochemical processes to permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere. By using accelerated mineral weathering, they are able to enhance soil pH, boost crop productivity, and reduce reliance on pesticides and fertilizers.
	UNDO	United Kingdom	http://www.un-do.com/
With nature-enabled ERW technology, UNDO generates permanent, high-quality carbon removal credits with added co-benefits to support businesses on their pathway to net zero.
	Yuanchu	China	http://www.yuanchutech.com/
Yuanchu is a pioneering startup focused on developing direct air mineralization (DAM) technology. With this technology, they hope to remove CO2 from the air and permanently sequester it insolid carbonated material on a gigatonne scale, with a cost of less than $200 per ton of CO2 in stable mineralization products that will last for 1000 years.
	Climate Robotics	United States	https://www.climaterobotics.com/
Climate Robotics enables broad-scale agriculture adoption of biochar which builds soil health and removes excess carbon from the atmosphere. The company's mobile technology converts crop residues into durable biochar in the field, making the economics work for farmers and our ecosystems.
	MASH Makes	Denmark	https://www.mashmakes.com/
MASH Makes pioneers pyrolysis and gasification technology, which converts agricultural waste into carbon-negative energy and biochar for soil amendment, actively combating carbon emissions
	NetZero	France	http://www.netzero.green/
NetZero's mission is to scale biochar as a climate and agricultural solution by focusing on the abundant unused crop residues in the tropics. They proprietary technology of mid-size, automated, highly optimized, and easily replicable pyrolysis plants, and operate an end-to-end model that fosters local farmer involvement as both suppliers of biomass and clients of biochar. This streamlines logistics, enhances traceability, and promotes local buy-in.
	Takachar	India	https://takachar.com/
Takachar uses MIT technology to construct a decentralized internet-of-things-enabled reactor network, facilitating rapid and profitable scaling of biochar deployment, independent of carbon offset credits. They use patent-pending, low-cost, and portable hardware. This enables village-based production of customizable biochar-based fertilizers from locally available crop residues, ultimately improving farmers' crop yields by up to 30% and net income by 50%, thereby advancing climate justice.
	Vaulted Deep	United States	https://vaulteddeep.com/
Vaulted Deep delivers scalable, permanent, carbon removal by geologically sequestering carbon-filled organic wastes. They use a patented slurry sequestration, which involves geological injection of minimally processed wastes for permanent (10,000+ year) carbon removal.
	Captura	United States	https://capturacorp.com/
Captura provides a scalable, low-cost direct ocean capture (DOC) carbon removal solution. They produce a measurable stream of CO2 for sequestration with only seawater and renewable energy. This process requires no external additives and produces no byproducts. DOC requires no freshwater, has a minimal land footprint and can operate with intermittent power.
	Ebb	United States	http://ebbcarbon.com/
Ebb Carbon is pioneering a new carbon removal solution by enhancing the ocean's natural ability to safely store CO2. Their electrochemical ocean alkalinity enhancement method has the potential to remove excess CO2, while reducing ocean acidity, at low-cost and large-scale.
	Kelp Blue	Netherlands	https://kelp.blue/
Kelp Blue cultivates giant kelp (macrocystis pyrifera) in farms off the coasts of Namibia, New Zealand, and soon Alaska, utilizing innovative submerged structures to overcome scaling limits of sheltered water benefitting from local nutrient upwelling systems. The harvested canopy biomass is processed into sustainable agricultural and packaging products while the remaining biomass naturally sequesters carbon, supports biodiversity, and provides ecological benefits.
	Planetary	Canada	https://www.planetarytech.com/
Planetary leverages ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) to enhance the ocean's natural carbon removal capabilities. They use the ocean carbon platform (OCP), a product that facilitates CO2 “weathering” through the safe addition of antacid to seawater, to qualify alkalinity sources, automate operations, ensure ocean safety, and measure and monetize carbon removal.

Student Award Winners: Carbon Removal Demonstrations

About the Team	Team	University	Country	Meet the Team
	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.

Student Award Winners: Measurement, Reporting, and Verification Technologies

About the Team	Team	University	Country	Meet the Team
	ACIDD PROJECT	University of Miami	United States	Video
Our solution is to create and distribute "green hydroxide", a form of alkalinity that when added to the ocean, both removes CO2 and buffers against acid, actively fighting ocean acidification. In creating this hydroxide, hydrogen gas and carbon credits are generated as byproducts. We are supported by Planetary Hydrogen, the producers of this alkalinity. Our labs based out of the Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences will be used to test the effects of alkalinity enhancement on the environment, specifically on coral and fish health. Our team mentor, Dr. Chris Langdon has already seen promising results in preliminary testing.
	BJU Global Challenges	Bob Jones University	United States	Video
Our team will develop a verification technology to ensure that carbon that is removed from the air and stored in soil remains in soil. Starting with a low-cost sensor prototype described in the literature, we will add longer battery life, wireless data logging, and weatherproofing to produce a commercially viable and more widely useful product. Multiple sensors in a field will send data on CO2 respiration levels wirelessly to a central database. By collecting data from multiple sensors distributed throughout a field, the system can display a contour map of the field's CO2 levels.
	Environmental Sensing	University of Wyoming	United States	Video
Our project affordably measures CO2 in the natural world to find any changes that could occur at carbon storage sights. These changes could indicate human-caused change in the area from carbon storage as well as any natural changes that could affect the sites used for carbon storage. There is risk in carbon capture and storage should the sites leak, and our technology can detect any potential leaks immediately to allow rapid responses to any carbon storage sites.
	PlantVillage	Pennsylvania State University	United States	Video
Terrestrial carbon sequestration requires a transparent, low cost system that results in both an accurate and transparent system to measure not only how much carbon is being pulled down but which areas of the world are our best bets for cost effective drawdown. Here we will use the global platform, PlantVillage, which is an award winning tool used by the UN across 60 countries. This platform integrates phone based AI systems based on computer vision and cloud based systems that integrate multiple satellite streams and soil databases.
	Working Trees	Stanford University	United States	Video
Working Trees mission is to deploy trees where the interests of farmers and the climate overlap. We are developing a technology platform that democratizes access to carbon markets for landowners of all sizes by leveraging smartphone LiDAR, satellite remote sensing data, and machine learning models. Our starting focus is on the potential for establishing trees on pasture land in the US Southeast.

$100M Prize For Carbon Removal

Phase

Active

Teams

Finalist Teams

Student Award Winners: Carbon Removal Demonstrations

Student Award Winners: Measurement, Reporting, and Verification Technologies

$100M Prize For Carbon Removal

Phase Active

Finalist Teams

Student Award Winners: Carbon Removal Demonstrations

Student Award Winners: Measurement, Reporting, and Verification Technologies

Phase

Active