GE and Statoil announce winners of open innovation challenge

GE and Statoil announced the four winners of their Open Innovation Challenge, designed to utilize crowd sourcing to find solutions that reduce fresh water in shale oil and gas production.

The Challenge received over 100 submissions from across the globe, with 23 countries represented. Of these, four winners were selected based on the degree of innovation, technically feasibility and commercial viability of their proposals. Each winner will be awarded an initial cash prize of US$25,000.

Going forward, a discretionary funding pool of USD$375,000 USD is earmarked for co-development activities to be decided based on a more in-depth evaluation of winning proposals.

Brief summaries of each winner are listed below:

Ahilan Raman, Clean Energy and Water Technologies, Australia

Solution: An integrated technology that first removes total organic compounds and then separates remaining compounds by creating ice crystals through “Eutectic freeze crystallization (EFC).”

Anthony Duong, Battelle Memorial Institute, USA

Solution: A nano-sponge – a gel formed of nanoscale particles is injected into hydraulically fracturing wells to soak up the halite ions (the main actors in forming salt deposits). As a result, salt is never allowed to crystalize, ensuring salt deposits cannot damage the equipment.

Karen Sorber, Micronic Technologies, USA

Solution: A low-pressure, low-temperature, mechanical evaporation technology – called MicroDesalTM – that purifies waste water from any source.

Chunlei Guo, University of Rochester, USA

Solution: A technique using high powered lasers to alter the surface of the inner walls of downhole production pipes, making a metal surface super water repellent.

The companies’ joint initiative – termed Powering Collaboration – exists to accelerate the development of more environmentally and economically sustainable energy solutions. This joint technology-focused program aims to drive an industrial response to some of the greatest challenges facing global energy production, including CO2 and methane emissions, and water usage, while also optimizing business operations.