A critical step change has been accomplished in the manufacturing of MOFs that will significantly advance their commercialisation.
In 2018, a group of EU project partners (ProDIA) have successfully developed synthesis processes enabling the manufacture of metal organic framework (MOFs) materials at an industrial scale. These innovative methods have significantly reduced production costs permitting MOFs to be priced competitively against many current market leading materials. With this ability to offer these advanced porous materials at an economically viable price, the projected benefits from their superior performance can now be realised. This places MOFs perfectly to meet tomorrow’s big challenges in energy, environmental and health application areas.
Who is ProDIA?
In the framework of the European collaborative research project ProDIA, 12 partners from industry, R&D organisations and universities joined forces with the aim of accelerating the industrialisation of nanoporous materials [1]. Within the three year timescale, the ambitious plan was to link experts in synthesis, shaping and formulation with end application users to create scalable processes that enable manufacture of application ready MOF articles. The ProDIA consortium was awarded 7 million Euros from the EU Horizon 2020 program amounting to a global effort of 760 person months.
What has ProDIA achieved?
The consortium has successfully achieved significant advances in two areas critical to MOF industrialisation/manufacture and shaping/formulation. Several manufacturing processes were explored, developed and validated to enable the multi-kilo scale production of a structurally and chemically diverse range of MOF materials. Suitably shaped bodies and formulations comprising the manufactured MOF powders were fabricated, characterised and tested for use in the key application areas of gas storage for clean mobile energy, waste heat-based cooling solutions for data centres, air purification, and prevention of medical device acquired infections. Data collected in side-by-side testing with industry benchmarks prove the superior performance achievable from the manufactured materials, confirming their immense future potential.
UiO-66: from discovery at CNRS to innovation at MOFapps
MOFs of the UiO-66 family are among the most stable hybrid materials at the thermal, chemical, hydrothermal and mechanical levels [2]. These zirconium-based solids also pose no problem in terms of toxicity. The crystal structure of UiO-66, which has a unique Zr6O6 cornerstone cluster, was jointly discovered in 2008 at CNRS and University of Oslo [3]. Since then, UiO-66 type solids have become featured materials and account today for more than 1.100 citations in the literature [4]. CNRS accounts over 30 patent classes on MOF synthesis and applications. In 2014 a license was given to the start-up MOFapps for the production and use of UiO-66 type MOFs.
In the framework of the European project ProDIA, pilot production processes for the manufacture of MOFs at pre-industrial scale and for their shaping have been successfully demonstrated.
An innovative aqueous manufacture process for UiO-66 was jointly developed by CNRS (IRCELYON), Axel’One and MOFapps [5]. The innovations concern “green”, safe and scalable synthesis procedures that function without the organic solvents or the salts that up to now had been required to obtain high-purity MOF materials, enabling production to be cost competitive with current adsorbents. A demonstration a 130 kg pilot batch was successfully produced in a single batch on a 650L vessel.
Photography of the 650L vessel for the demonstration of UiO-66 manufacture (left), photography of UiO-66 extrudates of 1mm in diameter for ammonia air purification filters
Developed by Fraunhofer IKTS, the crystalline powder has be extruded in the form of small pellets with no loss of adsorption properties for ammonia air purification filters. The MOFapps start-up company will thus offer zirconium-based MOF pellets for air purification, notably for personal and collective ammonia protection cartridges. The lifetime of these cartridges is doubled compared to that of the cartridges currently on the market, which use active carbon based absorbents.
Future Outlook?
Prof S. Kitagawa (Kyoto University), pioneer and most cited MOF researcher, explains: "The ProDIA project is a real success in the innovation field. Prodia partners and their scale-up results made a major contribution. Today, the availability of MOFs at the pilot scale makes it possible to foresee their future use in large-scale applications”.
Without any doubt, the fate of MOF is crystalline.
Scientific contact
David Farrusseng - CNRS Researcher - Institute of Researches on Catalysis and Environment in Lyon (IRCELYON, CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1) - +33 4 72 44 53 65 - Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.
References
[1] ProDIA has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 685727. Partners: CNRS (FR), Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ES), Axel’One, ENGIE, IFP Energies nouvelles (FR), Fraunhofer IKTS (DE), Johnson Matthey, MOF technologies, University of St Andrews (GB), MOFapps, SINTEF and University of Oslo (NO).
[2] Kandiah, M.; et al. Chemistry of Materials, 2010, Vol.22(24) 6632-6640
[3] WO2009GB01087
[4] Cavka JH, Jakobsen S, Olsbye U, Guillou N, Lillerud KP. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008, 130(42), 13850
[5] Khabzina Y., Dhainaut J., Farrusseng D. et al. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2018, 57 (24), 8200