Students from a school in Chicago are one of the groups of winners an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency award, recognized for their biodiesel project. The EPA announced that the students from Loyola University of Chicago developed a greener way, through a wetland and a distillation process, to treat and reuse byproducts of biodiesel.

EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) award competition was held at the 9th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo. Each award winning team qualifies to receive a grant of up to $90,000 to further develop their design and potentially bring it to the marketplace. Previous P3 award winners have started successful businesses and are globally marketing their technologies.

“This competition plays an important role in inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers to better understand, and through innovation and ingenuity more effectively solve, our world’s complex environmental problems,” said Lek Kadeli, principal deputy administrator for the EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “The P3 program gives this nation’s students the opportunity to apply their creative ideas to real world situations and protect our nation’s environment in a more sustainable fashion.”

Seven university and college teams received the P3 Awards for their innovative solutions to some of today’s toughest public health and environmental challenges. About 300 students entered the competition.