(483e) Advancements in Scaling up Metal Organic Framework (MOFs) Materials

Metal Organic Frameworks (MOFs) are a new class of highly versatile and adaptable adsorbent nanomaterials. Since their discovery in the 1990s there has been an explosion of research efforts to create and characterize new structures and develop new applications in areas including storage, separation, filtration, capture, and controlled release of gases and liquids. MOFs have unsurpassed surface areas and their pore size and functionality can be tailored with unprecedented precision. The potential of selecting from hundreds of metal or metal organic nodes and thousands of organic linkers creates possibility to architect nearly an infinite number of theoretical MOF structures. To date, thousands of structures have been realized by research institutions many showing properties that outperform traditional adsorbents. Unlike the early structures, the new generation of MOFs exhibit the thermal, mechanical, and chemical stability necessary for practical use in industry. As the interests in using these advanced materials in real-world applications grows, there are pressing needs to scale-up promising MOFs from few grams produced in academic environments to high volumes. In this paper, challenges and lessons experienced by NuMat Technologies in efforts to successfully scale up and manufacture several MOFs will be discussed. In addition, advancements in the formation techniques required to densify and compress small MOF particles in to workable granules, pellets, and extrudates will also be reported.