2021 Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge – Top tier proposals

Thank you for participating in the Elsevier Foundation Chemistry for Climate Action Challenge!

The first stage of the submission process closed on September 1st. During the past weeks, our pool of experts worked to review the proposals.

We’re proud to announce the top contestants selected for the next phase of the Challenge.

• Brenya Isaac, Biodegradable building and packaging materials made from coconut waste
• Muragwa Espoir & Mutambyi Valerien, Waste resources and environmental friendly crop residues, domestic waste to fertilizer(vermicompost) and charcoal production
• Reza Ghamarpoor, Silylation of silica nanoparticle and its application in NBR rubber to improve hydrophobic and oleophilic properties in order to increase its capability to adsorb oil spills and oil/water separation
• Mirabos Hojamberdiev, Added-value recyclability of mining-metallurgy waste as multi-phase photocatalyst for green hydrogen generation
• Asam Mohamed Fiaez Ahmed, Living Legacy (Planting Trees)
• Shahid Adeel, Sustainable Utilization of Plant Wastes for Green Coloration of Textiles
• Pham Hong, Producing Nano filter and bio-degradable plastics from rice straws
• Amit Bhatnagar, Microalgae biorefinery for efficient carbon capture and utilization
• Consolée Siosiko, Promoting renewable energy as biogas for improvement within rural communities through the use of human waste
• Liana Vanyan, Biohydrogen from waste
• Ashira Roopnarain, Waste to Wealth: Towards the development of a ‘nano-bio cocktail’ to improve biogas productivity and soil ameliorant quality in low-cost, unheated anaerobic digesters
• Gonzalez Zinnia, Natural allelopathic plant compounds, a green sustainable chemistry solution to managing invasive species, promoting healthy ecosystems and biodiversity to mitigate climate change.
• Manish Baral, The role of green synthesized ZnO nanoparticles mediated seed priming to combat climate change for sustainable agriculture
• Yanet Tibaire Villasana Aguilera, BioNanoCat: CO2 reduction to ethanol using a nanobiogenic catalyst prepared with an ancient indigenous plant
• Vinitha Thadhani, Sustainable Natural textile Dye from waste generated from world’s leading instant tea manufacturing plant
• Firdous Ali, Pretreatment of Cotton stalk (CS) with Room temperature Ionic Liquid (RTILs) for production of value added materials: Sustainable use of agricultural waste
• Elaine Gabutin Mission, Mangrove Rehabilitation x Biorefinery: Capturing valuable molecules from underutilized mangrove fractions via high pressure process for advanced polymer synthesis [MaSH-APS]
• Fatihah Suja, Green Bioleaching of E-Waste for Precious Metals Recovery
• Wasanthi Subasinghe, Design and development of an industrial scale filtration system to remove microplastics from sea salt production in Sri Lanka
• Siew-Wei, Rivers, Water and Livelihoods
• Bridgid Lai Fui Chin, Production of functionalised bio-chars from aquatic weeds via pyrolysis for rice paddy soil remediation
• Wahidul Hasan, Light to Life toward Mankind: Sustainable Energy Through Green Chemistry
• Javier Bacame, Sustainable wastewater treatment in rural communities: coupling wetland-photocatalysis-solar disinfection
• Mitesh Shrestha, Yeast Engineering for Bioethanol Production from Household Organic Waste and Prevention of Infectious Diseases.
• Amaka Ezenobi, A Novel Bio-based Keratin-Silica aerogel for CO2 adsorption
• Arely Cardenas, Design, construction and testing of a novel carbon-based electrochemical filter for the treatment of rainwater harvested in rural communities in central Mexico.
• Jose de Jesus Perez Bueno, Development of sustainable alternatives for rural communities to generate biochar from cow dungs based on solar energy
• Fei Ye, Hierarchically structured surface by etching for scalable water evaporators
• Zhiwen Zhu and Qinhong Cai, Synergetic co-production of therapeutic polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) and biosurfactants (BS) using CO2 as a feedstock
• Michele Aresta, All Carbons of Biogas as Useful Products-AlCaBiUP Conversion of Biogenic CO2 into Methanol
• Jyoti Kushwaha, A Novel Green Technique for Bio-hydrogen Production from Rice Straw: an Alternative to its Open Air Burning
• Maria Sheila Ramos, Stoichiometric mix-designed SMART Green Shelters: A Circular Economy approach in the valorization of hydro-electric power facility waste and mine-tails contaminated alluvial sediments with climate change implications
• Chigozie Francolins Uzoh, Novel biocoat for reducing emission from fertilizer application
• Shiju S, Towards an economical and sustainable chemical process for the recycling of mixed textile waste.
• Kevin Kung, Trash is cash: Decentralized technology to upgrade crop and forest residues (biomass) in remote communities into high-value, customizable biofuels and bioproducts