Techno-Economic Analysis of Metal-Organic Framework Materials for Onboard, Light-Duty Vehicle Hydrogen and Natural Gas Storage

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of porous materials comprised of inorganic units bridged by coordinating organic linkers. Due to their high surface area and tunable binding energies, MOFs are promising materials for onboard, light-duty, automotive natural gas and hydrogen storage. A manufacturing cost analysis was conducted to understand the cost drivers for synthesis of Ni₂(dobdc), Mg₂(dobdc), Zn₄O(bdc)₃, and Cu₃(btc)₂ at automotive industry relevant production volumes (up to 2.5 Mkg/year) based on an engineering scale-up of demonstrated laboratory synthesis procedures. Conventional lab-scale synthesis of MOFs is carried out in excess organic solvents such as DMF, at elevated temperatures (~80°C-120°C), and are optimized for product purity rather than for yield. A number of extrapolations were assumed based on demonstrated high volume chemical manufacturing techniques and recent improvements in lab-scale synthesis. Results will be presented covering baseline costs using demonstrated solvothermal synthesis methods in organic solvents, aqueous synthesis as an alternative to the baseline synthesis in organic solvents, and liquid assisted grinding as a proposed alternative method to reduce solvent. Projected costs will be compared against U.S. Department of Energy targets for onboard hydrogen and natural gas storage, and sensitivity analyses will be presented to understand cost drivers. The results are expected to help identify a path towards low-cost, high volume MOF synthesis and to help guide the MOF research community towards avenues of investigation that lead to cost savings.

dobdc4 = 2,5-dioxido-1,4-benzenedicarboxylate

bdc2– = 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate

btc3– = 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate