Imperial College's 'Meltdown' win BP Ultimate Field Trip

BP has announced Meltdown from Imperial College as the winner of The Ultimate Field Trip 2010 following the Grand Final held at The Natural History Museum. Meltdown's submission aims to reduce carbon emissions from a gas-fired power station by utilising photosynthetic single cell micro-organisms (algae, bacteria). The three team members from Imperial College will now complete a 6-8 week paid internship with BP North Sea this summer working on a real business feasibility study.

Meltdown wowed the judging panel of senior BP executives with their innovative approach to answering the overall brief: What innovative, scientific ideas can your team come up with to address the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from a typical power station using natural gas from the North Sea to generate electricity?

Meltdown's concept uses a family of bacteria, which when in the presence of light, CO2 and calcium (gypsum) has the ability to produce a variety of components that can be sold to the chemical market, or burnt to produce green electricity. The main product of the process is a solid, calcium carbonate, a common substance found in rocks and the main component of eggshells or seashells, and can therefore be disposed of easily.

The Ultimate Field Trip aims to identify tomorrow's STEM student talent whilst also rewarding and educating those taking part.

David Eyton, Group Head of Research and Technology, BP, said; 'We were really impressed with the way Meltdown approached the brief and their consistent performance throughout the competition. Their concept has considered both the economic and scientific challenges we face, whilst the entry was technically advanced and well thought through - our industry is crying out for these bright young minds. I'm sure we'll be hearing about Lizzie Riley, Chris Hunter and Ben Said in the future.'

Meltdown made it through to the Grand Final from an original 52 entries from across the UK.

Ben Said, from Meltdown, said; 'We are all absolutely delighted to have won the Ultimate Field Trip. We have worked exceptionally hard since the autumn of last year and are pleased our idea received the recognition we feel it deserves. We believe we have identified a concept that has dual benefits; economic value and a raw substance to produce green electricity. We are all now looking forward to starting the BP internship where we hope to learn even more about the energy industry and the challenges it faces.'

Dr Severino S Pandiella, Senior Lecturer, School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester, continued; 'I used the competition as part of the coursework element of the Biorefinery Engineering module I led last semester. It deals with the important environmental and technological challenges that energy companies face and students were very enthusiastic and passionate about it. The quality of the response the students provided was well beyond my expectations, very innovative and scientifically and technically sound. BP has the expertise to consider the best of these ideas and I hope these students are encouraged to work in this area in the future.'

BP has been so impressed with the level of STEM talent at Grand Final stage it confirmed on the night as an unexpected bonus that all 15 finalists students will receive an automatic interview with BP upon graduation.

Emma Hardaker-Jones, Head of Resourcing, BP, added; 'We were all overwhelmed by the level of commitment shown by every team that entered the Ultimate Field Trip and especially those that reached the Grand Final. We wanted to show our appreciation and hopefully that doesn't come any bigger or better than a guaranteed job interview at BP. BP recruits 150 graduates in the UK every year.'

The Grand Finalist teams to receive job interviews are; Hot Carbon and Meltdown, both from Imperial College, Exeter from University of Oxford, Manchester Greenergy from University of Manchester and Pre-Combustion Capture Synergies from Durham University.

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