Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup XCHALLENGE
Paid a $1.4 million purse to teams that could skim spilled ocean oil faster and cleaner.
Launched after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the prize ran ten finalist teams through a year of testing at OHMSETT, the U.S. national oil spill response research facility, simulating real spill conditions against a target of 2,500 gallons per minute at 70% efficiency. Elastec won with a grooved disc skimmer that more than doubled the target recovery rate at nearly 90% efficiency; XPRIZE's o…
Sought technology to recover oil from the ocean surface far faster than industry norms — at least 2,500 gallons per minute at 70% efficiency. Solutions had to work in real ocean conditions of waves, wind and weather, not just controlled tanks.
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