What are the recent developments in carbon capture technology, and the challenges faced in making it more accessible to cement companies, discusses Dr Jose Casaban, Co-CEO, MOF Technologies.

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a new class of engineerable, super porous, sponge like solid materials that enable more efficient gas separation, gas storage and delivery solutions. MOFs are made up of two components: metal ions and organic ligands (also known as ‘linkers’) that are interconnected, creating repeatable porous networks that allow entrapment of specific gas molecules through physical adsorption. The choice of metal and linker allows us to engineer porous structures with unprecedented capacity and selectivity for a targeted gas molecule like CO2.
MOF Technologies has harnessed the unique properties of MOFs such as high CO2 capacity, selectivity and heatless regeneration and has engineered an ultra-energy efficient carbon capture system that uses pressure instead of heat to release the captured CO2 from the MOF filter. In principle, the carbon capture system combines mature vacuum swing adsorption technology with the novel highly performing MOF adsorbent material. By this way, CO2 can be separated from flue gas streams with an energy input of less than 1 GJ per tonne of CO2, cutting the energy requirements for carbon capture by up to 80 per cent versus the state-of-the-art amine scrubbing solutions. This represents a step change in carbon capture innovation that will bring down the costs for carbon removal and enable the mass adoption of CCS in hard-to-abate industries like cement.

Trial by Fuel
This year, the Nuada Carbon Capture technology was shortlisted by the Global Cement and Concrete Association’s (GCCA) Innovandi Open Challenge as one of the most promising technologies to decarbonise this hard-to-abate sector. This global programme aimed at fostering innovation within the cement industry by partnering GCCA member companies with innovative start-ups from around the world to ‘accelerate and commercialise the development of promising decarbonisation technologies.’
MOF Technologies was chosen as one of six start-ups, from more than 100 global entrants to the Open Challenge, to form formal consortiums with cement industry leaders for piloting innovative decarbonisation technologies. The company is now partnered
with Buzzi Unicem, Cementir Holdings and HeidelbergCement who will have the opportunity
to have a first glance of the innovative carbon capture technology and test the pilot plant for their flue gas. Their pilot plant is currently under construction, expected to be in operation during summer of 2023 to showcase the in-field performance of the Nuada Carbon Capture technology. This is an opportunity to prove the performance of this technology in its scaled-up form at the production sites of these three key GCCA members and enhance the confidence of the sector that Nuada will play a pivotal role for cement decarbonisation.

Technology and Productivity
Nuada Carbon Capture is an End-of-Pipe (EoP) solution that provides the opportunity to treat emissions directly from the stack without any modifications to the existing cement manufacturing processes.
This technology uses modular units that are prefabricated and containerised, so they can be easily installed on site with minimum disruption to the manufacturing operations. The modular nature of the technology provides flexibility for its end users to treat different scales of emissions and gradually add to the carbon capture capacity on their sites, in alignment with the evolution of carbon emission allowance schemes. Exploiting the high-capacity of MOF materials, Nuada carbon capture systems are designed to be very compact, occupying a minimum footprint to provide the comfort of retrofitting these systems, especially in cement production sites with minimum free space.
This is beneficial since most existing cement manufacturing sites were not built with a provision for adding a carbon capture process. Another advantage of this technology is the requirement of electricity as the only energy source to operate these carbon capture plants. Competitive technologies like amine-based solutions require copious amounts of steam, which is not always available on site and their integration in a cement plant is far more challenging. Overall, Nuada is a plug-and-play, easy to install and flexible carbon capture solution that can be easily retrofitted on existing cement plants. While these features will facilitate the adoption of this technology within the cement industry, the core advantage of this carbon capture system is its ultra-high energy efficiency, which slashes the cost associated with carbon capture and enables cement manufacturers to reduce their emissions, with the lowest possible impact on the cost of cement production.

Challenges Ahead
The development of this groundbreaking technology did not happen overnight. Instead, MOF Technologies have spent the last decade on developing knowhow around the development, production, shaping, optimisation, and testing of MOF materials combined with continuously increasing engineering capabilities for the design and prototyping of MOF-based systems. The company has gained a global reputation as the MOF material experts by collaborating with several blue-chip companies for the co-development of MOF-based solutions.
These collaborations have enriched the engineering knowhow for developing MOF-based adsorption systems whilst being part of EU-funded carbon capture projects with better insights about the carbon capture technology requirements. It was the inherited knowledge from the challenges and the lessons learnt across their R&D pedigree that has enriched their large IP portfolio, enabled technology breakthroughs, and now minimises the obstacles of commercial deployment for the innovative carbon capture technology. MOF Technologies is using the industrially scaled and proven Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption (VPSA) technology, so there are existing supply chains that can be immediately utilised to construct larger scale carbon capture systems. In addition, the company has already scaled up the production of the MOF filter and is now producing enough MOF material in-house to support commercial scales of carbon capture systems. While the road to commercial deployment of the Nuada carbon capture technology is relatively open, the real challenge ahead is to gain operating hours. By demonstrating the high in-field performance of Nuada and growing the industry’s confidence, they can move towards larger scale systems.

Curbing Emissions
The company sees cleantech as a necessity for curbing future emissions. Among the options to tackle emissions from heavy polluting industries, carbon capture is widely regarded as a key lever for achieving net zero targets. For example, carbon capture is accounting for a total of 36 per cent emissions reductions by 2050 in the cement industry according to the GCCA’s net zero roadmap. However, the IPCC is quoted as saying, “Currently, global rates of carbon capture and storage deployment are far below those in modelled pathways limiting global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C.” This is because the technology’s rollout has been hindered by cost, energy-efficiency and other challenges. This generates extra pressure for innovation, cross-collaboration between technology developers and emitters, and investment in carbon capture projects. Innovative climate technologies like the Nuada carbon capture system, which addresses the main caveats for the mass adoption of CCUS, will prove transformational, not only in achieving Net Zero targets but in improving the quality of life for the people of the world.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr Jose Casaban is a globally recognised CCUS expert with rich experience in sorbent materials and gas separation processes. He is leading the rapid expansion of MOF Technologies that will accelerate the decarbonisation of the cement industry.