- Role
- Finalist
- Region
- Ottawa
- Pronouns
- he/him/his
Aliyan Boodhwani
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Project
Green Cement: Treating Microcystis aeruginosa blooms with modified clay and carbon-negative concrete
Project #9303
This project tackles algae blooms, a critical environmental challenge that costs communities on the Great Lakes more than $300 million a year. Modified clay, a positively charged mix of bentonite and chitosan-hydrochloride, acts like an algae magnet, allowing us to flocculate blooms and harvest them from the water. These flocs can then be processed into a 2.5% clay-concrete composite, which not only strengthens the concrete, but helps offset the carbon dioxide emissions of the concrete industry by sequestering the algae-captured carbon inside. Together, these result in the sequestration of 540,000 tons of carbon dioxide when treating annual blooms on the Great Lakes and savings of more than $41 million for local concrete producers. Green Cement has the power to make algae blooms the cornerstone of sustainability, from environmental, social, and economic lenses, and I'm excited to present it at the fair!
- Challenge
- Natural Resources
- Category
- Senior
- Type
- Innovation