Svante and BASF recently created a partnership around using metal-organic framework (MOF) after BASF became the first company to produce MOFs on a production scale, equalling several hundred tons a year.
The overall inspiration for the project was for BASF to aid Svante Technologies Inc., the Canadian Carbon Capture and Removal solutions provider, in converting the Svante lab into a safe plant procedure, which will be used for large scale productions.
Svante partnered with BASF specifically due to BASF’s work with MOFs and their advantageous qualities, which make them ideal for carbon capture and storage. MOFs have a structure which is highly crystalline and had nanometre-sized pores, plus a large surface area. This structure has three core benefits which are a high capacity for carbon dioxide storage, the ability to dehumidify air for room climate control, and another ability to adsorb the greenhouse gas methane. These three advantages clearly show why MOFs have a perfect structure for storing carbon dioxide, therefore Svante chose to utilise MOFs withing Carbon Capture projects and have them act as solid sorbents.
Furthermore, Svante asked BASF to help them complete this project as BASF is extremely experienced at working with these materials, to the point where they can tailor the MOFs to the needs of the customer. BASF understands the scale-up and production of MOFs, can tailor to customers needs and specifications and can also produce customised MOFs which will suit application and industries to their exact requirements. Therefore, Svante decided to partner with BASF in order to ensure they got the right MOFs from experts and to ensure their project was a success.
The Senior Vice President, Process Catalysts at BASF, Detlef Ruff, commented, “We are very happy to partner with Svante and to be able to apply our scale-up and production expertise. We are proud to be the first company to produce MOFs successfully on a large commercial scale for carbon capture. The successful effort of our teams in R&D, scale-up and production puts us in a favourable position. Today, we have access to new business opportunities with a strong focus on sustainability based on our MOF production capabilities. MOFs have the potential to be a step change in our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and can bring our partners and their customers closer to reaching their net zero targets.”