Northern Ireland’s MOF Technologies plans £2m carbon capture project

Belfast-based cleantech company MOF Technologies has begun a £2 million (€2.3 million) project that will see it build a test plant to demonstrate its carbon capture technology.

The funding for the project came from Innovate UK, a government agency that supports and stimulates innovation through funding, mentoring and other resources. The project will allow the company to scale up and commercially deploy the technology, building a small-scale plant as a demonstration project and with the first pilot plant in-field by the end of the summer.

The Queen’s University Belfast spinout’s Nuada technology works with a class of nanomaterials known as metal organic frameworks (MOFs) – crystalline, sponge-like materials that are highly porous and can store, separate and capture specific gases. These nanomaterials can be used to create filters for potentially harmful emissions from industries such as cement, steel and the waste-to-energy sector, releasing the captured CO2 through pressure instead of heat. MOF Technologies has devised a way to manufacture the nanomaterials on an industrial scale.

[ MOF Technologies raises £4.4m in funding round for nanomaterials ]

“It’s a big opportunity not only for us, but generally for Northern Ireland,” said MOF Technologies’ head of business development Dr Efstratios Stavrakakis. “We’re developing a very innovative carbon capture technology, we have received interest from global players in the cement sector, in the steel industry in the power generation. It’s something that made a big impression globally and it’s also putting Northern Ireland on the map.”

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It will also create about 10 jobs this year, with further jobs expected down the line. “We’re a small company at the moment, but we’re planning to grow massively over the next years,” said Dr Stavrakakis.

[ Growth in cleantech industry driven by demand for sustainable products and services ]

The company has already formed partnerships with some of the top cement companies in the world to help decarbonise the industry using the Nuada technology. The demonstration project has also generated interest among companies on the island of Ireland.

Last year, MOF Technologies received a £4.4 million (€5 million) investment from Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital Fund and the Clean Growth Fund, the first investment for the latter on the island of Ireland. The Series A funding round was intended to help develop the company’s technology and scale its operations in Belfast.