The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill appears to be contained, but the devastating impact caused by this oil spill will last for years. It is also inevitable that future oil spills will occur, so we need to be prepared to safeguard our oceans and shores. The X PRIZE Foundation is accepting registrations for the Wendy Schmidt Oil Cleanup X CHALLENGE to find the technical and environmentally safe solutions for capturing oil at the spill site, thus limiting spills' impacts and protecting our oceans, shores, and marshes, as well as the health and well-being of the people and wildlife that live and thrive in these communities.

Teams from around the world are invited to register for this competition.  In the registration process, teams will submit their approach to clean up oil spills from land drainage and waste disposal, offshore drilling and production spills (e.g. Deepwater Horizon), and surface oil from ships or tankers (e.g. Exxon Valdez).

Phase I: From August 2010 – April 2011, teams from around the world are invited to register for this competition, and submit their approach. An expert panel of judges from industry and academia will evaluate team proposals using a weighted score based on the following criteria:  technical approach and commercialization plan; minimal negative environmental impact; scalability of and ability to deploy technology; cost and human labor of implementation; and improvement of technology over today’s baseline “booms and skimmers.”

Phase II: The judges will select the top teams to demonstrate their ability to efficiently and rapidly clean up oil on the ocean surface in a head-to-head competition.  These demonstrations, which will determine the winner, will take place at the National Oil Spill Response Research & Renewable Energy Test Facility (OHSMETT) in New Jersey, USA. 

Winners: The team that demonstrates the ability to recover oil on the seawater surface at the highest oil recovery rate (ORR) and highest recovery efficiency (RE) will win.  The top performer will receive a $1 Million Grand Prize; the second place performer will receive $300,000 and the third place performer will receive $100,000.