BBCA climate technology company has won an £8 million investment to mass-produce tiny particles that can be “programmed” to absorb and store greenhouse gases.
Promethean Particles, in Nottingham, is working with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) – tiny nanoparticles that have extremely large internal surface areas.
One teaspoon of super absorbent particles contains the surface area equal to two tennis courts.
The company hopes to use the new funding, which has been led by Mercia Ventures and Aramco Ventures, to build a larger manufacturing facility and expand its team.
It also aims to reduce the price of MOFs from tens of thousands of pounds to just £25 per kilogram.
The key to lowering the price and increasing production would be to make nanoparticles from inexpensive and widely available metals such as zinc and magnesium.
James Stephenson, chief executive officer (CEO) of Promethean, said: “MOFs are a remarkable class of materials that have shown all kinds of potential in many applications.”
Their internal surfaces can be engineered in the lab to become “sticky” to various gases.
In the real world, nanoparticles can act as mini-sponges and mini-sieves, able to separate and store large volumes of different gases.
These properties can be used to reduce the climate impact of cement, metal and energy production, which continue to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases.
MOF particles from Promethean are already being used in a prototype carbon capture unit at the Drax power plant in Yorkshire.
ANALYSIS
By Sally Bowman, BBC East Midlands environment correspondent
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has long been proposed as central to national plans for a carbon-neutral future.
The idea is that carbon dioxide from energy-hungry industries is captured before it enters the atmosphere and then transported for permanent storage deep underground.
Great Britain announced some carbon capture projects as part of its commitment to capture and store 20 to 30 million tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2030.
However, until now, CCS has proven to be expensive and energy intensive. No large-scale projects are yet in operation.
Critics see it as a dangerous distraction from the need to rapidly reduce emissions.
The potential for MOFs to first filter greenhouse gases at the source, and then store them for easier transport, is what has experts excited.
But until now, the cost of these nanoparticles has made it prohibitively expensive.
If MOFs could be produced for a fraction of the current price, it could be a game changer for CCS and good news for a rapidly warming planet.
Mr Stephens said the challenge ahead was what drove him and the team to work every day.
He said: “We see, and the world agrees, that carbon capture is necessary as part of the solution [to the energy transition]. Existing carbon capture technologies have significant challenges in terms of the energy used.
“We’re very much about the mission we’re on and we see every day that we can make a significant difference on some of these global issues.”
Selina Ambrose, product manager at the University of Nottingham, said: “There is so much more we can do with the development and scaling of MOF.”
Additional scientists and engineers will increase production and research to “show the world what MOFs can really do,” she added.