The Monash Carbon Capture and Conversion (MC³) team comprising of students from Monash University in Australia and Malaysia is the only team to receive the XPRIZE Carbon Removal Student Award funded by Elon Musk. The competition, which was launched earlier this year, recognises student teams for their ability to tackle climate change by developing new technical solutions around atmospheric carbon capture and conversion.
The four-year global competition invites innovators and teams from around the world to create a solution that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans and store it away permanently in an environmental way.
MC³ was one of 23 global teams who won the challenge and was awarded handsomely with RM1 million, a total of RM16 million ($4 million) is made available to teams competing in the demonstration technology space.
The Malaysian contingent that made of the team were Sinn Heng, Kavindya Liyanage and Izaac Chong, who are in their 4th, 2nd and 1st years of their Engineering Degree respectively. Also part of the team is Engineering PhD student, Lim Yi An (2nd year) and Master of Engineering student, Joshia Christa Pradana (1st year).
Chief Executive Officer of MC³ and fourth-year Bachelor of Engineering and Commerce student, Emily Qiao, said the team’s key focus was on the capture of CO2 via bio-sequestration.
“We submitted a BioTechnology proposal that consisted of biologically-assisted carbon capture and conversion methods which focused on the capture of CO2 from the ocean and air via artificial forestry and microalgae cultures in novel designed floating photobioreactors.
The biomass produced from these carbon farms will then be utilised downstream, powered by bioenergy, in their transformation into cross-laminated timber, for sustainable buildings, and biochar, a charcoal that can be used for soil amendment,” said Emily.
Director of the Woodside Monash Energy Partnership, Professor Paul Webley, said he was incredibly proud to have been part of the foundation of setting up MC³ and mentoring the team.
“It’s incredible to see this student team’s work receive international support and recognition from the likes of Elon Musk and XPRIZE. For a relatively new student team to achieve this milestone just as they begin their journey to develop sustainable carbon capture technologies, is an astounding feat,” said Professor Webley.
The objective of XPRIZE is to inspire and help scale-up efficient solutions to collectively achieve the 10 gigaton per year carbon removal target by 2050, to help fight climate change and restore the Earth’s carbon balance.
Following the student award announcement, the team’s focus will pivot to the next phase of the XPRIZE Carbon Removal Competition, which will conclude on 1 February 2022. MC³ will be up against leading carbon capture, utilisation and storage organisations in the global community endeavoring to progress their technologies through tangible and verifiable means.
Recipients of the XPRIZE awards will be announced at the Sustainable Innovation Forum at COP26.
