CarboWells
To win Penn’s Y-Prize for applications of emerging technologies, this group of first-year students dug deep. Bhuranyu Mahajan W29 and Yash Iyer W29, along with Yuki Qian C29 ENG29, Ronith Lahoti ENG29, and Ali Altan Yilmaz C29 ENG29, created CarboWells — a 3D-printed concrete plug. The team’s pitch: Across the U.S., two million oil wells remain unplugged, increasing the risk of leaks and creating a multibillion-dollar environmental crisis. Using printed concrete developed at Penn Engineering and offering 100 times lower gas permeability than traditional cement, CarboWells’s application expands and bonds completely into the well walls. With their $15,000 earnings from Y-Prize, which is supported by the Mack Institute for Innovation Management and Venture Lab, the CarboWells founders plan to pursue prototyping and lab validation.
