Prodia has successfully set-up four pilot lines of MOF production in Europe. It includes batch synthesis of >6 MOFs from 1 kg to 140 kg scale (TRL5/6), mechano-chemical synthesis using negligible amount of solvent of 5 MOFs at >10 kg scale (TRL5/6), and syntheses of one MOF by spray-drying using at >15 kg scale (TRL6). Particular attention has been given to producing these selected NPMs at scale in a cost-competitive manner; high reaction yields and throughput with negligible use of organic solvents, if any.
In addition, the sustainable syntheses of a series of second generation NPMs with enhanced performances for the four chosen applications (gas storage, air purification, heat pump and health care) have have been developed.
In parallel with the NPM powder upscaling studies various shaping techniques for the chosen NPMs have been evaluated and optimized for the selected applications. Methods such as dry pressing, extrusion, freeze granulation, suspension casting and spheronation using cross-bonded biopolymers have all been studied. The focus has been on conserving the gravimetric properties of the NPM powder, such as pore volume and surface area, while densifying the material into usable granules, tablets and spheres. The shaped materials have been tested with respect to equilibrium and kinetic adsorption properties and chemical and physical stability. Beside the materials ease of production, also projected cost of production, HSE aspects, freedom to operate, stability and performance for the selected application were used to select a limited number of NPMs to be used in pilot line demonstartions of the four applications. An evaluation of the readiness of the demonstrators for each of the application areas was used to plan the processes required to produce successful demonstrators within the timeline of the project .
Four application demonstrations were completed. For the methane storage (ANG) application, 10 kg MOF produced by mechanosynthesis were shaped by dry compression into solid discs to completly fill a specially designed ANG tank containing internal water cooling/heating. 4.4 kg shaped adorbent were used to fill the tank. Results from the testing campeign shows good thermal behaviour of the pilot, however, the volumetric and gravimnetric storage capacity of the tank islower than the target set (225 L/L). The air purification pilot (TIC) was based on a MOF shaped by granulation and by extrusion. For ammonia adsorption the shaped MOF adsorbent gave longer breakthrough times than state-of-art adsorbents at all NIOSH-conditions used. For the heat pump pilot line, 2 kg of shaped MOF sphers were produced and tested in a dedicated pilot unit by subcontracting. Also for this application, the shaped MOF performed twice better than state-of-art silica based adsorbents. The last demonstration case, health care, is based on the controlled release of antimicrobials from MOF coatings. The chosen MOF coatings reached the goal with respect to release profile of antimicrobial components. All in all, for three out of four application cases at demonstrator scele, the shaped NPMs performed either better than existing adsorbent or better than the goal. We believe that further improvement will be achieved for all four applications by further optimization at the system levels.
