Titanium-organic framework membranes for CO2 capture

Introduction

The continued growth in emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is a pressing issue for our society. The urgent need for strategies to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations has aroused international action from governments.

Carbon Capture and Storage Technologies

Carbon capture and storage technologies (CCS) have been considered a key solution to reverse the current CO2 trend because they can mitigate, or at least delay, the alarming greenhouse effects. However, the most effective solution for post-combustion CO2 remains the chemisorption in aqueous solutions of alkanolamines despite limitations such as:

• Low selectivity
• Corrosiveness
• High energy requirement for operation and maintenance

Membrane Technology

Membranes are arguably an attractive technology for CO2 removal from mixed, humid gases as it is a relatively simple technology that can be easily replaced and requires minimum investment and operation costs. In this regard, mixed-matrix membranes incorporating Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) as crystalline components are an excellent alternative to overcome two of the major limitations of polymer-based membranes: swelling and low selectivity towards CO2.

Patented Materials

Among the families of titanium-organic frameworks developed in the ERC Stg grant Chem-fs-MOF (714122), one of our patented materials (MUV-10) represents a significant improvement or meets the specifications of benchmark materials in terms of key properties relevant to CO2 capture in wet conditions, such as:

• Gravimetric uptake
• Adsorbate selectivity
• Energy efficient sorbent regeneration
• Recyclability in humid environments

Project Goals

With PORECAPTURE, we intend to explore the commercial potential of this material across three main goals that will include:

1. Optimizing its production at multi-gram scale
2. Fabricating a new generation of membranes for energy efficient CO2 capture that will be tested in operational environments
3. Defining an optimal business model strategy that will include validating our know-how with licensors of CCS technologies