Smart Nanoparticles Could Revolutionize Carbon Capture
Nottingham-based Promethean Particles has developed a breakthrough technology that could hold the key to tackling climate change. The company has won an £8 million investment to mass-produce tiny nanoparticles called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) that can be engineered to capture and store large volumes of greenhouse gases.
These MOF particles have an extraordinarily large internal surface area - a single teaspoon contains the equivalent surface area of two tennis courts. By designing the particles to become "sticky" for specific gases, they can act as highly efficient mini-sieves and mini-sponges, separating and storing CO2 and other harmful emissions.
The challenge until now has been the high cost of producing MOFs, which has made them prohibitively expensive for large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) applications. However, Promethean Particles is developing ways to manufacture the particles using cheap, widely available metals like zinc and magnesium, aiming to bring the cost down from tens of thousands of pounds per kilo to just £25.
This could be a game-changer for CCS technology, which has struggled with high energy demands and prohibitive costs. If MOF-based carbon capture becomes viable at scale, it could significantly reduce emissions from carbon-intensive industries like cement, metals, and energy production.
Promethean Particles' CEO James Stephenson said, "We see, and the world agrees, that carbon capture is needed as part of the solution [to the energy transition]. The existing carbon capture technologies have significant challenges in terms of the energy that's used. We are very much about the mission that we're on, and we see every day that we can make a significant difference to some of these global issues."
With the new investment, the company plans to build a larger manufacturing facility and expand its team of scientists and engineers to further develop and scale up the MOF technology. As product manager Selina Ambrose said, "There's so much more that we can be doing with MOF development and scaling up to show the world what MOFs can really do."
