Report on Cooling the Planet Competition
Venue: IMechE Headquarters, Birdcage Walk,
Date: 5th March 2009
By: Ghokulesh Satkuna Nasan
On the 5th of March 2009, Team UNITEN ELITE of University Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) participated in the world finals of the Cooling the Planet Competition which was held in the IMechE Headquarters in London. The competition progressed in two stages, the preliminaries which was a 2 pages summary of the proposal and the finals which comprise of a technical report, non-technical handout and the presentation. Our team proposed the idea of Carbon, Capture & Storage (CCS) which was inspired by the team leader of UNITEN ELITE, Dominic Hua Shi Hao and the other team mates namely Ghokulesh Satkuna Nasan, Tan Pong Seng and Lim See Beng.
CCS can be divided into three major stages, namely the capture stage, the transport stage and the storage stage. CO2 capture process in power production falls into three categories namely flue gas separation, oxyfuel combustion in power plant, and pre-combustion separation. Flue gas separation is basically a chemical absorption process whereby gas is absorbed in a liquid solvent by formation of chemically bonded compound. Oxyfuel combustion is the process whereby the fuel is burned in an oxygen rich atmosphere to reduce other harmful GHG such as NOx, SOx, and CO gases resulting in the main component of the flue gas, CO2 and H2O. Finally, pre-combustion capture is a process where the hydrocarbon fuel namely coal is gasified to produce H22 is then used as a fuel source and the CO is reacted with H2O to produce CO2 which is captured before combustion. The captured CO2 is then transported either via pipelines, tankers or ships to the sequestrations site. The storage can be divided into two main areas which is the geological storage and the oceanic storage. In geological storages, there are four methods namely; depleted oil and gas reservoirs, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) operations, unminable coal seams, and deep saline formations. and CO. The HDepleted oil and gas reservoirs involve injecting CO2 into depleted oil and gas fields as having been practiced for many years. CO22 storage potential. The density of CO2 depends on the depth of injection. injection into geological formations for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a mature technology and is able to buffer the high cost of the CCS application. Unminable coal seams are either too deep or too thin to be mined economically and are another potential storage site and are also capable of producing methane as a useful hydrocarbon. Deep saline formations have the greatest CO In ocean storages, CO2 would be discharged in its liquid phase, if discharged above 500m depth the liquid CO2 would immediately flash into vapor and into the atmosphere. Between 500 and about 3000 m, liquid CO2 is less dense than seawater; therefore it would rise by buoyancy and would completely dissolve before raising 100m
There were approximately 60 teams from around the globe that took part in the preliminary round and only six teams were shortlisted by the panel of judges to present their engineering feasible idea in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Headquarters, 1 Birdcage Walk, Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Five other teams who participated in this prestigious event was STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, UK , BH Young Engineers based at Buro Happold in London, UK , Jaguar Land Rover in Coventry/Warwick, UK, Team Glow based at Buro Happold in Bath, UK, and Planet AECOM based at Faber Maunsell in London, UK. The UNITEN ELITE were the only team comprising of undergraduate students and the only team which represented the Asia continent. This is the first time that a team from Malaysia had qualified for the finals in London. The six teams in which 5 other teams consists of top-notch engineering consultant companies from across the globe will battle out in this final presentation. The competition was divided into two categories the mitigation and geo-engineering. The chairperson for the evening was Dr. Colin Brown, IMechE Director of Engineering. Before the proposals were presented by the respective teams, Professor Tim Lenton, Professor of Earth System Science,
The winners for the geo-engineering category was STFC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire, UK who presented their idea of artificial trees whereas the winners for the other category was Planet AECOM, Faber Maunsell, London, UK with their proposal of Waste to Biochar Hydro-Pyrolosis. The overall champion for was Planet AECOM with their proposal of stabilizing atmospheric CO2 levels by closing the carbon cycle through reducing geological oil extraction and returning carbon back to the earth. Recognizing the benefit of waste, this process is achieved by diverting organic waste streams from land-fill to a network of pyrolysis plants, creating oil and gas for fuel, while the biochar residue can be used in agriculture to enrich soils, increase yields and secure carbon stably in the ground. The evening ended with a short prize giving ceremony by IMechE CEO Stephen Tetlow and some tea. Later in the evening team UNITEN ELITE was treated for dinner by Dr. Colin Brown and Chris Fox.
Although team UNITEN ELITE was unable to bring back victory, we were able to appreciate the steps taken by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers United Kingdom to get young engineers who are the leaders of tomorrow to think innovatively in order to combat the ever growing concern of global warming by proposing mitigation (short-term) and geo-engineering (long-term) solution. This was also an important avenue whereby young and experienced engineers were able to share and discuss their ideas. Throughout the whole experience of COOLING THE PLANET competition we, team UNITEN ELITE have gain an important perspective and a valuable experience in preserving the environment for a sustainable future.
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