MOF captures hot CO2 from industrial exhaust streams

The porous MOF is detailed in a paper published in Science.

Capturing carbon from power or industrial plant emissions employs liquid amines to absorb CO2, a reaction that works efficiently between 40 and 60^oC (100–140^oF).

Cement manufacturing and steelmaking plants produce exhaust that exceeds 200^oC (400oF), and some industrial exhaust approaches 500oC (930oF). New materials that are now being piloted, including a subclass of MOFs with added amines, break down at temperatures above 150^oC (300^oF) or work less efficiently.

"A costly infrastructure is necessary to take these hot gas streams and cool them to the appropriate temperatures for existing carbon capture technologies to work," UC Berkeley postdoctoral fellow Kurtis Carsch said in a statement. "Our discovery is poised to change how scientists think about carbon capture. We've found that a MOF can capture carbon dioxide at unprecedentedly high temperatures - temperatures that are relevant for many CO2 emitting processes. This was something that was previously not considered as possible for a porous material."