Out of 1,133 global competition entrants, 287 achieved the status of qualified entrants. Of these qualified entrants, Aether was one of only 13 teams from Europe in the Air Solution category.
Aether Technologies is ImpactScope’s very own R&D pilot project in Hungary with the aim to develop a scalable Carbon Dioxide Capturing technology that converts the CO2 content of ambient air into usable, carbon based end products, such as biochar through microalgae.
The innovation is based on an industrial apparatus that pushes ambient air through a novel filter material, where the selectively bonded carbon dioxide in the material is then released under controlled circumstances producing concentrated CO2 gas at high efficiency. Looking at the technology from a business perspective, the concentrated CO2 in itself is an industrial value addition, given the green premium it carries being a recycled gas instead of conventional ethanol derived CO2 that is being used as an industry standard.
Learning how to scale
Both the Aether engineering team and the business development team have greatly benefitted from the XPRIZE Milestone submission process. As can be seen from the winning Milestone projects, XPRIZE puts an emphasis on technologies with development and deployment plans, as well as plans for scaling carbon removal to megaton and gigaton levels.
The scaling aspects that came up through the Milestone submission enabled the Aether team to significantly improve the energy efficiency of the technology in a process where the electricity needed can be generated by a proportionally small-scale solar PV system. Aether’s technology is advantageous over other materials and existing Direct Air Capture technologies, as there’s almost no energy required to capture and safely release the CO2 and cost-effectively capture 1000 tons of CO2/year, which can be scaled to megaton and gigaton levels by installing the facility anywhere with a dry and warm climate.
In the pool of Qualified Competitors
With access to other innovators, the Aether team was able to get in touch with other teams on challenging aspects of the technology, as well as on impact investment opportunities in other Carbon Dioxide Removal projects. The Aether and ImpactScope team is inspired to be among the 13 Qualified Competitors from Europe and is looking forward to take advantage of being in based primarily in Budapest, Hungary in the heart of Europe with some team members in all continents of the globe to connect with a wide range of stakeholders from both a business development and an engineering perspective.
For more information contact Viktor Jósa at viktor@impactscope.com