ESE Students Win BP Ultimate Field Trip

A team of undergraduates from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering has won a seven-week paid internship visiting BP's North Sea operations.

A team of undergraduates from the Department of Earth Science and Engineering has won a seven-week paid internship visiting BP's North Sea operations. Lizzie Riley, Chris Hunter and Ben Said of Team Meltdown won the prize in BP's inaugural competition - the BP Ultimate Field Trip.

The BP Ultimate Field Trip challenged teams of students to answer the question: "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?'. The Challenge involved designing a real, economic, industrial process that could be applied to gas power stations in the UK.

Fifty-two entries were eventually narrowed down to five during a six month long elimination process of presentations and interviews. The winners were chosen at a grand final at the Natural History Museum. The event was hosted by BBC Radio 4 journalist and Mastermind presenter John Humphrys, the evening saw each project team present a short film introducing their idea, before answering questions from Vernon Gibson, BP's chief chemist, Ellen Williams, BP's chief scientist, Bernard Looney, head of BP's North Sea business, and David Eyton, BP's head of research and technology. Two teams from ESE were selected as finalists, Team Meltdown, and Team Hot Carbon, comprising Tom Wesby, Carmen Pinto Ward and Miriam Wright.

Meltdown's winning pitch suggested reducing carbon emissions by utilising photosynthetic single cell micro-organisms (algae, bacteria), which in the presence of light, CO2 and calcium sulphate (gypsum) have the ability to produce a variety of components that can be sold to the chemical market, or burned to produce green electricity. The main product of the process is a solid, calcium carbonate, a common substance found in limestones, and can therefore be disposed of easily.

During their question and answer session, the team explained that they took their inspiration from their palaeontology studies and research into CO2 levels during the last Ice Age.

BP created the UK-based competition to give early stage science, technology, engineering and maths undergraduates an opportunity to better understand the energy industry's challenges, and learn a little more about BP.

Announcing the winner, Bernard Looney said that the judges had been impressed by Meltdown's decision to take something from their core skills. "This is an idea that worked 1,000 of years ago and solved the problem once, why not again? For me, Meltdown came across as a fabulously balanced team, telling a wonderful story of something complicated in a simple way."

Riley, Hunter and Said were shocked when they heard their names read out. "I couldn't talk, it felt fantastic," says Said. Meanwhile, Hunter admits his mum screamed when Meltdown's name was read out. "This has taken a huge amount of our time," says Riley, "but it was worth it. It was great to work on something that could make a difference and be interesting at the same time."

Prof. Martin Blunt, Head of Department of ESE, congratulated all the students in both teams saying, "It is a remarkable achievement to have two teams from the Department shortlisted in such a high profile competition. Even Prime Ministers flinch under John Humprey's questions, but Team Hot Carbon stayed icy cool, and Team Meltdown didn't show any signs of melting."

Team Meltdown begin their internship in July with offshore survival training, and a chance to spend some time working on one of BP's North Sea platforms. Team Meltdown's winning film can be seen on BP's Ultimate Field Trip Facebook page.

Related Links 

• BP Ultimate Field Trip Facebook Page