Innovation takes the stage at Avatar Shark Tank

CRIN was proud to be an Avatar Innovations ecosystem partner this week as Avatar Ignite participants made their inspiring technology pitches to panels of experts at Shark Tank 2025.

The presentations were the culmination of a 12-week leadership development program focused on energy technology challenges.

Kevin Krausert, Co-Founder and CEO of Avatar, said the nearly 200 participants from across North America, including Tulsa, Denver, Nebraska, Ohio, California, Vancouver, Toronto, Kitimat, Edmonton and Fort McMurray, have shown “remarkable dedication and ingenuity.”

“Those who doubt the future of the energy industry – they are your answer,” he said.

The technology solutions presented at the Energy Transition Centre in downtown Calgary and online spanned the streams of Methane Mitigation, Natural Gas Pioneers, Production Optimization, Carbon Control, Climate Shield – CDR, Hyperlink, The New Electrosphere, Hydrogen, and Future Fuels.

CRIN was pleased to offer scholarships to Avatar Ignite participants Kaiden Powell, Jay Woosaree, Daniel Adebesin, Milind Bhat, Kelsey Heggie, and Aminat Suleiman.

Team RePhase, featuring Kaiden Powell, proposed a technology that converts paraffin wax in hydrocarbon sludge into high-value Phase Change Materials for innovative products, while earning fees from midstream companies to manage their waste.

“Worldwide, over 450 million barrels of hydrocarbon sludge are dropping out of refined oil tanks annually,” said Powell. “This is enough to cover Manhattan Island in over a metre. The most common way to deal with this sludge is to mix it with wood shavings to reduce its toxicity and send it to landfill. This is costing companies over $30 a barrel to do this.”

Using advanced extraction and microencapsulation, RePhase transforms sludge’s paraffin wax into temperature-regulating material for applications like cooling bed sheets and smart home panels.

RePhase won first place in its stream at an awards ceremony following the Shark Tank presentations.

Flue Guard Analytics, one of the teams included in the Carbon Control stream, pitched a smart (AI/Digital Twin) diagnostic system for flue gas for carbon capture project developers, using project-specific data to power validated digital simulations and predictive models. Jay Woosaree was one of four teammates presenting the solution to the panel of Sharks.

“Our solution provides the peace of mind that any future problems will be known, accounted for, and dealt with when it comes to flue gas,” Woosaree said.

Daniel Adebesin joined his colleagues on the team Carbonaut Technologies to pitch a modular, closed-loop carbon capture unit tailored to small-to-medium emitters. The technology, powered by waste heat and a low-energy regeneration process, uses a novel porous material to capture CO2 on-site and convert it into valuable chemicals. Carbonaut took home first place in its category.

Milind Bhat joined his team, Grid Watt Exchange, remotely to help pitch a local energy marketplace platform for industrial players to exchange energy generation and load flexibility between participants. The team was also recognized as the winner of its stream at the awards ceremony.

Kelsey Heggie and her teammates from Arctic Energy pitched a solution to provide a renewable baseload power alternative to arctic communities and industries to reduce dependence on diesel fuel consumption.

Aminat Suleiman’s team, EthaDry, pitched an automated quality assurance system for real-time monitoring of ethanol-gasoline blends during the truck loading process, using predictive sensors to detect water contamination, phase separation risks, and other quality issues before the product leaves the terminal.

Following Shark Tank, selected technology ideas and teams will move to Avatar Studio, a 21-week technology development studio.

Congratulations to all the Avatar Ignite participants on their presentations!