© Kieran Lynam
© Kieran Lynam

MOF receives grant to tackle global warming

Queen’s University Belfast’s spinout, MOF Technologies, has received €317,000 to develop a project to address global warming.

The company has been granted the funding under the EU’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme to collaborate with a South Korean project named Gramofon.

MOF designs and manufactures proprietary clean-tech nanomaterials known as metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

It will be one of nine partners working to design new nanostructured materials to more efficiently contain greenhouse gases.

MOF is the first Northern Ireland firm to access Horizon 2020 money for a second time.

MOF chief executive Dr Paschal McCloskey said: “This second Horizon 2020 project gives us the opportunity to work with some of the world’s leading experts on nanomaterials such as MOFs, MOF/Graphene oxide composites and mesoporous structures based on graphene oxide aerogels.

“Carbon capture and sequestration is but one piece of the over-all puzzle that must be solved if we are to effectively combat global warming. With the right kind of innovation, however, it may prove to be a very important piece.”

Management at MOF Technologies successfully led a buy-out of the business from its then parent NetScientific plc earlier this year.

The company was set up in 2012 and is currently one of the world’s leading manufacturers of MOF materials.

Last year, MOF secured €1.1m from the EU to expand its manufacturing base and develop collaborations with a number of leading companies such as IBM, General Motors, Johnson Matthey, GDF Suez and Cella Energy.