A team of geoscience students from the Philippines has won first place in AAPG’s 2025 Sustainable Development in Energy Competition, a global contest that encourages the development of practical and achievable ideas within energy industries around the world.
Finals in the competition, which involved 10 teams and were sponsored by the AAPG Foundation and Chevron, were held in June.
This year’s winning team was CH4Gen1, and their project, “Design and Development of a Modular and Mobile Food Waste Digester for Biomethane and Biofertilizer Generation.”
The team will receive $5,000 toward development and implementation of their project.
About the project: CH4Gen1 is the world’s first mobile and modular food waste digester, transforming household and community food scraps into clean biomethane for energy use, and premium biofertilizer for agricultural growth. It provides savings to users while reducing environmental impact.
The other top prizes went to:
- Second place – Juan David Palma Montealegre, Colombia, for his project “Eggshells for Sustainable Mining: REEs and Hydroxyapatite as Byproducts of Geothermal Energy.” He will receive $3,000 for development of his project.
About the project: This introduces a novel methodology integrating rare-earth element recovery and hydroxyapatite synthesis into geothermal systems using recycled eggshells. It offers environmental benefits by reducing waste and invasive mining and offers social benefits through community engagement and local resource reuse. Its circular, low-impact approach bridges clean energy and sustainable mineral extraction.
- Third place – Team Energon, India, for “Biomass Valorization.” The team will receive $2,000 toward development.
About the project: This converts agricultural waste into bio-products such as bio-paper, bio-cutlery, green hydrogen, and bio-fertilizers through perovskite photocatalysis. It helps curb stubble burning and plastic pollution and reduces air pollution and deforestation, promoting environmental sustainability.
AAPG’s annual Sustainable Development in Energy Competition, hosted by AAPG’s Sustainable Development in Energy Committee, was created to generate practical and achievable ideas within energy industries around the world.
In it, students and young professionals ideate, research and submit proposals for sustainable energy projects that could help reshape energy sectors across the world. They can compete as individuals or teams.
The top ten finalists spent 12 weeks working through the Venture Lab, where they received faculty-led coaching, collaborated with industry partners and learned about investment readiness. They work then to perfect their project pitches and develop their ideas to be commercially scalable.
The 2025 Venture Lab is led by Pro Ally.
Teams and individuals were evaluated on originality, sustainability and applicability. The winning project must be capable of implementation within one year of receiving funds.