German chemicals giant BASF has become the first company to “produce metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) on a production scale of several hundred [tonnes] per year”, according to the company’s press release. Such MOFs have applications in the storage of captured carbon dioxide, as well as in methane capture, alongside the more mundane application of dehumidification of rooms.

BASF worked with Canadian carbon capture and removal company Svante Technologies Inc in scaling Svante’s recipe for MOFs to large scale production, and the first products will be used for carbon capture projects. Envisaged industrial applications are in hydrogen, pulp and paper, cement, steel, aluminium and chemicals.

The news is positive for decarbonisation efforts worldwide, as it should drive costs down.