IIT Bombay team gets X-prize in Carbon Removal Competition

A student-led team of IIT Bombay has received the X-prize for proposing a method for capturing carbon dioxide and converting it into other valuable chemicals.

The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay's (IIT-Bombay) students team named SASIITB is among the 23 winning teams of the X-prize of Carbon Removal Student Competition.

The winners were chosen by expert third-party judges who assessed the teams' proposals on basis of the feasibility, innovativeness, potential impact and ability to remove gigatons of carbon dioxide. Each winning team will get price money of INR 186 lakh.

The IIT Bombay team proposed a system to capture carbon dioxide from gaseous industrial effluents and convert it into industrially and commercially significant chemicals. The team was mentored by Prof Vikram Vishal and Prof Arnab Dutta. The student members of the SASIITB team said, “Winning this competition is a dream come true for us since we always dreamt of representing India in an international forum.”

Currently, amine-based organic bases including ammonia and monoethanolamine (MEA) are used to capture carbon dioxide which is hazardous and corrosive. “We suggest using less hazardous amine-containing aqueous solutions that can remove carbon dioxide by adsorption (making carbon dioxide molecules stick to the surface of the solution) in the presence of an appropriate additive,” says Prof Dutta.

SASIITB team won under the Carbon Dioxide Removal Demonstration category. “Going ahead, our prime focus will be to lower the energy requirements and optimise the cost of the complete carbon capture, utilisation and storage system,” added the team.

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